Lefty friend isn't good enough for me... Actually, I am right handed but, an accident years ago took partial field of view from my right eye...
So, now I shoot left handed...
Would you (as a right hand shooter) buy a rifle that was "righty friendly"? Think long and hard about this.,
Also, who is making stocks anymore... I can only find a couple and they are for people with much deeper pockets than mine...
I sure wish someone was making walnut stocks like Maccari used to offer... I would love to have a simple walnut stock for my presafety R7.
Teleamp, to give you the short answer; No. I would not buy a gun that was merely righty-friendly or "right-ish." I would want a truly right-handed gun. I feel your pain. I am left eye dominant even though I'm right handed. This causes issues shooting a shotgun.
I once enquired on a shotgun forum about true left-handed semi-auto shotguns. The responses were divided but completely unhelpful. About a third suggested I just shoot right handed. About a third suggested that I shoot a right-handed gun left-handed and about a third suggested I just get a pump or break action.
Anyway, I'm going off topic. Don't compromise. It's your money and your experience. Hold out for what you want. I only wish that I knew where to point you.
I have a belt sander and I am getting weird urges... Maybe a spoke shave would be the better tool?
Every time I see a prospect shown from the side I would shoulder I get my hopes up, then I see the other side... Dang
I've been left-handed all my life, but I was taught to shoot by my right-handed father and older brothers. I instinctively shoulder a rifle or shotgun to my right shoulder. Left side feels weird, and wrong.
When I was a youngster, I was a pretty bad shotgun shooter. I didn't know then about eye dominance.
But after MANY years of shooting air rifles right-handed, mostly with peeps and 10M apertures, my eye dominance has actually shifted to my right eye. The brain can be trained. I am not quite yet at the point where I can leave both eyes open, but if I do the "point at a distant object then close one eye" test, my right eye is on and my left eye is off.
FWIW, I'm still a pretty shitty both-eyes point-and-shoot shotgunner when it comes to rising pheasants. But target work with an air rifle, Right eye all the way.
Supposedly lefties make up 10-15% of the population. Shooting sports take place in a right handed world and unfortunately most gun manufacturers say sales of left handed models don’t justify the expense involved in making and stocking them. I’ve reached the point in my unapologetic left handed life where I simply will not “make do” with a RH gun. Those manufacturers that don’t make something that I want or can use can suck it. I’ll get what I want even if that means paying for a custom stock.
@jiminpgh
Believe me, if I could see out of my right eye I would still be shooting RH...
Thank you... I am thinking of taking a belt sander to the unused side of the left friendly stock and making it symetrical. Or, should I use a spoke shave?
Life is too short to use a wrong-handed weapon. I vote with my wallet and only buy weapons designed for left-handed shooters.
I have been shooting lefty all my life,so of course I had to shoot right hand rifles.
I just bought a PCP , not bullpup ,but close to it,the right handed lever is too close to my face,the PCP is multi shot,but I can not really use it that way because I have to move it off my shoulder to cock it.....
Shot guns,learned my lesson, got a model 37 that ejects on the bottom,fact is it is not too hard to get a lefty shotgun
Pellet rifle not ,but there are a few lefty rifles....
This subject has been talked about before....
I am sick and tired of comprising my shooting "stance" or comfort to be able to shoot a hard to shot right handed rifle....antidistourous can work for me though.
"I mad as hell and won't take it anymore".
By the way Boyds stocks has some left handed stocks as do some other stock makers,cost is say $120 to $180.....
No more bolts in my face,no more feathers to ruffle.
One other thing,has been mentioned=the Eyes,or the Eye is why many shot left handed, that said it does NO good to try to shoot right handed because will we know.
Now I shoot a pistol right handed,but if you watch me I hold the pistol in the middle of my body and as always have Both eyes opened.
As has been stated by the Rolling Stones," You don't always get what you want,but if you try you my find you get what you need".
Mebbe I'm just dumb, but am confused by the question...what is the issue exactly?
Are we talking about actions, or stocks? Has someone been advertising airguns and/or stocks as "lefty friendly," which are not either truly left-handed, or ambidextrous?
Re- shaping the stock is doable. I built a steamer using a tea kettle, I steamed the area of the wrist, until it was pliable enough, to put a twist and off set on the but end of the stock, to get the fit I wanted.
Lefty friend isn't good enough for me... Actually, I am right handed but, an accident years ago took partial field of view from my right eye...
So, now I shoot left handed...
Would you (as a right hand shooter) buy a rifle that was "righty friendly"? Think long and hard about this.,
Also, who is making stocks anymore... I can only find a couple and they are for people with much deeper pockets than mine...
I sure wish someone was making walnut stocks like Maccari used to offer... I would love to have a simple walnut stock for my presafety R7.
Personally, I prefer "ambi" stocks in general purpose rifles because I do like to shoot now and then from my "weak side", it is a good practice and training. My ambi stocks become RH when I add a leather cheekpiece, but I do know that I need to stock some LH cheekpieces always. So, to me it is a non-issue.
TARGET rifles are different. In there you need to stack the odds in your favour and then either a properly sided cheekpiece, or a real target stock that is "single-dextrous" is the way to go.
NOW, Even though the left handed market is small, it is growing faster than the RH market.
There are two reasons for this:
1.- As many have stated children were TAUGHT to be right handed, being a "southpaw" was not seen as "proper". Even the term itself is somewhat derisive. Now, we tend to respect the biological differences of people.
2.- As more and more left eye dominant persons recognize the fact, they are looking for "ambi" stocks. Now these are not as "comfy" as properly carved, single sided, custom, Tyrolean, but they are more than workable.
Since the world of guns is going in the sense of ambi-dexterity, then its a question of finding what works for each.
MOST of the "Performance" line guns in the DIANA line have "Ambi" stocks. The Action line is not so refined.
HTH
HM
The issue is Not enough left-handed stocks available.
The issue is having to compromise our left-handed shooting position to adapt to right-handed stocks and actions, sometimes reaching over the stock to be able to use the bolt
For the most part adapting to shoot a right-handed Springer is not such a problem.
Maybe the problem lies in not enough choices for us that shot lefty.
We have been adjusting our shooting all these years,we want more choices for left-handed model air guns,Not necessarily ambi-stocks...which are a compromise to all...but better than nothing.
When people say 10-15% people are left-handed that is not a true number because many shoot lefty because of their eyesight.
I sometimes shoot right-handed, but it takes so long because the wrong eye has to line up the sights.
We usually have to pay more for a lefty stock, that is ok within reason.
To shot good you need to be comfortable, having to adapt takes that much away from being comfortable.
It is time for right-handed shooters to support us lefty shooters, we are All in this sport of shooting....Thank you.
Are there adaptable offset scope mounts?
I'm not trying to be argumentative, I just don't understand the original question. What does "lefty friendly" mean, and why is it bad?
Are you saying there are too few left handed stocks available? Do you need a solution for your dominant hand and eye being on opposite sides? Or something else?
Nah, Mike... I'm picky, I'm the customer...
"Lefty friendly" to me means a stock that has a comb for the RH shooter with a smooth opposite side... Assymetrical when looked at from the "tail"
Ambi to me the stock is symmetrical side to side.
Most RH shooters don't realize how fortunate they are... the market caters to them. If put in a LH shooters shoes how would they feel...
That's it I'm starting a movement... LHSM... Left handed Shooters Matter... 🙂
Thanks! I guess I just have the Dumb Hat on today LOL.
Here is an expensive but effective gadget you can use with a typical German match sight. It's basically a horizontal periscope that would let you hold right-handed but sight with the left eye.
https://gehmann.com/en/597-I.S.S.F.-crossover-rearsight-prism/GEH100194
Wooo yeah
That's nice Mike
I shot right hand when I was younger. Years ago I blew a vein on my right eye retina and right where I focused on the sights or reticle is a blank spot. (Hence my handle Lefteyeshot) I got into air rifles to learn to shoot left hand. I was right eye dominant back then but after a few years of shooting left hand now I'm left eye dominant.
I try to buy ambi stocks or ambi thumb hole stocks. I have three guns that have right hand grips. An AR2078B side lever co2, a B40 under lever springer and a Mendoza RM2800 thumb hole break barrel repeater. I shoot them anyway and it seems natural now. On thumb hole stocks I don't stick my thumb in the hole anyway or wrap my thumb around a pistol grip.
I have a AR2078 thumb hole bolt action but the 2078B with a side lever seems easier to shoot. I have several side lever springer. Most are no problem. But with my Diana 56th is so heavy that having to switch hands to cock and load and switch hands again to shoot wears me out after awhile.
I just learned to live in a right eye world.
Custom stock builders will build left handed stocks but they are no less expensive than their right handed counterparts-a custom stock is a custom stock. I have built and sold tons of ambidextrous stocks over the years but paid close attention to making sure all the custom feel and fitment were the same from both sides. It can be done but a stock cut to the shooters side is always the best of everything.
You guys give me a list of spring guns you would like to see some DIY stocks and I will take the most popular requests and do some left hand versions of the right hand designs I have in place in some walnut DIY stocks for both. Not going to be Boyd's prices-just a totally different market catering to a different customer base. I could get around say $250. They would be fitted and sanded to 100 grit.
Look forward to hearing from you.
Guess reversing this is acceptable.
As a righty.....wandering a gun show...will PASS on a pure lefty. No matter what it is, if my intention is to buy it to shoot it, it's like I forget it before I even finish looking at it.
Assume lefties are more tolerant...they live in a world where there just aren't that many pure lefties. Living in the righty-majority, know that whatever I see/find in lefty would be easier to hunt up next time in a righty.
