Any other lefties tired of getting shafted?

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MTMilitiaman

MTMilitiaman

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I was just cruising some websites to see what was available in terms of left-hand precision bolt rifles, esp those available in something more potent than the .308 Winchester. What I found, or rather didn't find, surprised even me.

Accuracy International, Blaser, FN, Sako, and SIG all market long range precision rifles. Only the Blaser is available with a left hand option and even then the most potent chambering to be had is the .308 Win. None of them offer anything more powerful. Apparently, lefties are only interested in varmint rifles :rolleyes:

I was kind of pondering the possibility of a left handed .338 Lapua, but apparently the only option for a lefty is to build a custom rifle on a left-handed action such as a Remington M700, which, BTW, I heard just reintroduced the Sendero. Any chances of a left handed Sendero? My guess is no. Remington thinks they are doing us a favor by offering their VSS in .308 Win--and maybe they are--it is more than other companies are doing. Even the beanfield hunting rifle concept has escaped lefties.

I know some of you are going to suggest buying a right handed rifle and learning to shoot it left handed. I adamentally reject this idea. It is ludicrous to expect lefties to spend the kind of money these companies are asking for a high end rifle and then just coping with the bolt being on the wrong side. My money is just as valuable as anyone elses and if I am spending lots of it on a rifle, that rifle damn sure better be built for me. It is frustrating to see how bad lefties are getting shafted in the market :banghead: :cuss: :fire:
 
I was taught to shoot right handed as a kid so I don't have that issue. I don't think I have ever shot a rifle left handed.

I guess you are just venting.
 
Apparently the gun manufacturers do not perceive a large-enough market to tool-up to make left-handed versions of their products. If left-handed people do not make themselves heard by writing the manufacturers demanding left-handed firearms, then they simply won't get made.
 
Many people will say that you should "just shoot right handed". To those people, I say this: do all of YOUR shooting with your weak hand and non-dominant eye and see how well you do. Yes, you'll get better, but if you're pretty good weak side, you're probably very good strong side. Why handicap yourself by shooting wrong sided?

Unfortunately, Car Knocker is right. Manufacturers won't make these guns unless they perceive a demand for them. The lack of left-handed bolt guns is one reason I've never gotten in to shooting them. The only bolt gun I've ever owned was a Hungarian (I think) M44 Nagant carbine.
 
Shooting a bullpup rifle is no fun either, as I found out two weeks ago. Beard-induced malfunctions are rather annoying.
 
Beard-induced malfunctions are rather annoying.
Click to expand...

Ouch!

Even if you are left handed and do okay with a right handed bolt rifle, don't tell me a left-handed AI or Sako TRG-42 wouldn't appeal to you if you were looking for a long range, 1000+ meter rifle.

The strange thing is that there are more lefty bolt .50s than there are .338 Lapuas. But these are big and bulky and not very practical, IMO.
 
Have you looked at Brownings, or Kimbers? I don't know what features you specifically refer to when you talk about "precision" rifles, but they have some big-bore left-handed bolt guns in the A-Bolt II series that are as accurate as any precision rifle I know of. I've owned several and have three now, and am about to buy either a .300WSM or .325WSM at some point here soon. An example: I had an A-Bolt II Medallion in 7mm Remington Magnum, with the BOSS system, that would consistently shoot Winchester Supreme Ballistic Tips into a 5/8" group at 100 yards.

A-Bolts come in long-action calibers up to .338 Win and .375 H&H, too. Kimber's making some bigger-bore leftie rifles as well, I think. When you say "precision", are you talking about special-purpose calibers only or bigger-bore calibers in general?

I'm with you on the left-hander issue, though -- my personal pet peeve is holsters!
 
Yeah, it does suck that us lefties get screwed out of some of these cool precision rifles, but what can you expect? We make up, what... 10% of the population? Personally, I'm amazed that as many companies offer as many lefty bolts as they do. That said, I wouldn't buy a right handed bolt rifle and shoot it left-handed. I've done enough of that and I don't like it.

You can custom build an extremely nice rifle on an M700 action usually for much less than some of these precision rifles cost OTC. I wouldn't mind having a lefty 700 Sendero in .338 Ultra Mag, but it's pretty far down on my list of priorities (behind the Savage 10FLP in .308, and the custom Montana Rifleman in .260 Rem).

Does anyone know if the Savage long action will take .338 Lapua? That might make a nice package.

On a related note, JR at RTS Manufacturing is making me a custom lefty tactical sling for my AR15 for $20. Thought you other lefties might be interested.
 
I'm a lefty and it sucks. I make up for it by saving up and buying nice custom guns rather than run of the mill Remingtons or Savages. I'm happier in the long run anyway.

My Cooper is a left handed bolt action and it's a sweet shooter.
My HS Precision is a work of art....left handed bolt action.

I'm not complaining a bit.

Ed
 
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I have a left handed Savage Model 11GL I'm perfectly happy with as it does what I want it to do for me. Otherwise, I pretty much stick to leverguns or a Garand. I'm fine with it.

I do agree though that it don't make a whole lot of sense for some right handed people to say everybody oughta shoot right handed. I'm right handed, but I shoot left handed because of my dominant left eye. I actually do better that way. I disagree with the way the manufacturers do not producing enough left handed rifles that most everybody can get what they want. When I got my Savage, I was looking for a Model 70 Classic Compact, but guess what... no left handed Classic Compacts. I thought about getting the full sized Model 70 in .30-06, but I was after a .308 or .243 and that's what I got. Remington don't make a left handed Model 7 last I knew either. Savage beat Winchester and Remington both on left handed rifles, so I got the Savage.
 
The safety is the biggest issue I have. I think I like the controls on a righty better for shooting left handed, on almost everything I own, except the safety.
 
My first hunting rifle was a right handed Rem M700. I hunted with it for several years--long enough to know that it was possible to become profecient with it, but also long enough to know it was a PITA and I no longer cared to deal with it when I was paying the same amount, or even more so, of the same money. I now hunt with a left-handed BDL in 7mm Rem Mag.

My brother just got an AR-50. It's a sweet rifle. But I got to thinking...you can't use it for anything. The damn thing is so heavy you have to transport it in a truck. I wouldn't mind owning one, but I'd rather have something more practical (read: "portable"). That is why I was thinking .338 Lapua. Even with a heavy 26 to 28 inch barrel, most .338 Lapuas don't weigh much more than a heavy barreled .308 Win. You can find plenty of .338s in the 12 to 15 pound range. Add a scope, bipod, and some ammunition and the entire shooting system could feasibly round out to 18 to 20 pounds, or a little more. This is about half of what a .50 weighs but could provide about 2/3 of the range. It seems like this would be a rifle you could realistically find a use for. Even as a bench or competition rifle, I think the sacrifice in range would be worth it in some instances. But there just isn't any choices available for left-handed .338 Lapuas set up for 1200 to 1500 yards. That is what I am talking about--not just hunting rifles with big scopes--but shooting systems engineered to reach out and touch something.
 
I did a poll on the Nebraska Game & Parks website, and the number of shooters who shoot lefthanded was greater than 10%. It was over 15%. Evidently there are a number of righthanded people who shoot lefthanded due to left eye dominance or orther reasons.

I can't say as it ever bothered me to shoot RH bolt actions, though.

As far as "precision" rifles with more oomph, take a look at a Remington 40-XB in these calibers:

.300 Winchester Magnum
.300 Remington Ultra Mag
7mm Remington Magnum
7mm Shooting Times Westerner
7mm Remington Ultra Mag

I don't think they make a LH Model 700 or 40-XB in .338 Remington Ultra Mag, but I think one could be ordered easily enough from the Custom Shop. Factory loads with a .338 Remington Ultra Mag are within 100 fps of factory loaded .338 Lapua ammunition.
 
I asked Armalite if they were planning on offering their AR-30 .338 Lapua in left-hand and they said they aren't working on it now, but if they get enough interest they are open to the possibility.
 
I'm a lefty who learned to shoot using right-handed bolts. In fact, I do not own a left-handed firearm of any type.

I've gotten so used to right-handed bolts, that when shooting a fellow co-workers lefty bolt this past summer, it felt pretty awkward. I've been brain-washed!!! :)

I wish the selection were greater, but after becoming so comfortable with righty bolts, and being able to have what I consider fast enough follow up shots, it's almost a non-issue.

I think my opinion is definitely related to the fact that I did not learn to shoot left-handed, and therefore have not spent enough time with a left-handed bolt to appreciate the ergo's and ease of use.
 
I'm right handed but left eyed, so whether I shoot a bolt gun leftie or rightie, it's going to be one kind of awkward or another. If I get the bolt handle mounted straight up will that average the difference? ;)
 
It's just economics. I work for a holster company. 5.3% of our sales for the last several years were for left-handed models, which doesn't begin to cover the costs of putting a new holster design into production.

Basically, since it's not simply a matter of flipping over the pattern on a lot of holsters, all design time, patterns, dies, molds, general tooling and short run production costs for the 5.3% are essentially subsidized by the right-handed 94.7%. Quite honestly, we could make more money spending that time and production capacity making more right-handed holsters -- but of course that's not the "right" thing to do, at least for us.

This is just for holsters. R&D, tooling, etc. costs have to be astronomically higher for a firearm.
 
Ah, but do you offer all the same models for leftys as you do rightys? Are they as available as the RH ones (in stock)?
To say that 5% of your sales are LH holsters when you offer a few tokens could be misleading.
and, if so, is the fact that you carry LH holsters advertised by your company well enough?
As a lefty I assume by default, that a company doesnt carry lefty stuff, or if they do, its special order.
 
Thought: Assuming that the bolt turns counterclockwise to unlock; on many rifle designs, couldn't the bolt handle just be designed to be reversible? That is, you screw it in for a righty, and you grab it from the right side, lift up, and pull back to unlock and open the bolt, yeah? Or you put on the left-handed handle, and push it down and then pull back to unlock and open.

Wouldn't it be pretty simple to make a bolt whose back-end portion was replaceable so's you could have a left or right handed rifle at the drop of a hat? Not that I know a dadgum thing about anything with respect to manufacturing firearms, mind you, but it seems like a pretty simple concept.

~GnSx
Ever since I started using Firefox, playing Guild Wars, and lusting for AR-15s, I've started thinking that EVERYTHING should be modular and plug-in-able and personalizeable. What do you mean I can't put Adblock on my toaster? This is an outrage! Have you seen its pop-ups?! :D
 
It's just economics. I work for a holster company. 5.3% of our sales for the last several years were for left-handed models, which doesn't begin to cover the costs of putting a new holster design into production.

Basically, since it's not simply a matter of flipping over the pattern on a lot of holsters, all design time, patterns, dies, molds, general tooling and short run production costs for the 5.3% are essentially subsidized by the right-handed 94.7%. Quite honestly, we could make more money spending that time and production capacity making more right-handed holsters -- but of course that's not the "right" thing to do, at least for us.

This is just for holsters. R&D, tooling, etc. costs have to be astronomically higher for a firearm.
Click to expand...

That is for handguns though. A left handed bolt rifle can use the same case as a right handed one just as conveniently. Plus with holsters, you are competing against everyone else that offers a left handed holster. Here, there is no one to compete against. If a company offers a left-handed "tactical" .338 Lapua, they essentially have a monopoly for any southpaws looking to shoot something big or far.

I am even willing to pay more because I realize the economics are difficult. I just don't think there should be no options. I'd almost completely lose interest in a .50 caliber right now if I found a left-handed TRG-42 or AWM .338 Lapua.
 
MtMilitiaman;

Here, I'm in Montana & my battery includes all LHB guns in the calibers I wanted them in. One of them happens to be a Winchester .338 magnum, which could be reamed to Lapua I'd think. Haven't looked into it though as I've never seen the need.

If you're left dominant eyed, shooting a right hand bolt gun is neither necessary nor desirable IMHO. You can, if you apply yourself, find guns capable of taking any game in the western hemisphere. I've no desire to own a .375 H&H or a .458 Winchester magnum, but if Africa is your dream, go to MRC & place the order for either the gun or the action. Dakota will do it too, but for more money I'd think.

What's all the fuss?

900F
 
How many times do I have to say this?

I am not looking for a :cuss: hunting rifle. I have a hunting rifle. I am looking for a long range precision rifle capable of reaching out to 1500 yards or so that is more portable (and thus, practical, IMO) than a .50 caliber. But such a rifle doesn't seem to exist because manufactures don't seem to think lefties are interested in long range riflecraft.

THAT is what all the fuss is about.
 
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