Semi-auto recommendations for Lefty's?

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sigmashooter

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I've got a buddy who owns all revolvers due to his "South Paw Condition" :neener: He likes .38 and .357, but I'm sure he would dig a 9mm Semi-auto if he could find one that's ambidextrous. He is looking to CCW with it. What do ya'll recommend?
 
For me, the biggest challenge is a thumb safety. I don't mind having a mag release or slide stop on the left side of the gun - I just use my middle finger to hit the mag release or my trigger finger to hit the slide stop. To me, those are non-issues.

So, when I look for ambi guns as a southpaw, I don't worry about the other stuff as long as I can work the safety. A couple guns I own(ed) or fired that fit that bill for me are the CZ85, CZ75 stainless (which is ambi for some reason), CZ82, Smith M&P, Smith Sigma, Springfield XD/XDm, any ambi-equpped 1911, Ruger SR9/SR9c.

Q
 
In my limited experience, any semi-auto pistol made by Walther is extremely ambidextrous.

The controls are a little different from most other pistols, but not bad at all to learn. The main thing is that the magazine release is part of the trigger guard, and can be worked with either hand. I can't swear to it, but most of the models I've looked at have an ambidextrous safety too. The only thing I've found that is one-sided is that the slide stop is on the usual side only.

Be safe!
 
There are so many good ambi guns on the market these days. The best thing to do it go to a gun shop which has a large selection and try them out. I find that most of the time one will pick you as much as you pick it.

The was the guns feels in your hand and how the ergos match you is a purely subjective thing which does not really translate from one person to another as well as some people believe.
 
Glocks are right hand oriented for the most part. Righties will say that's not true, but they aren't southpaws either.

A truly left handed friendly pistol is not going to make the shooter adapt to it, just like a standard pistol does not make a right hander have to adapt to it.

IMO, the left hand friendly pistol is going to have ALL of its controls available for left handed shooting. If it has safeties they are on both sides. The slide release will be on both sides. The magazine catch button will be ambi or end user reversible.

In the past, there were not so many pistols with all of these features present in the correct places for left handers, and now there are. The Glock is not one of them.

Two that come to mind immediately are the M&P series and the new Beretta PX4 Compact. Certain HKs fit the bill too if the safety lever is properly located or are safetyless models.
 
Being a lefty and growing up in a right-hand world, I've found there are many compromises. However, you still have to work around some things not built for you and develop techniques to make things work. As they say: Improvise - adapt - overcome.

I've settled on the Glock platform for my left-hand CCW and auto pistol needs. I do have revolvers and the requisite Colt 1911, but a Glock is likely hidden away on my person.

Why Glock as a lefty?

1) First, no safety to disengage. No right-handiness to overcome there!

2) Slidestop on wrong side? No problem... I only use it for the non-critical task of locking the slide OPEN and will swap the pistol to my right hand for that. To return the slide forward and chamber a round on a fresh magazine I pull the slide back and let it fly. Many teach this as the best method to get a freshly reloaded gun back into action because it replicates the muscle movements of a basic stoppage drill. A: Tap the bottom of the magazine to insure it is fully seated; B: Rack the slide to clear the malfunction (or in this case to release the slide and load the pistol); C: Press the trigger once on target.

3) Magazine release on wrong side? The Gen4 Glock mag release is interchangeable, however I leave them on the stock side because I use my left-hand trigger finger to release the mag. I developed this technique while learning to run my 1911 and it works well.

The bottom line for a lefty is to pick a reliable platform best suited for you and adapt techniques to overcome any right-handiness. There will always be some, so practice, practice.

Edmo
 
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I usually recommend the M&P to lefties as it is one of few pistols with ambi slide lock/release and the mag release is reversible.

If the model comes with safety, it is ambi also.

Have your friend handle/shoot the M&P and see what he thinks.
 
Hi, I am new here and also a lefty.....I have been looking at the FNX 9, and will be buying it sometime this week....this gun feels great, and the ambidextrous aspect is a big plus for me..

I have been to the gun shop several times, and handled all sorts of guns....just get the one that feels right in your hand.
 
I'm actually not aware of any plaform that will plain not work for a lefty; in fact there are some upsides for us.

Safety: If your gun has one, it needs to be ambi. The other controls don't.

Slide catch: There are upsides and downsides here. The downside is of course that you can't drop the slide with your thumb, which is the fastest way to do it. The upside is twofold: first, you can't ride the slide catch with your thumb to cause it to lock open or not lock open when you don't want it to. Second, you get to "slingshot" the slide closed, which has the upsides of being more reliable/requiring less fine motor skill, and working exactly the same way on all pistols. I'll admit though as a competetive lefty shooter I was really hoping the Gen4 Glocks would have had ambi slide catch.

Magazine catch: Though it may look awkward to those who have never done it, once you get some practice hitting it with your trigger finger, you will find that this is a pretty good way to do it. Once again, likely at least as consistent as hitting it with your strong side thumb, since for me at least, I think I can get more force on it easier with my trigger finger, and I have pretty big hands. At this point I don't think I'd want it any other way.

So in summary, he shouldn't be afraid and nor should he even confine his search to fully ambi platforms.

If anything I would expect an auto to be more lefty friendly in general than a revolver. With the cylinder swinging to the wrong side, how are you going to reload a revolver quickly? (I'm not a revolver shooter, so there may be an obvious answer to this one)?
 
Few modern handguns are so complex that a lefty cannot manage to learn a manual of arms for them. I'm a lefty, and I just rehearse my operations, such as loading, reloading, safeties, etc, and although I might be a split second behind a rightie on some guns, it is never enough to worry about. A faster draw, more developed dexterity, or a "shooter ready" gun like a DA revolver, gun with ambi safety, or Glock type (no safety), puts you on the same plane as the right hander for the first magazine or cylinder-full. After that, it's tactics anyway.
 
So in summary, he shouldn't be afraid and nor should he even confine his search to fully ambi platforms.
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I disagree. It's not about fear, it's about possibly subsidizing the continued slighting of his handedness by supporting outdated designs with his purchasing power.

There are no advantages as a left hander in being forced by circumstance to "make do" with a design made for the right handed. Not everyone wants to make a virtue out of a necessity and have to sling the slide or have to hit the mag catch with their trigger finger.

What such defenses of the indefensible do is make excuses for retrograde manufacturers who haven't or won't keep up with the state of the art.

Right handers take their menu of operational choices on semi-autos for granted. Left handers have entered an era of pistol designs that let them have that same peace of mind in the place of the hashed out workarounds they have been forced to live with in the past.

If one is left handed, he or she owes it to themselves to create what market pressure he or she can bring to bear to force the foot draggers into full modernity.
 
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As a left-eye-dominant, left-hander, I can recommend the Glock 19, and the Kimber Tactical Custom II 1911 (which has an ambi thumb safety).

For concealed carry, I'm committed to a S&W snubbie with CT laser grips and Hornady Critical Defense .38+P ammo in a Mika pocket holster, not for its lefty-friendliness (which it is), but for all the yadda-yadda-go-look-it-up reasons.
 
If I was a right hander with a reversible mag catch, I would reverse it.
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The larger point is in having the options to operate the pistol as you see fit in the first place. Some designs give you total flexibility on that matter, others simply do not.
 
GP6_Main.jpg


STI GP6, also known under its original Slovakian name Grand Power K100 is fully ambidextrous (mag, slide, safety).
My one has been flawless so far (1500 rounds), barrel is made by CZ-UB and its Slovakian issue pistol if that says something about its reliability..

edit: fits well into G21s holsters.
 
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