Left handed flint shooters

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GeoEmeritus

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Gentlemen: I'm left handed and have been shooting a Lyman Great Plains left hand percussion for years. I'm thinking (again) about getting a flintlock, preferably a Pennsylvania or Tennesee style, and I'd like to get some advice from some of you flint shooters as to whether it's really worth the extra expense and limited availability of insisting on a left handed flintlock. Or should I do what we lefties in a right handed world usually do and not worry about what side the lock's on. Swithing sides isnt' an option because my right eye doesn't work too good.

Thanks for your help.
 
I'm a leftie and I shoot a right handed flintlock rifle. Been shooting flintlocks for a number of years and when I ordered a custom flintlock, I ordered it right handed. Having the lock on the left side just doesn't look right. The only "problem" I've ever had was firing from the hip. You sure have to watch your right forearm or it'll get sprayed pretty good with gases coming out of the vent on the right side of the lock.

George
 
Thanks, George: I'll stop worryin about it. You're right. Left handed side locks look funny.

--ed
 
I wish my DGW Tennessee Mountain Rifle was a lefty, but I paid 100 bux out the door for it, so I figured I'd either get used to it, or sell it.
So far, it doesn't bother me to shoot it. I don't flinch with it like I thought I would.
My caplocks are all LH, for safety reasons.
Then again, I always wear shooting glasses when I shoot.
 
i have been wondering the same thing. i am a lefty and would like to buy a some type of full stock like a lancaster or a virginia but would have to go the custom route for a lefty.
 
I have a double barreled cap lock. Shooting the left barrel (I'm right handed.) demonstrated why we have right and left handed locks. The left lock spits at the tender area on the inside of my wrist, it's d****d uncomfortable. I soon learned to wear a long sleeved shirt and a glove on the left hand. I would guess that a flintlock would do the same.
 
There's a lot of custom builders out there and there's no shortage of left handed kits they can assemble for you. Jim Chambers offers several left handed gun kits.
 
My first flintlock rifle was a semi-custom job. I considered getting a left handed lock because I'd never had one before. Since this was my first flinter, I figured I'd better get a right hander in case we didn't get along and I had to sell it off. As it turned out we matched well and I don't buy anything but flinters now. And I still buy right handed.
 
As far as I'm concerned, I don't care whether the lock is on the left or the right side of the gun, but as most longrifles stocks are asymmetrical, I like to rest my cheek on a cheek piece, not on a patchbox, so, so far, I've always built lefty longrifles and if they look weird for the modern casual observer, don't forget they were pretty common back then. And when the lock is on the right side, i.e. the left, all the moves you make around it such as cocking or priming come naturally. ;)
 
Who are some reliable custom builders. I tried Mark Campbell and got into a nightmare situation missed completion date after missed completion date after ...... and I can't seem to get my deposit back. Anybody reliable and honest out there to build a left handed flintlock fowler muzzleloader?
 
[email protected] - What am I looking at in your image? A backwards mounted right handed flintlock pistol which we've seen before, but the nipple? My simple mind is confused.
 
Gary,

Its a competition flintlock pistol with the lock facing the shooter. This one has a "companion" percussion insert, which I have never seen before. These pistols are usually found on the national line at Friendship, IN at the National Muzzle Loading Rifle Association's Championship matches held in the spring and fall.

My Lighting flintlock .36 caliber match pistol has the reverse lock. Works well.

Both my Bob Watts .40 caliber flintlock and my John Bivins .50 caliber flintlock left-hand rifles are worth having.

You can find custom-made left-hand flint rifles for sale at Track Of The Wolf's online catalog and at www.muzzleoloadingforum.com/
 
I'm left handed and shoot a right handed flintlock, One word of advise......
Don't fire it from the hip! It hurts!!!!
 
Regrets, Gary, I missed seeing, " which we've seen before,".

Evidentially , he has a percussion conversion unit fitted to his flintlock. The "flint" might be a piece of steel shaped like a German-made agate flint to hit the nipple. The nipple might be screwed to a "mini-drum" fitted in the pan space and threaded into the same hole where the vent liner would be in its place.

I have never in all my years at the national matches seen a design like that. One year, Mike Yazel showed up with a .22 caliber inline pistol. The flintlock is a real engineering feat.

Wish we could see a straight-on shot, looking at the lock face to see where the nipple is attached.
 
I would like is some period sunglasses for that added safety factor but have never found.
Click to expand...

How 'bout these:

Jas. Townsend & Sons Glasses & Frames

We don't "correct" the left handed in grade school as we once did, so there are many more Southpaws these days...so nobody really give a darn about lefties shooting left handed flintlocks...save for those folk firing shoulder to shoulder in a volley fire...

I'd check Classifieds - Traditional Muzzleloading Forum or Track of The Wolf for an already finished rifle.

LD
 
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