lever guns in general

[oldebear1950]

I think one of the reasons lever guns have always had a strong appeal to me, is I shoot left handed. I have found , as probably a lot of left handers have, that a good lever gun does not matter if you shoot left handed or right handed.
Also, because I am on a fixed budget, left handed bolt guns have gotten more expensive.

[gamekeeper]

I'm right handed but I agree the lever action is probably easier to use for most people especially for that sometimes necessary second shot. Most of my rifles have been lever action, over the years I have owned five bolt action rifles and eight lever actions I'd still own them all if it weren't for dumb UK gun laws.

[jeepnik]

Yes, leverguns do work well for southpaws. But leave it to lawyers to mess up a good thing by mandating safeties suited to right handed shooters.


Thankfully those can be either eliminated or ignored.

Oh by the way left handed bolt guns, really any sort of firearm, have always been more expensive than right handed ones.

Still, it’s a joy to behold the befuddlement of right handed shooters when they used left hand guns.

[marlinman93]

I've actually had lefty friends shoot my old Marlins and said the side eject was not a feature a lefty liked with brass flying in front of their face. So I guess it depends on whether it's a Marlin, or top eject lever gun, and whether brass flying out the side bothers you? I've shot them left handed to see, and it didn't bother me.

[AJMD429]

They aren’t the ‘best’ at accuracy (single shot bench guns) or power (bolt actions) or firepower (semi autos) - but they are darned GOOD at most everything practical.

[4t5]

But just like a pump action shotgun, they sound “ so good “ when you cycle the action .

[Shasta]

I am a lefty and long ago found that top eject Winchester lever action rifles worked best for me. I shoot a lot of lever action rifle silhouette and my Winchesters make it easy for me to catch my brass in my off hand so that it doesn't end up scattered on the ground. I do use a pair of early Marlin 39A rifles for Smallbore Lever Action Silhouette where retrieving brass is not needed. I don't even notice the brass ejecting across my face to the right.

For shotgunning I have a Browning BPS that features bottom feed and bottom eject with a tang safety, perfect for right or left handers. I do have a couple of old exposed hammer double barrels, but their staggered triggers are set up for right handers so I cock only one hammer at a time.

I have treated myself to a few left hand bolt action rifles and they are indeed easier for me to use. They include a CZ 452 .22LR for smallbore, a Remington 700 in .22-250 for varmints, and a Savage Predator in 6.5 Creedmoor for big game and High Power Rifle Silhouette.

This old world is designed for the right-handed majority, so we leftys usually just have to adapt.

Shasta

[barbarossa]

The 1895 Winchester is a great lefty gun as you also get to load from the top

[Smoke12]

I'm a "righty" but had to learn to shoot "lefty" at a young age after losing an eye to a ............can you believe it? A BB gun! Never looked back! They work great for me and have never been bothered by cases coming out to my right or straight-up!

[Sixgun]

I'm a "righty" but had to learn to shoot "lefty" at a young age after losing an eye to a ............can you believe it? A BB gun! Never looked back! They work great for me and have never been bothered by cases coming out to my right or straight-up!

Me too but for different reasons….I’m extremely left eye dominate…….

Having cases fly by my face never bothered me. Some guns eject them high enough I don’t see them…even full auto machine guns as I’m more focused on what I’m shooting than the blur of empty brass.

Colt Lightning rifles will eject them straight up and back a little many times landing on my head or down my backsides of my shirt…..oh boy! if a lawyer sees this he will sue Colt because his client got a red mark on his neck for $60 million dollars because his client couldn’t go to a Taylor Swift concert.

[Sarge]

My heros have always been cowboys.

[oldebear1950]

My two brothers and I are extremely left eye dominant, and that is the reason we shoot a rifle, shotgun, or bow, left handed. about the only real problem we had was our left arm was generally not as strong as our right arm being right handed.
We had to learn to shoot a bow, and work our left arm to make it stronger.
None of us ever had problems with the lever guns putting brass across our faces, or our REMINGTON autos, in 30-06 right handed putting brass across our face.

[oldebear1950]

yep and still are today.
funny part was, my two granddads were old time town marshalls in Oklahoma during the oil boom of the 1920s and 1930s.
My dad was a working cowboy out in west Texas when I was born in 1950.
He used to know after working with them, a lot of the cowboys in the rodeo in the 1950s and 1960s and we always got in free to the rodeo.
First professional sport I ever attended was the rodeo. I was about 5 or 6