Why were so many rifles designed with the bolt handle on the wrong side?

[leadcounsel]

This is one reason I feel the FAL is such a great design. The charging handle is on the left, yet it ejects to the right. Another example are HK rifles, with the charging handle on the left.

 

[Willie Sutton]

Anyone who can rotate a rifle 90 degrees counterclockwise with the right hand on the small of the stock (or pistol grip) can manipulate the action of any semi-auto with the left hand. That's the manual of arms for an AK-47. Try it...

I do like the FAL though.


Willie

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[jr_roosa]

I think it also is a function of what sort of rifle you started shooting with first. I had bolt actions and lever actions as a kid, and then got into Garands as an adult, all of which would be silly to try to operate with the left hand--god bless you left handed Garand shooters BTW, you are better men than me. As for prone or other position shooting, my left hand is more or less welded to the rifle anyway.

The AR is totally backwards in my mind (except the really nifty mag release perfectly positioned on the right, and the safety right where John Browning put his on the 1911). I would have put a bolt release on the right side or maybe a longer handle on the right side of the charging handle like that Raptor thingy so that I could rack the bolt if needed with my right hand to clear a jam without breaking position. If I have the bolt fail to pick up a round on my Garand in rapid fire (which it does from time to time), I can clear that in about 2 seconds. In an AR, that's almost a fatal issue when slung up in prone. Also, in any slung position, you need to reach through the carry handle or over the top of the optic to close the bolt after a mag change, which is awkward. At least some of the match AR uppers have a handle attached to the BCG to allow operation of the bolt with the right hand.

I could see, however, if all I ever shot was an AR, that every other rifle would seem backwards to me, and what I see as idiosyncrasies of the AR would seem perfectly natural.

-J.

 

[CapnMac]

When long arms first started having repeating breech loading which was manipulated by hand--that receiver was tucked up by the or near the shooter's right cheek (80-85% world being righties).

Having the bolt right there by your nose means having to hold up a yard-long ("infantry" rifles having 24-26' barrels ,and "engineer/sapper/arty" rifles a mere 18" long) arm with only the right hand being as much an issue as that having to pull the bolt back into your face.

Further, until relatively recently in infantry use, troopies were only to have the booger hook on the bang switch when instructed to--volley fire was the force multiplier until Messrs Maxim, Vickers, et al, gave us a better way of dispensing suppressing fires.

So, having the weapons be balanced in the weak hand braced back into the shoulder, and the strong hand used to manipulate the controls made considerable sense. And, braced up right, stockweld and the like are not "lost" between shots. There's a vid on you-tube of a Brit Sergeant placing a startling quantity of rounds down range in a remarkably short time--all on an SMLE or one of the Mk 1's--worth a watch.

 

[bluekouki86]

I don't think I could operate a left handed bolt effectively. Many years of shooting and muscle memory simply wouldn't allow it. The best comparison I can think of is switching the order of pedals in a car with a manual transmission. It would work, but I'd be a clumsy fool stumbling all over myself.

 

[HexHead]

There's a vid on you-tube of a Brit Sergeant placing a startling quantity of rounds down range in a remarkably short time--all on an SMLE or one of the Mk 1's--worth a watch.

That was known as "the mad minute". 30 rounds of aimed fire in one minute. In one battle in WWI, the German retreated to their lines, saying the British had machine guns.

 

[RCArms.com]

While the FAL left side charging handle is OK-ish, the HK G3 type cocking tube is a royal PITA due to lack of leverage, especially prone.

For me, right side charging feels far better and I prefer running my rifles that way. The AR platform is the only departure from that, and that is a serious design flaw on the original M16 design in my opinion.

 

[itsa pain]

The charging handle on my FAL is on the left side and it works just fine. I like it better than the rear handle on my AR if I am honest.

the AR charging handle is the worst ever designed

 

[itsa pain]

50-75-100 years ago, solders were taught to shoot using the sling as added support for increased accuracy.

Pretty hard to run a bolt left handed when your left arm is attached to the rifles forend with a tight shooting sling.

It's also pretty hard to hold a 10 pound army rifle by the pistol grip and get enough leverage to run a bolt fast.

rc

who would be in combat locked into a sling? that is range shooting and that is where it belongs. those guys must have forgotten everything when artillery and machine guns opened up and then throw in some tanks and planes straffing

 

[Zach S]

Being cross dominate, I train from both shoulders, and really haven't found it to be an issue. As mentioned in an earlier post, if you can rotate the rifle you can cycle the bolt. The only real issue I've had was a sharp burr on my AK cover. In one range session I managed to cut both of my hands in roughly the same spot...

No, because every time you fire a shot, it would eject the casing across your field of vision.

You really don't notice, unless you're shooting shotguns...

 

[Deus Machina]

From a manufacturing standpoint, it makes for less machine time, a stronger receiver, and fewer places for crud to get in if you just extend the ejection port to accommodate a bolt handle. Or just machine the handle slot on the same side.

From a military standpoint, it's because right-handed shooters instinctively do everything with their right hand. It doesn't take any retraining of muscle memory for Mother Russia to hand a line soldier a gun and tell him to use it.

You're not supposed to reach over it to charge it. You're not stable enough holding it one-handed to fire that extra half a second you might gain, especially with 3/4ths of the gun's weight wobbling around in front of the grip until you can get your hand on the forearm. Your left hand is for holding and reloading.

 

[Hunterdad]

If it made sense to have it on the left side, it would be on the left side.

 

[351 WINCHESTER]

Maybe due to the fact that 85 to 90% of the population is right handed? I am left handed, but thank God I was taught to shoot right handed.

 

[dbmjr1]

Note the charging handle on the left side of this rifle. Works fine for me.