Do you use a handgun designed for "lefties"?

[Jaymo]

I use my trigger finger for the mag release and slide release, because it works better for me. I don't have to shift my grip to do it. If I use LH mag and slide releases and use my thumb to actuate them, I have to shift my grip to do so.
The only reason I don't have a LH Charter revolver, is because they don't seem to make it in .44 special.
LH bolt action is definitely better for me than than RH, but unfortunately, the #4 Enfield and M38 Swedish Mauser were never made in LH versions.

If more LH guns were available, and if I didn't get financially raped when buying one, I'd own a lot more.

The good thing about being a Southpaw is that we are at an advantage over right handed folks when it comes to shooting.
We're used to shooting wrong handed guns. Many of us are also proficient ambidextrous shooters. We're more accepting of the possibility of having to shoot with our weak hand due to injury, disability, etc.
Most righties see no reason whatsoever to have an ambi safety on their guns. They seem to think that, because most guns are made for them, they'll never be forced to shoot Southpaw.
Silly righties.
I've learned to bat ambi, and shoot ambi.
I don't know a single righty who is proficient with both hands. All the righties I know are pretty damned useless with their left hand.
That, is the handicap of growing up right handed in a right handed world.
They've never had any reason to use their weak hand for anything more than scratching their butts, because the world caters to right handed people.
Lefties, being only about 1 of every 9 people, have grown up in a world where we have to use our weak hand just about as much as our strong hand.
Try using scissors or can openers left handed. Or a chainsaw.
Doesn't work.
So, we are at an advantage, BECAUSE of our disadvantage.

 

[USAF_Vet]

I've had folks tell me that my Charter Arms Southpaw isn't necessary. Yet, they are all right handed folks. I've handed it to them and invited them to load and fire it. Most fumble around trying to open the cylinder and load it. Still none get the idea of what a southpaw had to go thru with a right handed small frame .38.

I actually want a Charter Southpaw, I only wish it came in .357 magnum. I have yet to actually get my hands on one, and Charter doesn't have the greatest reliability, or so the interwebs tell me. One reason I like single action revolvers is the right side loading gate is a lot more lefty friendly.

And when it comes to bolt guns, I too prefer a lefty handed action. I love my Mosin, but they are not easy to cycle as a lefty, especially when the bolt decides to jam.

 

[exavid]

So far I've been shooting left handed for almost sixty years. In that time I've owned a lot of guns but only two left handed ones, both rifles. A Savage 110L in 30-06 that got a lot of moose and caribow in my years in Alaska and recently a Stag Arms AR model 4L. It's nice to have left handed rifles but with pistols and revolvers it never made much difference to me that they were designed for right handers. All my pistols manage to eject shells clear of me so that's no problem, my revolvers work as well for me as for a right hander. I switch the revolver to my right hand for reloading and then back to my left for shooting but it really doesn't take much more time than a right hander reloading.

 

[The Lone Haranguer]

Very few handguns are specifically made for left-handers, excluding oddities like the Randall "Portsider." A very few are completely ambidextrous, e.g., the H&K P7s. Many do have at least some ambidextrous controls, e.g., thumb safeties and slide stops. I think the new S&W "Bodyguard" revolvers have ambi cylinder releases, but the cylinder can still only swing out to the left.

 

[showmebob]

fnx for handguns. learn the left handed reload technique for revolvers, very fast.

 

[Ole Coot]

I'm a lefty and been shooting everything that goes bang for over 60yrs and I would have a problem with anything dedicated to a left handed shooter. I've adjusted to the fact most things in the world are made for right handed people. After all these years I have never worried about a firearm. You need to learn to shoot with either handgun or long arms with either.

 

[Ben86]

I'm right handed but use a gun that certainly had lefties in mind. The M&P9 pistol has a ambidextrous slide release and reversible mag release.

I appreciate the ambi slide release, it makes my left handed reloads easier.

 

[exavid]

Adding leftward ejection would be nice too.

 

[cougar1717]

For the most part, when we're talking left hand friendly or ambi handguns, it's the location of the safety, mag release, and slide stop. Most of us know very few manufacturers are going to make a left handed slide stop, but we "slingshot" a new mag anyway, so that point is moot. Some guns don't even have a safety lever anymore, but the mag release can still be a sticking point. Some guns that I have found to be lefty freindly:

Beretta 92/96 series. If you can't operate it with your first finger, you can flip the mag release to the other side, plus the open slide design ejects the brass up more than straight across. Safety/Decocker is on both sides.

HK USP - if ordered from the factory, you can get one of the variants that puts the control lever on the "correct" side.

HK P2000 series - ambi mag release

Most polymer framed guns can be operated ambidextrously by and large without much disadvantage.

CZ 82/83 series - ambi mag release.

CZ 52 - strangely enough, it does not have a thumb release on the slide stop and the mag release is on the bottom. Safety/decocker is "righty", but trusting that mechanism is another ball of wax, discussed ad nauseum elsewhere.

Charter arms southpaw - as discussed above

1911's with ambidextrous controls.