[counterrant]
The victim mentality sure can sneak up on one, can’t it?
The Annoyed Man wrote: So I discount the opinions of right handed shooters on this topic because those opinions have no bearing on the realities for a left handed person.
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It is my observation that right handed people tend to be dismissive of the concerns of left handed people in the market place.
So can bigotry. The old “It’s a XXXXX thing, you could’t understand” argument is bull, and always was. It’s just a way to pretend someone who may not agree with you has an inferior intellect. It is possible for good, reasonable, and intelligent people to disagree. I'd like to think that is the case here.
The Annoyed Man wrote:The more left-handed people who insist on the availability of left handed products, the more left handed products will be easily available in the marketplace.
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Manufacturers are going to always follow the path of least resistance, and the only reason they aren't stepping up is because we left handers have let them get away with it.
That's the basic “us versus them” mentality showing its head as well. You're advocating insisting on actions by people whose opinions and therefore ideas you have discounted, and who you've generalized as dismissive?
I have traits and issues that make some things difficult for me. We all do. I don’t pretend that others can’t understand because they haven’t been in exactly my situation. I find a way and go about my business. A lot of people around me do not know my issues and limitations.
I did not dismiss the issues faced by left-handers. I pointed out an example of someone I knew who opened his eyes to several possibilities, found some that worked for him, and excelled.
I am very sensitive to what southpaws go through, having a son with that trait. To make it more of a challenge, he is cross-dominant: left-handed and right-eyed. He prefers to shoot right handed, and does very well. I did not teach him to seek out others like him for some kind of bonding and validation, to hold some kind of grudge or bias against those who are different, or to bemoan the lack of equipment designed for his particular situation. He has learned to look for gear that suits him, to use the more common equipment if that’s what’s available, and to adapt or adapt to things as needed to get the job done.
[/counterrant]
Now that that’s out of the way …
First: I was misquoted. Let’s be careful with the attributions. It’s a coding thing, but a simple one.
Second: My point with respect to this thread: Specifically designed equipment might be more convenient once acquired, but it’s possible to use wrong-handed gear well. Keeping that in mind opens up a lot of options for all of us.
It’s true that left handed rifles are not all that common. Left-friendly rifles are pretty common, though. Levers work up and down, and some don’t even eject across your sight line. The same goes for pump rifles. Most of the newer AR’s bump the ejected rounds away, and older AR’s can use deflectors. Some military rifles can be reconfigured to more-or-less full left hand operation. Truly ambidextrous repeating rifles exist – the bottom-eject Browning .22 auto comes to mind – but are not common at all.
As far as efficiency, let’s admit something. If the purpose is truly rapid rifle fire, manually operated repeaters are not the way to go at all, no matter what hand is working the bolt, lever, or pump. Semiautos require much less physical shooter involvement, freeing the shooter to concentrate on firing. Personally, I like cranking a bolt in rapid fire, using stripper clips, and lining up a post front sight in an aperture rear sight … I really do … but that’s another thread.
Kum ba ya, anyone?