Left handed rifles

[mushka]

Right handed up until I lost vision in my right eye due to lazer surgery to the retina. If I wanted to shoot long guns I had to shoot left handed. This happened in my late 40's. I didn't like shooting the standard bolt rifles right handed so I sold the centerfires and bought lefties which worked better for me. The autos and semi's didn't make any difference. When I started the MZ guns I had no problems. I did end up getting two left handed MZ rifles but in MZ rifles for whatever reason I prefer the right handed rifles. I think that it's because of the way I load them, basically right handed.

 

[Mulemauler]

As others have said, they were around but not common. I've seen many rifles that have cheek pieces on the right hand side of the stock and cast off for use by a lefty but with right handed locks.

 

[TBone]

There are engravings for books and such showing left handed calivers in troops in the late Elizabethan era. It is not a reversal thing in the print - the rapiers were correctly hung for right handed use.

 

[TobJohn]

There are engravings for books and such showing left handed calivers in troops in the late Elizabethan era. It is not a reversal thing in the print - the rapiers were correctly hung for right handed use.

I know of a surviving Landsknecht arquebus lock and barrel that are left handed. It backs up some of the art that shows their use

 

[MikeWas]

And that may speak to the reason the lefties are uncommon. It wasn't unusual for lefties to be forced into using the right hand right into the 20th century.

Sinister is Latin for left. It came to modern English via French to late middle English, meaning harmful, threatening, ominous, or evil. That gives you an idea of how lefties were regarded.

Note that the original meaning, more or less, is still used in heraldry. A "bar", a diagonal stripe across a family crest, is called bar sinister if it slants to the left. It is used to indicate a bastard house, a branch of the family descended from an illegitimate son.

Many ties have diagonal stripes, almost all to the right. I've seen one that had stripes to the left worn by a co-worker long ago. He was left-handed and thought it was a great joke to have a bar sinister tie. A great joke, but one that few people actually got.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Hmmm..., maybe I should change my avatar image ???

LD

 

[beardedhorse]

Muzzleloaders made left handed were definitely historically correct but were exceptions rather than the rule. Landis Valley Museum exhibit catalog shows not only lefties but those weird stocks designed for right hand shooters with left dominant eyes so nicely illustrated by Loyalist Dave.

If locks for double barrel shotguns and rifles were in existence then so were left hand locks - both flint and percussion. For my first muzzle loading long rifle I had to build the left hand lock using internals from Russell K. Hamm. That was in the early 70's. Am at quandary whether to do make a John Newcomer inspired rifle with a right hand R. E. Davis Twigg Lock or an L and R Baby Manton or Durs Egg left hand flint. I like the large size and springing of the Twigg but not like idea of the flash coming back toward my face when the wind blows from the wrong direction. The smaller left hand locks would contribute to less rifle movement after tripping the sear due to the momentum of heavier, larger cock. Have no problem shooting right hand percussion rifles

 

[Packrat]

I had a LH Lancaster style built for my wife, years ago, by JP Gun Stocks. They are out of business now, but it is a sweet rifle. Built for my wife who is 5'2' in 50 caliber

 

[Doc]

Here’s two on the correct side
Doc,

 

[Pete G]

I had a LH Lancaster style built for my wife, years ago, by JP Gun Stocks. They are out of business now, but it is a sweet rifle. Built for my wife who is 5'2' in 50 caliber

You have a 50 caliber wife???

 

[appalichian hunter]

Gotta look out for those 5-2, 50 cal. wimmens I live with one.

 

[Johnny406]

Another Lefty here, I really don't know how long LH muzzleloaders have been around but there is a LH flintlock German made pistol on GB that allegedly dates back into the late 1700's. I have five LH percussion rifles myself, only one is a antique and the rest are more modern reproduction muzzleloaders.