left-handed pistols

C

citizen

New member
Hello, a civilized greeting to all.
Stumbled upon this, and other forums; I'm encouraged to participate.
The expertise I've witnessed here over the last few days is impressive; and so I seek your cumulative counsel.
I'd like another pistol; maybe a carry piece; but want something different. I'm left-handed; and wonder if anyone's run across one with at least a left ejection port. Or maybe a right-sided safety. Any help?
 
There have only been a very few handguns made that can be considered "left handed."

Randall firearms made some 1911-type pistols in 9mm and .45 ACP that were truly left handed.

Rocky Mountain Arms also made some left-handed 1911s, but these were priced WAY into the stratosphere.

In revolvers the situation is about the same.

Believe it or not, though, because of the loading gate location, the Colt Single Action Army and many of its clones are more conducive to being shot left handed than right.

As for the safety situation, there are quite a few manufacturers who either put the safety on both sides of the gun or who make provisions for swapping it around to the right side, where it can be more easily worked by a left hander.

Aftermarket modifications are also available for many popular semi-autos.

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Beware the man with the S&W .357 Mag.
Chances are he knows how to use it.
 
I'm left handed, and have come to accept that alomst all guns are made for right-handed people, and that just about all these can effectively be fired by lefties (with the exception of bolt-action rifles). Most features on a handgun, as far as I know, cannot be easily mirrored to the left-hand side by a gunsmith. This would involve a complete re-working of the internals of the gun. The single exception are probably safeties, especially for a 1911.

That said, I have learned to adjust. For example, on a semi-auto, I release the magazine with my forefinger or middle fingle instead of my thumb. And on a revolver, same thing, I use my forefinger for the thumbpiece. Revolvers are especially difficult because you have to reload by crossing over with the right hand. I do sympathize, but as a fellow shooter said to me recently during an IDPA match as I lamented over this very same issue, "Life isn't fair, so quit complaining".
 
Manufacturers like Ruger and H&K manufacture guns with ambidexterous (spelling?) magazine releases as well. Many other manufacturers make left hand mag releases that can be swapped in for the righty one that comes on the gun.

As far as left eject goes, I don't think it would be a big deal to have cases coming out the right side. It's not like you'll be firing the gun up close to your face like a rifle. In many shooting positions such as weaver stance and others, the side of ejection shouldn't matter at all.

Like Mike said, the SAA and clones are very well suited to leftys. This is because the gun was designed to be reloaded by right handed soldiers soldiers while on horseback. Right handed soldiers could switch the gun to their left hand which was also holding the reigns while they reloaded with their dominant right hand. However, when not on a running horse, it would be just as easy to reload with the weak hand. Incidentally, there have been some custom gun makers that have made right handed SAA's with the loading gate on the left side of the gun. Just an interesting little tidbit of history that I thought I'd pass along.

Good shooting.
 
Agree with Mike bout single action wheel guns bein lefty friendly. Agree with Rock bout swing cylinder wheelguns bein a bear to reload quickly for a lefty. I solve some of the problem by shootin as much as I can either handed, and either eyed. Comes pinch time and you have cinder in master eye and bad guy did in your strong hand, odd combo practice may save a life. Yours.

Sam...Old, crotchety, opinionated and caint spell humbel
 
The first producer of the all-left handed 1911 was Randall Arms. About 495 were made (about 7% of overall production) before Randall closed its doors in 1984. They were touted to be the "Only Stainless Steel fit for duty" and with exception of the sights, were made entirely of stainless. Some digression is in order here. Back in the early '80s, stainless autos were relatively new and there was extensive problems with galling. Randall was one of the first to figure out that two different types of stainless (or its hardness) had to be used for the slide and the frame. Only the sights, which were made by Millet, were blued steel.

Rocky Mountain made a few, but were priced at around $1,500 (back in '87, this was a fortune).

The third manufacturer of the left handed 45 was MS Safari Arms. MS Safari Arms had been purchased by Olympic Arms (the AR-15 folks) who then bought Randall's machinery when they closed down. One employee told me that there were fewer left handed "Renegades" made than fingers on one's hand. The highest serial # I know of is #11. They're more scarce than the Randalls and have been out of production for years now.

Regarding left handed operation of a pistol, save for any manually operated external safety, I wouldn't worry about it. As a certified southpaw (and probably the Senior Ranking SouthPaw at TFL), I use a Sig P220. My trigger finger operates both the decocker and the mag release. I don't even notice the shells popping out on the right hand side (left eye dominant helps here).

If you're ever in CA, look me up. I'll let you shoot a southpaw Randall.
 
It's a beautiful thing; to see fellow Americans help one another. I've just learned more in less time than I could have on my own. Thank you all. And Gary- a most generous offer I'll not forget, though it won"t happen soon. Now, on with the show. :D
 
Welcome aboard Citizen. Iffen you be close, give a holler and we can play with our toys.

Sam...when I was very young my parents declared me neither handed...they were right.
 
4V50 Gary, I think the number of Renegades made is more towards two or three dozen (though how many were actually sold to end customers is another question). There apparently was some sort of disconnect between the product people and the marketing people, because they started making them and never really had any advertising, except for the usual cryptic entry in Shooter's Bible.

Depending on how you define "11" mine has a higher serial number.
 
Does anyone actually make one that ejects out of the left side?
 
Citizen, the Walther P5 Compact (and full size) is a left-ejection pistol.

IMHO, the Walther P5c is the finest 9mm carry pistol made - and I have 5 9mm pistols.

CMOS

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NRA? Good. Now join the GOA!

The NRA is our shield, the GOA will be our sword.
 
Hello fellow lefties!

I know this isn't what you're looking for, but I'm SEVERELY left-handed, made even more so by breaking my right arm in 8 places at one point, so I never got full use back.

My H&K USP 45 in Variant 2 is all the left handed I need. It's got a safety on the right side only, which makes me feel good that, if it ever got into the hands of a BG, it would take him a couple of extra seconds to make it go bang. The mag release is ambi-dexter's lab, and is the easiest to work of all mag-drops I've used. But to be honest, I still use the middle finger of my left hand to drop the mag or release the slide, (as well as signal in traffic, but we won't talk about that ;) )

Side note... AR-15 rifles have the most leftie-friendly parts available in a semi (including left side eject), and Savage has the biggest variety of leftie bolt-guns I've seen.

[This message has been edited by Onslaught (edited September 14, 2000).]
 
Here's a second recommendation for the Walther P5 series. Convinced a lefty pal to buy one and now it's her duty gun. Says it's the easiest gun to operate she's ever come across - the controls are on the left and can be operated with the trigger finger. One press of the lever releases the slide, a second press of the same lever decocks the hammer. Very neat!

It's accurate, reliable (uses the dropping-block action, same as the Walther P-38 and Beretta 92) and robust.

Last I looked, Bachman Pawn and Gun had them for as little as $479, new in box. They bought the remainder of the stock when Interarms, the importer, went out of business. The P5 is now out of production, so the value should increase if that's a concern to you.

Mec-Gar still makes magazines, Earl's Repair Service has fine wood grips, and PWL Leathers makes a full line of holsters (IWB, slide, etc) for the series.

It's a fine heater for a southpaw. I encourage you to look into one.

Ken Strayhorn
Hillsborough NC
 
Interesting about the Walther P5. I got to shoot a vintage (1944) P-38 recently and it definitely did eject brass to the left. The owner also had a P-08, and although I didn't shoot it, it ejected straight up and back.

Don't know if anybody will try and make a true left-handed pistol, but in my looking at lots of pictures, I think the small Taurus Millennium models do seem to have a symmetric (left to right) ejection port opening in the slide. (I think) While this probably means nothing, it could be useful to somebody trying to do a mirror image conversion.

[This message has been edited by HumpMan (edited September 14, 2000).]
 
There's the Desert Eagle:
1. The brass flies a different direction each time fired(left/right, backwards/forwards). So makes no difference which hand it is shot with.
2. Ambidexterous (Sp?) safety.
3. Mag release/slide release is for right handers though.
4. Carry piece. We'll that's up to the individual!
 
Citizen,
Welcome aboard...How about the CZ-85 in 9mm?
Check it out at www.cz-usa.com
It has the slide stop on left/right as well as ambi-safety to carry cocked/locked.
If I was a lefty I'd be all over one, but since I'm a "righty" my CZ-75 will suffice (as soon as I get it out of lay-away!) :)
 
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