I'm In Deep Doo Doo .... NOW!

[Three44s]

For all my life, I have shot right handed bolt guns ........... left handed!

Sure, I have my share of what I call ....... ambidexterous guns ....... pumps, semi's and single shots ......... but ALL ........ not most .... but everyone of my bolt guns have been ........

Right handers!

Till now!

Friday ...... a left hand bolt gun ...... a stainless Savage short action in .243 win followed me home ....

.... you know the drill ..... the price was very right ..... and I walked away ...... I knew I was going to regret it in the long run!

Now .... the dominoes are about to fall ........ all those other bolt guns are going to be judged by that lefty ........ and I told the shop owner that ..... he was very happy to sell me the LH Savage cheap ...... knowing he's going to get a flood of Righties in to trade for more lefties.

It's not good ......... not even a little bit!

Three 44s

[Houndog]

Three 44's

I too am a lefty and shot right handed bolt guns forever, even for uncle sam, untill I started shooting Benchrest. I bought a left bolt right port Stolle Panda cheap and the rest is history! ALL my right handed bolt guns suddenly seemed extremely awkward to shoot and the trading began! If things turn out for you like they did for me that little Savage will turn out to be a favorite of yours, AND one of the most expensive rifles you've ever bought once the trading starts.

[Rick Hodges]

Hehehe, welcome to the club.....

[kungfustyle]

Hi, my name is Jeff and I'm a gun-a-holic. It all started......
It's funny with one obsession came about four more: Guns, shooting, reloading, casting, and now fishing mold casting.

[texassako]

I found a right hand bolt can be pretty handy on the bench for a lefty, but my hunting bolt rifles are all left hand actions. Operating a right hand bolt in the field feels so clumsy after using a proper left hand action.

[Walla2]

Doomed!!

[tdoyka]

welcome!!! i see there is another among us who view right handed bolt actions as an affront to left handers such as us!!!:wink::lol::lol:

[Three44s]

Ok ........ I feel better now ......... LOL!

Best regards

Three 44s

[pworley1]

All seems right with the world now that the bolt handle is where it should be.

[2wheelDuke]

I got a lefty bolt Ruger a few years ago and love it. Price was good on Gun Broker. It's been a safe queen since I got a stainless Gunsite scout in lefty.

[Three44s]

My issue is that I have a significant number of right hand bolt guns ..... and trading could get expensive.

texassako has the best idea .... bench feed the righties and hunt with the lefties ......

One way or the other, the cat is out of the bag and it's gonna get interesting.

I just finished with the Lefty Savage .243 sporter for the evening. My wife's horse is pretty shy of gun blasts and as it's pasturing in a different area I chose to give it a break and shoot at a different location ...... I did not take the time to step off 100 yds. but guessed at it .....

I ended up at 85 yds .... but shooting into the sun ..... that handicapped me some ...... and my old standby J-word the Hornady 75 gr. HP shot three into .335" ...... the previous group at a 1/2 gr. less came in at .490" ...... this is all with Reloder 17 and a CCI 200 primer.

When I regain my old shooting spot, I am going to dial her in a little more....... that .335" group was a vertical string, I am thinking primer or charge change ...... all in all, I am pretty pleased thus far!

I think she's going to be a pretty fair cast candidate as well.

Best regards

Three 44s

[starmac]

I never could figure why they put the bolt on the wrong side of so many rifles.
I am right handed but shoot left handed, instead of shooting bolts, I just shot levers and pumps for years. I did go a left handed muzzle loader, and finally started trading for some left handed bolts. I didn't actually start buying right handed bolts until after I bought a few leftys, but as a result of shooting levers and pumps for years, they still get 90% or better of my shooting time. Old habits are just hard to break, and I'm not even sure they need to be. lol

[gmsharps]

I only have one left hand bolt gun and it's in 375 H&H. This is for the off chance to ever shoot dangerous game. If that chance ever comes I know I will have to practice a lot with it to get the muscle memory taken care of so as not to be reaching for the wrong side bolt. I did procure a left hand flinter just to get the flash a bit further away from my face. I look at it that if I put a bullet anywhere close to where it is supposed to be I will have plenty of time to operate the bolt and so far that has been the case. I also use lever guns and single shots just because I like them. When the dreaded time comes right hand guns are easier for my heirs to dispose of than correct handed guns.

gmsharps

[Three44s]

I never could figure why they put the bolt on the wrong side of so many rifles.
I am right handed but shoot left handed, instead of shooting bolts, I just shot levers and pumps for years. I did go a left handed muzzle loader, and finally started trading for some left handed bolts. I didn't actually start buying right handed bolts until after I bought a few leftys, but as a result of shooting levers and pumps for years, they still get 90% or better of my shooting time. Old habits are just hard to break, and I'm not even sure they need to be. lol

Starmac,

Well, there are plenty of left hand shooters but I guess what drives things is that if the manufacturers can place a right hand gun on a shelf and it sells ....... they will just keep doing what works.

I kept buying them and using them and I would imagine a lot of lefties did as well.

But now with a lefty in my collection ........ "this old dog" has to learn a new trick or two .... LOL!

Best regards

Three 44s

[Three44s]

I only have one left hand bolt gun and it's in 375 H&H. This is for the off chance to ever shoot dangerous game. If that chance ever comes I know I will have to practice a lot with it to get the muscle memory taken care of so as not to be reaching for the wrong side bolt. I did procure a left hand flinter just to get the flash a bit further away from my face. I look at it that if I put a bullet anywhere close to where it is supposed to be I will have plenty of time to operate the bolt and so far that has been the case. I also use lever guns and single shots just because I like them. When the dreaded time comes right hand guns are easier for my heirs to dispose of than correct handed guns.

gmsharps

gm,

You raise some good points.

The issue of getting a first shot off in a timely fashion is a concern to me ..... I'm not going north or to Africa but even here there are some critters that can take a bit more than the seat out of your pants if you tick'em off.

In my case, I am so focused on right hand bolt -- left hand shooter ...... that believe it or not this lefty rifle that's new to me is strange!

I don't know if I can run my brain in two grooves effectively or not. I know I can adapt to the left handed rifle but can I switch back and forth seamlessly to my many right hand bolts?

But what's life without challenges?

Best regards

Three 44s

[warboar_21]

I bought my first left handed rifle about a month ago. It's taking some getting used to that's for sure. So far though I really enjoy working the bolt with my trigger hand rather than dropping my right hand back to manipulate the bolt.

[Dhammer]

Yup, got mine a few years ago too. Next one will be a custom in a lefty.

[dnepr]

Yup treated myself to a left hand ruger scout a couple years ago . Definitly stared something . Then you ask yourself why the H didn't you do this 10 years ago. I would probably be going broke right now buying left hand bolts ,if wasn't already broke from treating myself to my first brand new motorcycle . Again why didn't I do this 10 years ago;-)

[Three44s]

The left hand bolt gun is still feeling foriegn after so many years shooting RH guns from my left side but I am looking forward to ending that through usage.

It looks good and feels good but I am so used to being able to see the rounds and their manipulation or freely interviening without rolling the rifle over on it's side.

I think I've heard of "left bolt right port"?

Best regards

Three 44s

[pjames32]

I made the mistake years ago when Savage came out with their 110 in LH. My second mistake was having a friend in a pawn shop order me a Remington 700 LH. Now EVERY LH rifle he gets results in a phone call and an offer of a very good deal for me. Seems like every one he gets I think I need and the safe is FULL.
PJ

[tdoyka]

although left handed bolts are the "right" ones, i still like my single shots:grin:

[winelover]

All my "bolts", as well as muzzle loaders are LH......the wife's are RH......but I have no qualms shooting them.;-)

Winelover

[5.7 MAN]

Lefty here as well, I owned a couple of right handed hunting bolt guns and they just never felt right and went down the road. Back in the early 90s when the 303 British boat came in I bought a SMLE and a couple of cases of 303 ammo. After those cases were gone I was pretty confident right or left handed though for real target accuracy I shot left hand due to left eye dominance. My current L hand ruger GSR is one of my favorite rifles I own.

Enjoy that "specialized" savage, it will be a shooter!

[Tackleberry41]

Shooting from a bench I don't really see much of a difference. I bought a ruger #1 years ago, as I got tired of reaching over the top to cycle the bolt on my browning. Then picked up a Savage lefty. Most guns its not even an option. I don't do certain things to guns so others can use them, like the shell carrier that attaches to a M4 style shotgun stock. Works for me, nobody else can use it.

Only gun I didn't like being a lefty was one of the DPMS slick sides. Overgased carbine, took some effort so it didn't hit me with brass. Even then it just barely missed. Sold it off, to pay for a HK33. My first and probably only AR15.

[gloob]

Hmm. I have considered buying a LH bolt rifle, and I'm a righty. It would have to be a rifle with a pretty severe pistol grip or a custom thumbhole stock, so the bolt would clear without shifting my trigger hand grip.

I wouldn't be the first to have this idea. I have seen RH benchrest shooters using a LH bolt. There seem to be a lot of lefthanders that prefer RH bolts.

[starmac]

Whoa, you right handers can't be buying up our leftys, there ain't hardly enough to go around now.
Something to think about is right hand bolts are engineered to blow away from the shooter if something goes wrong, IF you are shooting right handed, the same with left handed. I shoot some right hand bolts because that is what is available, or what I can afford and odds against something bad happening are in my favor. If I shot right handed I would not consider getting a lefty for the bench, or any other reason.

[gloob]

Some rifles have a wide open ejection port on top, rather than a small port off to one side. That would be the only kind of action I would consider going wrong-handed. I don't want to have to learn to load the mag wrong-handed.

Look at the bright side. If there's a fad of RH'ers buying LH bolt guns, they will become much more common. :)

[doc1876]

So you want pain, do you? Check out this, it seems to be a true ambidextrous rifle.

Sommer & Ockenfuss

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOrVd1gwRvc&feature=youtu.be

[cpaspr]

I grew up mostly shooting a pump .22, a Win94 in .30-30, and a .30 M1 carbine left-handed. All were "handedness" neutral. Occasionally I shot a bolt gun from a bench, but would just reach over the top and run the bolt with my left hand.

Graduation present from college was a .308 pump Remington.

Six years ago I acquired a right-handed center-fire bolt gun in .30-06. Even though I'm left-handed, I'm right-eye dominant. For this one, I've refused to shoot it left handed. This will be a hunting rifle, and I want to run it properly.

[ebner glocken]

I don't own a single left handed gun but am left handed. After a lifetime of shooting only right handed guns it's a habit to keep my left hand in shooting position and run the bolt with my right hand, I'm sure that if I had a lefty in my youth this would feel odd to say the least. Interestingly enough though single action pistols seem very natural and quick to load IMO they are totally natural to the lefty. The most difficult rifle for me to run was an AK as the stock was built for a 5'4" right hand person, it blew brass and debris a few inches from my eye and had a different stock on it within a week.

The most odd pistol for me is (although I love these pistols for other reasons anyway) is the savage striker. I have to flip the thing upside down to cycle the bolt or do a reach around. DA revolvers when using speed loaders are inverted and the cylinder is closed when returning back to right side up.

You guys are really talking me out of ever buying a left handed gun as I'm afraid it may be liked WAY too much.

Ebner

[Three44s]

With all the years I have shot RH bolt guns left handed ....... it just seems natural to me.

But the points are well taken about a RH rifle for a lefty on a bench and a LH rifle for a lefty in the field as well as the physical fact that a LH bolt gun is safer for a lefty to shoot in case of a catastophic failure.

My LH rifle still seems somewhat foreign to me, but I'll get over it.

And yes, I have already pictured some more LH rifles in my mind's eye!

It just never ends!

Best regards

Three 44s