Home Forums Hunting & Shooting The Lefty Forum What is your most rare LH rifle?

Take your lithium and calm down.

Uh, no... In this case it is about equality:

Left Handers = 10% of population
Mixed Handers = ~20%
ADA Severe disabilities = 12%
ADA Non-severe disabilities = 7%
LGBTQ = 5% to 6%

Numerically, Left handers are on par with the Severely disabled, and double the LGBTQ population. If you include Mixed Handers, people who switch hands based on the task (in the case of shooters, think cross eye dominant, blind in dominant eye, shoulder injury) the potential left hand population eclipses all ADA and LGBTQ populations combined. However, there is no legal requirement for "accommodation" of the left hand population.

Myself and 30 million other Americans were born left handed. We did not "choose" to be left handed. From a purely numerical stand point, there are much smaller populations of people who receive legal protection because they were "born that way" than left handers.

If I want a LH SS M70 in .30-06, why should I have to pay 2x to 3x the cost of the same rifle in RH configuration, just to put the bolt on the opposite side of the receiver ? We don't tell restaurant patrons in wheel chairs that they have to pay 2x or 3x the menu price to cover the cost of the wheel chair ramp out front. We don't tell restaurant patrons in wheelchairs that they can only choose 20% of the available menu options. But that is essentially what happens to Left Hand firearms owners year in and year out.

Am I going to run out and hire Johnny Cochran ? No. But, the fact that Left Handers are not a legally recognized "protected class" does not mean that there is not discrimination...

nsaqam, My apologies in advance for derailing your thread...

Citations:

Not sure those examples are analogous at all. Making left handed rifles available is not the same as allowing wheelchair access. Not sure one could successfully suit and force Remington to make more left handed rifles. I do everything LH and am Left Eye dominate. never really has bothered me it is just the way it is. I kind of find it fun searching for what I want or building what I want in a rifle.

Two related, but different discussions: Economic vs equality...
First, on the economic front, let me state that I have no expectation that Left Hand firearms will be a treasure trove of profit for the manufacturers. You have to produce what you can sell profitably. No profit, no business. Have run my own business for a number of years. I get it.

But chicken or egg ? Would there be more left handed shooters buying and shooting left handed rifles (greater market demand) if a greater selection of left handed firearms were readily available at parity or close to parity cost ? I am one of the guys you reference above that shot right hand rifles from the left side for 40 years because that was all I knew. Now that I know better, I would like to have the same opportunity to purchase the more unique rifles available to right handers without having to go the full custom route, or scrounging the internet for days/months waiting for one to come up for sale...

On the equality front, why does our society treat left handers as second rate citizens due to our unique handedness ? Why should your coworker above have been treated any differently as a kid for being left handed ? Versus tall, short, whatever ? Where is the "tolerance" for diversity among handedness ?


LOL ! I have often had the same thought after reading many of your rants...

If there were really money to be made in making left-handed rifles, "Winchester" would be making them as opposed to bullshit like "their" bastardized Model '86, '92, '95, and now '73 replicas.

There's not any discrimination, there's not any vast conspiracy, it's simply a dollars and cents, risk versus reward equation.

Right now we have Ruger and Savage filling the gap in that department from a major manufacturer standpoint (and sometimes Remington and Sako) as well as smaller manufacturers like MRC, Forbes, and Cooper for a "reasonable" price. Twenty years ago we had Ruger and sometimes Remington, Sako, and Savage (Savage sort of SUCKED before their current iteration under Ron Coburn's leadership.)

Our choices are about as good as they're going to get. Learn to appreciate them.

Agree on both counts...

Johnny might of been a great attorney but doubt he can do you much good from his grave.

I have a LH Remington Model 788 in 6mm. Not very rare, but the rarest I have.

I don't have any rare left handed rifles, just some that I couldn't easily replace.

Winchester Model 70 Classic Safari Express in 375 H&H
Remington 788 in 308 Win
Zastava Mauser in 458 Win Mag.

Sad, but very true!

Archery companies have been offering left-handed versions of every bow they make for decades.
Why haven't they gone broke?

Different manufacturing process, knothead. Please let me know when you have a real question. Or thought.

All parts are the same except for the risor which just takes a different CNC program. Before all bows were machined aluminum (when they were cast magnezeum) not all bows were available in left hand.

I've sold fishing equipment for may years and every year I watch the left handed reels end up on the closeout list in great quantity because they don't sell except in the Pacific NW but that's a whole different reason. 10% of the population may be left handed but 10% of the fishermen don't use left handed reels, same thing goes for rifle shooters.

I thought I was a pretty good left handed gun owner, I have an A-Bolt that I've rebarreled to 260, a stable of the new T-Bolts and a handful of Tikka's, one of which I've re-barreled to 257 Bob and some Blaser R93's and an R8, all left handed.
But after I saw some of the rifles in this thread, I've decided I'm nothing but a minor leaguer. Wow! There is some incredible stuff here and I'm really glad you guys have taken the time to post photos.
Thanks again.

Not to beat this to death, or Fiddler, but in the mid '80s I was traveling through Nebraska and stopped at the Cabelas in Kearney and Sidney. I think at the time these were their only retail outlets. Perusing through their archery department I notice a large section of bows, possibly 100, all left handed and above them was a sign "All LH bows $50 each". According to the clerk they tried to carry a good selection of LH bows but found they just didn't sell fast enough to justify the overhead, so they were only going to stock a very few of the most popular models in common sizes in LH and special order the rest. I went home with a trunk full for family and coworkers.

I have model 70 left hand classic sporter in a 270... Shoots 140gr accubondsxand h4831 pretty good

I once had a M700 LH long action 6.5 Rem Mag. with a factory barrel on it. I can't remember the lenght but I believe it was 24". A call to the factory verified the action started out as a 7mag but nothing more.

doubt that they're rare, as I have one!

though mine didn't have the bolt lock on safety but had the slot for it, so I ordered an old safety lever from Brownells and installed it, it also resides in a McMillan, and a lot of the blue is worn off of it due to it was my main rig when I was guiding in SW Alaska.

sure enjoying this thread, but am hoping bea175 remembers me in his will and he has no LH heirs!

In addition to the Mathieu 340 Wby, and a Sedgley Springfield, Steyr Model M, and several other obscure LH rifles, I just scored a commercial FN Mauser 98 '06 that was converted to LH by an unidentified gunsmith who definitely knew what he was doing. The rear receiver bridge was cut off, reversed and re-welded. It looks like it grew there. Excellent work. I had to have it. I haven't shot it yet but thinking about a 35 Whelen rebore.

Not sure how rare,but: 4-Savage LH LRPV- 2 in 20 Practical, 1 in 22-250, and 1 in 6mmBR. 2- Rem 700 LH FS(30-06 and 270), LH Win 70 Classic Stainless 300 Win Mag, 375 Classic Safari Express, 458Lott rebarrel of another 375 Safari Express, 2- MRI Mountain Eagle (375 and 270). I was surprised to see someone had the same Rem FSs and Mountain Eagles as me.

Dean

Almost forgot the LH Win 70 Fwt.7mm WSM.and the Rem 700 KS in 35 Whelen I got recently.

1903 Rock Island LH conversion in .270 Winchester.