Options for left-hand bolt action

Status
Not open for further replies.
FL-NC said:
My suggestion is to buy a right handed rifle and learn to live with it.
Click to expand...
How would YOU like to buy a left hand bolt rifle and "learn to live with it"??

I HATE to see such poor advice given to a "lefty"! I'm a lefty and you have no idea how bad it sucks to be LH and stuck with a RH bolt gun, I know because I grew up with RH bolt guns.

This isn't the 50's, or 60's anymore, lefty's can and should buy a bolt rifle that fits them. I did and it was the best gun buying decision I ever made!

DM
 
I’m amazed no one has mentioned the Browning A bolt, or x bolt. Got a 7 mag stainless for crappy weather days and a blued 7-08 for the nice days. Also have a Savage left bolt in an ‘06.

As a kid, life was tough. Shot lever action 99 Savages, and vowed someday I’d have a real left handed rifle. Life is too short to live with a right handed rifle if you’re a lefty.
 
i'm a lefty. My favorite bolt action rifles are lefties"; all 11 of them. Two AR-15 rifles are lefties.

No, i won't buy a right hand rifle and "learn to live with it". My first left handed rifle came about 50 years ago. It's a Mathieu made for Weatherby in the 1950s.

Lefties, don't settle for a right handed rifle.
 
DM~ said:
How would YOU like to buy a left hand bolt rifle and "learn to live with it"??

I HATE to see such poor advice given to a "lefty"! I'm a lefty and you have no idea how bad it sucks to be LH and stuck with a RH bolt gun, I know because I grew up with RH bolt guns.

This isn't the 50's, or 60's anymore, lefty's can and should buy a bolt rifle that fits them. I did and it was the best gun buying decision I ever made!

DM
Click to expand...
I've shot about every weapon the military issues left-handed. We did this as a part of normal training. The biggest limitation is the ability of the shooter. I never said it was the "ONLY" solution, just that it is "A" solution.
lefty.jpg
 
bobinoregon said:
A friend bought a left hand Ruger American compact 308 in stainless with synthetic stock. CDNN had it on sale year or so at a price that was so good had to buy it.
Click to expand...

I wasn't aware that they made any in that configuration
 
mustanger98 said:
What's wrong with a Savage 99? :scrutiny: They used to make them in .308 and a real rear sight can still be bought for an arm and a leg on eBay.
Click to expand...

Nothing at all. Still have mine in .308 and dad still has his in .300. Killed a metric ton of deer with it, and a moose. Prerrt tough a a kid, though, understanding what I really had, especially when everyone is shooting fancy right handed bolt actions
 
A simple Google of "left handed bolt action rifles" will get you a few dozen hits, there are plenty out there to be had. TOP 6 LEFT-HANDED RIFLES FOR DEER HUNTING is a good start to give you some ideas. I have been through several including a 257 Weatherby and a bunch of Savage and Remington bolt guns. I still have a Ruger 77 in 7mm Remington Magnum which I like but with age I don't shoot as much.

Ruger%202.png

You want a left handed gun then get one rather than trying to screw with learning to try and shoot a right handed gun. There is no reason you can't have what you want and what fits you.

Ron
 
armedwalleye said:
Nothing at all. Still have mine in .308 and dad still has his in .300. Killed a metric ton of deer with it, and a moose. Prerrt tough a a kid, though, understanding what I really had, especially when everyone is shooting fancy right handed bolt actions
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'd say it would've been a similar story for me with Winchesters and Marlins had I been around more bolt gunners early. But in my circles at that time, the few bolt guns weren't fancy, they weren't made into a big deal, and they "wouldn't do anything a .30-30 wouldn't do". Well, there also weren't too many Savage 99's that I knew of... those came to my attention later after they got good and expensive.
 
FL-NC said:
My suggestion is to buy a right handed rifle and learn to live with it. Here's why: 1. you will have more options available to you as far as models and features. 2- about 11% of the population are lefties. This minority isn't very well catered to in ANY product, and guns aren't the only place this is true. This is unfair, but its also true. This 11% rule holds true in the military, where lefties are issued the same guns as the majority. The only real allowance I have seen for them is issuing lefty holsters for handguns. Despite the challenges of being part of this 11%, they still manage to do just fine with their issued weapons, to include bolt action sniper rifles, as I have had a few lefty students (former sniper instructor). 3. Since there are less lefty guns made, getting replacement/repair parts may prove to be a problem at a later time.
Click to expand...

If you as a right handed shooter ever had a case head failure in a left handed rifle, you would understand why this is terrible advice. The only reason I still have all 10 fingers and vision in both eyes is that I was shooting a left handed gun (I’m left handed) when it happened to me. A 50 round box of ammo was blown off the bench to my left several feet away by the jet of gas that blew out the safety vent hole of my Savage 110 LH.

To answer the original question: Savage makes one. So does Tikka. I have a stainless T3 lite in 308 and it is absolutely fabulous. The accuracy is nothing short of phenomenal for a lightweight hunting rifle. I’m pretty sure Ruger does make the American LH in stainless, but you can’t get a threaded barrel in LH.
 
berettaprofessor said:
I take it you are left-handed and have tried a left-handed AR,Taliv? If so, we will have to disagree. I love them and see definite advantages for lefties...Especially PISTOL ARs shot from cheek weld.
Click to expand...

yep to both. disagreement is ok. that's what the internet is here for!
 
FL-NC said:
My suggestion is to buy a right handed rifle and learn to live with it. Here's why: 1. you will have more options available to you as far as models and features. 2- about 11% of the population are lefties. This minority isn't very well catered to in ANY product, and guns aren't the only place this is true. This is unfair, but its also true. This 11% rule holds true in the military, where lefties are issued the same guns as the majority. The only real allowance I have seen for them is issuing lefty holsters for handguns. Despite the challenges of being part of this 11%, they still manage to do just fine with their issued weapons, to include bolt action sniper rifles, as I have had a few lefty students (former sniper instructor). 3. Since there are less lefty guns made, getting replacement/repair parts may prove to be a problem at a later time.
Click to expand...
^^^ Basically what I was going to say... but way better explained.

I shoot right handed bolts.
 
Absolutely grab a lefty rifle for hunting.

Maybe for bench target shooting. Plenty of right handed shooters shoot a lefty rifle for long range precision paper.

For AR's? Don't bother. A properly setup AR works flawlessly lefty or righty. It has to. Cover has a left and right side. You want to shoot right handed around the left side of cover? Minus well just walk straight out into the fight, naked.
 
FL-NC said:
I've shot about every weapon the military issues left-handed. We did this as a part of normal training. The biggest limitation is the ability of the shooter. I never said it was the "ONLY" solution, just that it is "A" solution.
View attachment 812284
Click to expand...

I have a .223" diameter circular scar on my upper right forehead... from a M249 casing that acted like a cookie cutter as I was shooting lefty. Do not recommend...

I agree with Taliv that the AR is fine for LH users with a standard RH upper...but I think that an ambidextrous safety and mag release should be standard on any AR.
 
You just have to be careful and watch your ejection pattern. All of my carbines clear my head by a mile.

And don't shoot gooey Wolf or Brown Bear. That pattern starts working it's way back, when those gum things up.

Ambi safety is a must have. But I just hit the mag release with my right thumb as I come down to my belt for another mag.
 
i can't recall ever getting hit with a piece of brass from an AR, except when it ricocheted off a wall or car or something when firing from tight spaces. now my 1911 otoh, seemed like it was aiming at my head.
 
desidog said:
.but I think that an ambidextrous safety and mag release should be standard on any AR.
Click to expand...
I agree with this. Our lefties were able to execute all of the drills and evals with a standard selector, their times and handling improved with ambi setups. Contrary to regs (which we always looked at more as a "guideline"), these were often installed on their weapons.
 
desidog said:
but I think that an ambidextrous safety and mag release should be standard on any AR.
Click to expand...

i agree

but since they don't, i stopped using the nice lowers and went back to standard. i used to love the lowers from KAC and magpul, etc that were ambi everything. but i don't want to get in the habit of pushing a button and it not be there when i need it
 
I find the mag release on an AR is easier to use while shooting left handed. However I am right handed but I shoot lefty.

I use the same technique as the video above and that technique benefits a right handed person shooting left handed
 
that's how i do it too, but it effectively means for lefties, a speed reload is about the same as reload with retention.
 
I’m not in the military and don’t have to live in a world of right-hand guns if I don’t choose to. There are no disadvantages to left bolts or left ARs for lefties unless I believe the fantasy that the world order we know will collapse and leave me stuck shooting the next AR or AK I can pick up on the battlefield. I think the OP will be much better off buying a gun that’s made for him/her rather than adapting to a poor-fitting second choice.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

J
  • Locked
Left handed bolt action?
Replies
7
Views
625
desidog
desidog
desidog
  • Locked
Lefty bolt action production gun with iron sights? Anyone making them?
Replies
11
Views
3K
greyling22
greyling22
A
  • Locked
Left Hand 7mm-08
Replies
22
Views
6K
CB900F
C
H
  • Locked
Do any of you own a Tikka?
Replies
23
Views
1K
halfbreed808
H
T
  • Locked
Which rifle would you recommend?
Replies
5
Views
405
essayons21
E
Back
Top