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winters wrote:im lefty and all of my rifles are righty. I don't understand why people think shooting a right handed rifle left somehow makes it totally different. most left handed people are very ambidextrous since the world is made for righty's.

All I can say is that, if you are a lefty and left-eye dominant, and you ever get to spend some extended time on a left-handed rifle, you probably will come to prefer that layout.

In my case, I'm not just left-eye dominant, but my eyesight is a lot worse in my right eye than in my left; and having cataracts on top of that, the cataracts in my right eye are worse than in my left too. But even with corrective cataract surgery, my right eye is a little smaller and set further back in my face than my left, and it has never been as sharp......even back when I was a young man and had 20/15 in the left and 20/17 in the right. In other words, I am so hopelessly left-eye dominant, that I would have to be in very desperate circumstances to try and operate and shoot a rifle right-handed.

With that in mind, I owned and shot a right-handed Ruger .308 bolt gun for years. It was my first bolt gun. And I shot a fair number of other right-handed bolt guns over the years whenever someone gave me the opportunity to do so..... from Remington 700 SPS .308s to genuine K98 8mm Mausers to Carcanos to Enfields, to cheap little .22 "catalog guns". Yes, I can and have adapted by necessity to operating a right-handed rifle. But the first time I ever handled a left-handed bolt gun was in a pawnshop, and the rifle was a R700 in .270. It was all so natural, right off the cuff and never even having handled a lefty rifle before, that I swore that I would someday own a lefty. It was an absolute game-changer for me.

So when I had the opportunity to buy my R700, I snapped it up, and I haven't looked back since. I can appreciate a lot of the really cool newer precision rifles, but I'll never spend a penny on one unless they are offered in a left-handed action. If you're ever up my way in Grapevine and we can put together a range day, I'd be happy to let you spend time on either my R700 or Gunsite Scout, and you can see for yourself why I'm so adamant.... for MYSELF.... about never buying another right-handed bolt rifle.

It is true that my attitude subjects me to having to pay a price premium of as much as $50-$100 or so over the exact same model of rifle in a left-handed version, but I rationalize that cost this way: with a .30 caliber rifle, I can spend that much on (commercial) ammo alone during an afternoon-long range day, and a quality bolt gun has a multi-generational life-span if well taken care of. So when I amortize out that $50-$100 over my remaining lifespan it is really small potatoes. So when I compare the satisfaction of ownership over a lifetime, against a price premium which I can absorb, it's a no-brainer for me. As far as my right-handed son who will someday inherit my rifles goes, he can either do what I had to do for years and adapt himself to a left-handed rifle; OR, he can learn to shoot lefty; OR he can sell those rifles to fund the purchase of the rifle he really wants. It will be his to do with as he pleases, as I'll be otherwise occupied in the afterlife.

EODgunner wrote:So while I was in the Marine Corps I would do rifle coaching on and off so if nothing else I have some experience in teaching people. A lot of lefties and some right handed shooters will have eye dominance problems. (this mostly comes from parents forcing there kids to be left or right handed when they are not) So if you are going to force yourself into shooting your off hand (which isn't that crazy) you'll find the biggest problem is looking down the sights/scope. I forced many left handed shooters into shooting right but only the ones that were right eye dominant. Its easier for them to learn to grab the gun with a different hand then close the "wrong" eye. This might all me going right by you but in short I think you'll do just fine shooting right handed and may find that you prefer it. Given the time it has been since you first posted you might have already seen this. Let us know how it's going.

A friend of mine was medically retired out of the Marine Corps after several tours in Iraq and two in Afghanistan, after he got his right hand blown up by a land mine. He was a recon marine at the time. He remains a heck of a long-range shooter today and both competes and instructs others in that art. I have benefitted a little bit from his advice. He also competes in hardcore run and gun and 3-gun events. In any case, after having his right forearm and hand rebuilt, he had to teach himself how to shoot left-handed. His right hand is only semi-functional, including his trigger finger being all jacked up, and all it's good for now is cradling the fore-end of a rifle. So he learned to shoot lefty (including handguns), and he's pinging steel at crazy long ranges with all kinds of rifles. So a confirmed righty shooter can definitely learn to shoot lefty if necessary.

In fact, get a copy of "Feerless" by Eric Blehm. It's the story of SEAL Team 6 member Adam Brown who was KIA in Afghanistan in 2010. Brown had already been blinded in one eye during a training accident not long after graduating from BUD/S (he dropped his guard a second too soon at the conclusion of the training scenario during a dynamic entry, and caught a simmunition round right in the eye). He graduated from the SEAL sniper school, and deployed to Iraq. During the Iraq deployment, while waiting to hear if he had been selected for Team 6 training, he was involved in a catastrophic high speed roll-over accident in a humvee. The fingers of his right hand were crushed in the roll-over and mangled. He had to have his hand rebuilt, and never recovered full function. So then Brown had to learn to shoot both handguns, carbines, AND sniper rifles left-handed in a very short time so that he could still qualify for Team 6. Long story short, he still made it into Team 6, and he apparently remained an outstanding shot with both long and handgun.

Still, having owned right-handed guns and having to adapt myself to them, and having owned left-handed guns that worked perfectly for me right out of the box, I'd rather the latter than the former. Ever since having purchased that Remington 700, whether a gun was either left-handed or at least ambidextrous has driven pretty much most of my purchasing decisions, for both handguns and long guns. So I've become spoiled. Sure, I can adapt if I have to, but I don't have to, and I don't want to.

Badmojo108 wrote:My only other concern is that I am southpaw, but I have no desire to purchase a left handed gun. So if any other southpaws have some advice on operating a right handed bolt action, or with specific guns they have found unfriendly I would appreciate hearing about that as well.

Thank you in advance for your time, and I look forward to reading your responses.

I am a southpaw and own two left-handed bolt guns in .308 - a heavy-barreled Remington 700 precision rifle, and a Ruger Gunsite Scout. The Remington was my first left-handed rifle purchase, and I had owned right-handed actions before that. After having owned a left-handed bolt gun, I swore I'd never buy another right-handed one.......it was THAT much better to shoot. It is true that you pay a slight premium for lefty rifles over the price of righty rifles, but for me it is totally worth it.

I'm just curious why you don't want a left-handed one for yourself.

BTW, Howa also makes some decent rifles at affordable prices (sometimes sold under someone else's brand), and don't be afraid to give Mossberg rifles a look. http://www.mossberg.com/products/rifles ... mvp-series