History of Left Handed Guns???

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Razor62

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While I am a fancier of fine guns I am certainly not a historian. I am however a lefty who's been wondering for some time.....

Were left handed rifles common (as common as they are today)in colonial America? I'd guess not but I'd love to have some idea of whether or not a modern day left handed flintlock rifle represents something that may have been available in the day.

I understand that custom builders of old could build a rifle to order but were there orders or did lefties of yesterday simply learn to shoot right handed guns and only dream of having one made in left hand?
 
No. The only left hand actions you see are on DBL shotguns. Its extremely unusual to find a left hand action on any kind of musket or rifle. There is a LH flintlock action uncovered near New Orleans in a dig, all rusted, that appears to have been on a French made fowler, or Fusil, but that is the ONLY LH lock on a musket or rifle I have heard about.

Military arms were all made RHed, for convenience of storage, and transportation. All recruits were trained using their right shoulders to carry and fire these muskets. That practice carried on right through the Korean War. LHers had to learn to close that left eye and shoot with their right. I did see some live footage in a WWII film reel showing a U.S. sniper using a bolt action rifle with a scope on it, shooting it off his left shoulder, and using his left eye, but the reason I noticed was because it was so unexpected, knowing how they were trained.

Only when the M-16 was made, was any thought given to putting a deflector to keep brass from kicking back into the faces of LH shooters.

As soon as Mauser actions became available around the turn of the 20th century, gunsmiths began finding ways to convert them to LH for sportsmen who could afford that kind of work. Before that, Lever Action guns were considered "Neutral", to be used by both RH and LH shooters. Pump actions were available to extract empty casings and eject them out the bottom of the action( Ithaca Model 37 Shotgun, Browning Semi-Auto .22 rifle) But for the most part, Sporting arms were made for RH shooters, with little thought for LH shooters.

Today, you hear from RH shooters, and even some of the older LH shooters here, that it should be NO PROBLEM shooting a RH rifle- flintlock to SA-- with your LH. The question I ask, always of these folks is, If WHERE the action is located on the rifle/shotgun does NOT matter to shooting it with either hand, Then why don't RH shooters buy LH action guns to shoot????

I grew up learning to shoot RH rifles, and just dealing with the problems. As soon as I could afford a LH bolt action rifle, I bought it. I have a LH pump shotgun. There are LH Semi-auto rifles in various calibers that look like, and still use a lot of parts for the M-15/N16 rifle. And a company made a LH .45 Colt Clone for awhile. There have been LH Double Action revolvers.

We have seen LH flintlocks, and percussion locks made on guns, now, for the past 30-50 years, and they were a "custom" item before that. I don't recall ever seeing a LH Mule Ear lock, but since these are almost always hand made by the gun builder, I am sure one exists out there.

Underhammer actions are " Neutrals", but since the Hopkins and Allen guns ceased being produced, these guns are in short supply, and new ones are built by their owners, either making the actions themselves, or buying the parts or actions from one of two makers still doing them.

If you have a specific Question about a certain make of gun, send me a PT. I spent lots of years hunting information on LH guns 30 years ago. When I found that they simply didn't exist in Colonial America, I decided to not worry about History, and had a semi-custom made rifle with a LH action made or me. That Steel barrel isn't historically correct, either. :hmm: :grin:
 
Thanks Paul.
That's kinda' what I figured. I'll take comfort in the fact that we southpaws are somewhat less persecuted today than a couple hundred years ago. Seems today we have choices. Maybe not as many as the "left brainers" but at least a few. :grin:

Right now I'm in the process of building a rifle around the Allen box lock action. Here again there is no left hand action available so I settled and bought it anyway 'cause I really like the design. Now the question arises...Do I build a left hand gun with cheekpiece and capbox installed on the "wrong" side or do I keep with the right hand theme and shoot it left hand. I'm leaning toward building a right handed gun with no cheekpiece just so everything looks proper. Us lefties are used to adapting to the right handed world after all so it's really no big deal ...Right? :wink:
 
You can find some early English and Euro sporting arms that are left handed. These would have been for those of the ability to buy one.
 
yes left handers are ending the domination and persecution of all left handers by the right handers. We will rule and you can no longer makes us write with our right hand and left tied behind our back. We will succeed in making the right handers of the world left handed!!
 
Lefties were re-trained to be righties. Even my father was made to change over. It left him with limited skill in either hand. I'm glad he didn't do likewise with me. In colonial times it is more likely they'd have broken his arm rather than build him a left handed gun.
 
jdw276 said:
yes left handers are ending the domination and persecution of all left handers by the right handers. We will rule and you can no longer makes us write with our right hand and left tied behind our back. We will succeed in making the right handers of the world left handed!!
:rotf:
 
My mother's pediatrician chewed her out when she told him she was trying to make my brother and me eat our food with our right hands, when we clearly preferred using our left hands. He was way ahead of his time.

When I was in Grammar School, the nuns at the local Catholic Parochial School were using rulers to slap the Left hands of kids who used them to write. Many later left that school, and came on over to the public school. They had lots of problems with writing and other skills because of the emotional scars they carried over being " left handed".

I saw one kid's hand with deep Black And Blue bruises where the Nun beat his left hand repeatedly. Think that might have left a "lasting impression?" :shocked2: :( :nono: :barf: :cursing:

As for us being discriminated against, all I can tell you from personal observation was that in my Law School Class, a majority of the students were Left Handed :shocked2: , and more than 90% of us wore corrective lens. That gave us better than average ability to see, and most of us working with our Right Brain. :rotf:

When I pointed these facts out to fellow- LHed law students, they had NOT noticed, until I pointed this out, and they were also very shocked to see such a high percentage of LHed law students. One fellow actually began checking those who did not wear glasses, and found about half of them wore contact lenses, upping the percentage with corrective lenses in our "count".

I think a lot of kids who are emotional abused when they are young about things they cannot change map out careers to gain the power to stop that abuse from others, and to punish those who insist on continuing to discriminate against others who are "Different". :hmm: The other kids just got into lots of fights with the bullies, and stopped the discrimination right there. But, you could not take on adult bullies- especially the nuns.
 
Razor62 said:
While I am a fancier of fine guns I am certainly not a historian. I am however a lefty who's been wondering for some time.....

Were left handed rifles common (as common as they are today)in colonial America? I'd guess not but I'd love to have some idea of whether or not a modern day left handed flintlock rifle represents something that may have been available in the day.

I understand that custom builders of old could build a rifle to order but were there orders or did lefties of yesterday simply learn to shoot right handed guns and only dream of having one made in left hand?

I've been wrong many times before, and certainly make no claims about the future.

But I seem to recall there's even a left-handed Hawken floating around out there in a museum or private collection. It rang a bell with me not just because I'm a lefty. It's got a right handed lock with a left-handed cheek piece on the stock, just like my GRRW 58 cal Hawken.

Can't be sure and don't care. :rotf:
 
There has been an 18th cetuiry left hand lock found from a French Fusil and the double barreled guns go back to at least the mid 18th century if I recall correctly, for a colonial made lefty rifle it would likely be called available but quite rare, probably only for the upper crust.
 
jdw276 said:
yes left handers are ending the domination and persecution of all left handers by the right handers. We will rule and you can no longer makes us write with our right hand and left tied behind our back. We will succeed in making the right handers of the world left handed!!

Maybe we should seek reparations. :wink:

Soldiers would have had no choice but to shoot RH. Civilians it probably depended who if anyone taught them to shoot which way they held a gun. Like most lefties today we learn to shoot RH guns from the other side and don't know any better until we finally get our hands on a LH gun.

BTW a good friend has his grandpa's Parker. It has tons of drop at the heel because grandpa was left eye dominate. He shot RH but laid his head over the comb and used his left eye to sight.
 
But our forefathers these days in england drive on the left side of the road, have the gear shift on the left side of the car, ignition on the left. See if they can do it so can we.

Everyone should try it once!
 
Seems the days of keeping your left handed children out of normal society are over. Now it's permissable to allow them to come out of the basements and attics. I asked the original question out of curiousity becouse of a few stitch Nazi's that seem to have a coniption if your waistcoat is not entirely handstitched or your rifle back is not made of bark tannrd leather yet have no problem carrying their several left handed flint rifles and fowlers.
 
But our forefathers these days in england drive on the left side of the road, have the gear shift on the left side of the car, ignition on the left. See if they can do it so can we.

Everyone should try it once!
I'll shoot LH but I'll be da**** if I'll be driving LH anytime soon.

wm
 
I'm waiting for that person to chime in about a lefty adapting to right handed guns. Happens every time a left handed thread starts.

I'm a lefty. I have never fired a right handed muzzle loader and I never will.

I own many right handed unmentionables. That is only because there were no left handed firearms made then, especially milsurps. If there were I'd own them.

First time I saw a left handed AR upper, I had to have one. I'm just glad there are left handed muzzle loaders. If there weren't, I may have never gotten into this wonderful hobby.
 
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