Anyone heard news or rumors of new offerings for those of us in our right mind for this year?

I'd like to have a LH 17 Hornet.

What say you?

Cooper is going to have the composite line of rifles available in left hand by summer. Word is they are starting in house production of the synthetics, instead of using Bell & Carlson or H-S precision. Time will tell if this actually works, and they are not yet officially taking orders for these guns, but one of their dealers said an order could be placed at this time. I briefly thought about it, but I also at one time placed an order for one of the RUM chamberings that was supposed to be coming out in the Cooper line, but that never came to be. So, it's best to wait until they are actually in production before ordering.

Beyond that, haven't heard much. On the opposite end, Tikka will no longer have the T3, that includes lefties. Not sure what the new model will be. Some are saying a lower budget Sako brand to replace the T3. If that's the case, we are probably kinda screwed on that deal, as far as hope of a decent lefty lineup.

I'd heard the T3 was going away. Not sure what the motivation is unless they are trying to protect the Sako brand.

I have considered calling Cooper to see if their M38 is a repeater or single shot. Does anyone know? I want a 17 Hornet and unless CZ comes out with a LH model, there is no other option, with possible exception of a NULA.

I wanted a left hand hornet. Had Pacific tool make a bolt head for a short action, left hand Savage model12, fitted with a Pac-Nor barrel. Have just test fired to check head space. Have not taken it to the range.

M38 is a single shot. M40 is a repeater but is discontinued.

thanks Ken. Dammit.

Single shot?

Interested here too. I'd rock a Savage if it got me a 17 Hornet repeater.

Where did you folks hear that Tikka was officially dropping the T3 lefty? Bummer as I really like my .260.
And after buying a right hand 17 Hornet CZ for the wife I sure would like a lefty or even a 17 Rem. Maybe a composite Cooper will make it's way to my safe next year.

They are dropping not just the lefties, but the entire lineup of T3 guns. Rumor (and just that) is that they will even be introducing a new model at SHOT show. Some speculate it will be another Tikka, maybe with different bottom metal. Some are saying the Tikka line will be gone altogether, and it will be a lower priced Sako.

I briefly thought of selling mine, but I just couldn't do it. Was looking at options for a stainless build 280AI, including the MRC X2. But, then I kept seeing my T3 stainless 30-06 staring me in the face from the safe. So, that one is getting a new barrel and a McMillan Sako Hunter stock. Also thought about a stainless Cooper with either synthetic or laminate, but I don't need a $2700 rifle to shoot deer at 200 yards.

I was toying with the idea of selling my LH T3 in .223 and getting a Ruger American .223 to replace it.

But going on this info I'll just keep the Tikka and watch as collectors develop cults around it and prices for used ones skyrocket...

Prefer the finish and looks of the LH RAR in SS to the blued models. Have had several fails to feed in the RAR and Ruger sent me new magazines. Never had or been around a RAR that did not shoot great.

I would like to see Kimber offer a Left Hand Ascent (in .270). I was at SAS's shop earlier today. Handled an Ascent there a couple times. I like the ergos except for the bolt placement. Tempted to just buy a right hand Ascent. But keep holding out hope that someone will get with the program and offer a very light LH LA rifle for a less than total custom cost...

I will 2nd orion2000's comment and add that I will be happy with kimber Montana as well! I was at SAS's shop today as well, must be the place to be

Seemed like about half of Kentucky was there this morning. I did not expect that volume of people on a Tuesday...

I handled a couple Kimber Montana's as well. I could live with a LH Montana. But would still prefer to see a LH Ascent.

Did I miss that there IS GOING TO BE a lefty from Kimber, or it's all a list of wishful thinking?

wishful thinking...

I was told by Kimber that there will be no left hand models.

You so silly...............

I begged them years ago when they started chambering the 260 Rem for a left hand version but they wouldn't do it. Even if they come out with them now I wouldn't get one, there are lots of good options these days although I could see someone wanting a light gun like that.

I thought the CZ 557 and the Howa rifles were going to come out in left hand but haven't heard anything since.

They were pretty indigent and haughty when I asked them about Left Hand models. Told me "there will never be a left hand Kimber"...

Not a fan of Kimber they were not exactly kind either when I asked. Too bad Forbes went under, they had a great thing and screwed it up and were actually making some lightweight lefties.

Whatever the new Tikka ends up being eventually it will be offered in left hand, Sako/Tikka has been pretty friendly to us.

In the meantime, The existing T3's and Ruger Hawkeye's can still be had. I bought a Hawkeye in 243 just to have as a donor rifle. I'm a big fan of the Hawkeye stock shape and expect the one I'm getting to end up being something else.

Another sleeper is the SSA A-Bolt in 223, if you can find one. It's a really good rifle and the Super Short Action is unique to one or 2 calibers.

There, fixed it for ya.

We all know it will never happen...and even if they did at this point I would probably turn my nose up out of principle. Just keep rocking the builds off M70s and M700s. One of these days I am going to drop the coin for a NULA....

THAT is disappointing...

That is what I am trying to avoid. I would like to have a ready made rifle that I can touch, handle, feel, and know that I am going to like it BEFORE I plop down $2,000 to $3,000 in parts and services to build a one off custom...

That is what moved me to investigate the Blaser R93 and now R8. Every caliber is a LH rifle.

I heard last year that Howa was supposed to have LH options in 2016. That and a LH Ruger 22lr would be nice.

a LH Ruger rimfire would be really good.

I won't buy a new rifle from any company unwilling to offer a LH offering. Just my .02 And I've told those companies so.

Kimber makes great high country guns, but I will buy 'used' for those RHer's in my life...

I won't buy a new rifle from any company unwilling to offer a LH offering. Just my .02 And I've told those companies so.

Kimber makes great high country guns, but I will buy 'used' for those RHer's in my life...

The entire American Rimfire line in LH should be more than doable.

After buying two Kimber Montana's in .308 for my wife and failing to get either of them to group better than about 2 inches at 100 yards would never buy another Kimber rifle EVER. One wouldn't feed correctly. Add piss poor customer service on top of it and it's a lose lose proposition.

Luck of the draw...my wife's .308 shoots bugholes with virtually any ammo--factory or handloads...baffling how they can be so different.

This seems to be the book on Kimber. Those that shoot, shoot lights out. Those that don't shoot patterns and not groups. I think I'll pass on Kimber.

Amen to that!! Would love to see both the 77/22 and the American line, but would settle for either. I make it a point to send that message to Ruger on a regular basis. https://www.ruger.com/dataProcess/tellTheCEO.html

Would love to see the 77/22 and a 77/22 Hornet.

Best bet is to talk to Davidson's and have them request a special run. After an exchange with the CEO regarding the botched up new Hawkeye models a few years ago, I lost all hope of anything productive through that avenue. But, if they hear it from their largest distributor, the wheels get rolling.

If Ruger was only going to make one, or the other (LH 77/22 or LH RAR 22), I would prefer to see them make a LH 77/22. Always thought those were very attractive little rimfire rifles.

I agree with you Orion. That's my favorite.

Manufacturing issues aside, the problem with making a lefty 77/22 is that I'd probably break my arm reaching for my wallet so fast! The American, not so much, although I'd definitely buy one.

77/44 would be intriguing, but at the price of 2 American stainless guns, I wouldn't touch it. Have worked with a RH version enough to know about the trigger, and accuracy. The trigger can be fixed pretty easily, but not the accuracy. Neat little gun though, but I'm just as happy with a lefty American short action stainless (and compact)

That's kind of where I landed after several builds of a questionable outcome until they were actually in hand after a year or so wait and a check for ????k.

I know not everybody likes Blasers. They are relatively expensive but when you consider a 3k build, not so much. As you add barrels ("rifles") you have the same successful platform and the quality is not a hoped-for but a given.

... They were pretty indigent and haughty when I asked them about Left Hand models. Told me "there will never be a left hand Kimber" ...


So I quess that makes my LH 22 LR and 22 Hornet, both from the factory, a bit rare! COOL!

I was just looking at those Howa minis and thinking how nice that would be as a calling rifle. That action looks short enough to make a lefty 17 or 221 FB work well.

Are yours Kimber of Oregon rifles?

McMillan has a few new stock designs out for this year, some of which can be LH. Their site is still in the reconstruction phase, so some pictures, etc. are not coming up, but you can get the idea of what is new at least.

Nothing on howa site about lh....except they don't do lh actions.

Yep. I was quite disappointed to not see anything in their catalog either.

It looks like other than possibly a synthetic Cooper, we are out of luck for 2016. Hopefully Cooper makes their new ultra light in lefty. Although, I expect it will be costly to own.

I'm getting tired of waiting for a 6 pound lefty and sick of spending 3k on custom builds that never seem to turn out the way I want.

Maybe it is time to go back to buying Browning rifles and call it a day.

Agreed, and the problem is that while there are a couple of options out there, for one reason or another they all suck.
Tikka, nothing wrong with them, same goes for Browning and Savage. The Tikka is light, stainless, but has a plastic-gun feel to it; and the others are too damn heavy for my tastes. If it ain't stainless, I have no use for it anymore. Done with blued guns. Rifles are used around here, not safe queens anymore.

For all of the minor annoyances with the Remington 700 series, nothing but that rifle and action feels 'just right' to my hands. Screw on a factory mountain barrel, add any lightweight stock--bed it, inlet the contour, and viola.
The tricky part is finding the stainless xcr or lss .473 lh action...
A build runs about $1000+/- for me these days with this recipe. Screw spending $3000 on any firearm, just not worth it.

Forbes Rifle should read a forum like this and see how badly they screwed the pooch. They had a chance to do something special, alas, opportunity squandered.

Exactly! I have also come full circle on my guns. I certainly don't have anything against a beautiful stock on a $4000 gun, and I have owned several. But, when I'm hunting, the last thing I want to worry about is what the weather is like, so I know what gun to take out, or being ridiculously careful with the gun in the woods. And, after a long day in the field, I probably will have more important things to do than dry, clean, and oil a gun that I've used that day, so it won't rust and get water spots on the stock before the next day.

I fully expect my guns to load smoothly into the chamber when the action is cycled, to shoot accurately at the distances I need them to shoot, and to do it all if the sun is out, if it's raining, or if it is 20 degrees with snow.

I agree on the Tikka, and there is a quality option if you can find the gun at a good price, or already have one. McMillan makes several choices of stocks they can fit to that gun, and a complete drop in stock, pillar bedded, is under $600. A little bit more for the "Edge" lightweight version. So, about $1100 total for the build. The lefty Coopers in full stainless are going to be over $2600 depending on model.

Good point, I should keep my eye out for a stainless 700. It just gets frustrating year after year. Maybe someone will surprise us next week but I doubt it.

The Forbes rifle was too good to be true.

OSU
Yes, both of my LH Kimbers are from Oregon. Wish I had a few more!

The "new" Kimber, from Yonkers, NY is the company I was referring to. I really like the Oregon Kimbers but care little for those making the new ones and that was the group I was referring to.

Not really new models, per se, but the lefty stainless Ruger American rifles are now officially cataloged, instead of just being Davidson's exclusives. As well as 3 of the calibers in the lefty compact stainless American line.

With that, I wonder if Davidson's will have a new exclusive run of some sort.

They are putting some pretty interesting twists in those rifles. 8 in .223, 9 in .243, and 10 in 22-250.

Would be great if it's a rimfire! I can only hope

I have a LH 22-250 with the 10" twist but it's not stainless. All black.

Glad to hear that!! Now to decide if SS is worth the price difference. I'm thinking not and put that money towards a compact stock.

One of the FAQ's on Weatherby's web site addresses LH action Vanguards. The answer is "NO". Prohibitive tooling costs.

Seems like they've cut down on the selection of LH Mark V rifles, as well.

On another forum a poster there works for Legacy International. He stated right now there are no relatively soon plans for a LH option...

I spoke with a sales guy at Cooper last week... No lefty synthetics in the short term future.

They don't currently manufacture their own synthetic stocks. Further, their supplier does not offer the stocks they use in synthetic. He said they intend to bring synthetics in house and AFTER that was complete, they would likely roll out lefty variants. I'm not holding my breath.

Thanks for the update. Glad I followed my gut feeling on my plan for a rifle build. Or I would have had a deposit on a lefty Cooper for who knows how long. Guess I could have gone with a laminate through them, but I'm fine with the direction I took it, while saving probably $1000.

In December I got emails from Cooper stating that they should have the lefty synthetics up by spring/summer. I thought that was a bit optimistic. Looks like they are again shoving the blame to their suppliers for not making the stocks. But, in reality, their suppliers make what is ordered, and Cooper has not put the initial order in for left hand stocks. I went around and around with both companies on that earlier last year, and finally got down to the bottom of it. Being- There is a significant initial investment to make the stocks in LH versions. Cooper didn't feel that the demand was enough to justify it, is what it boiled down to.

The guy told me the supplier wanted Cooper to pony up $8,000 or so for the lefty mold... and for very few lefty rifles they produce the economics just don't work.

I understand... it's business. Doesn't mean I'm happy about it.

Thanks for the update guys. Typical position for rifle companies, maybe its just smart business on their part. At least we have many options when it comes to custom actions and aftermarket stocks. It is just nice to hold a rifle before purchase and not have to spend 3k plus guessing if it will balance and feel nice.

I never did explore the idea of McMillan making one. Not sure if they can or if any of theirs are compatible. Any supplier that Cooper uses (HS and Bell&Carlson) has a contract deal that they cannot build stocks for a Cooper unless ordered by Cooper.

Blaser R8 offers 40 calibers in left hand models...

Great info, Big Red, kudos for your posting here. Appreciated...

I "tookin" a LH Zastava that I bought, am having it rebarreled in 6.5x55. Started out as a plan for a 35 Whelen, or 9.3x62 but now travel to Africa with a firearm and returing without Gov't intervention is very risky apparently. Always wanted the Swedish, so that's the way it goes. I am going to restock it when the work is complete, or do something to lighten the heavy existing wood stock. There is a laminate available for it now anyway so that might be the route but still considering what might be done with a synthetic.

Anyway, while I was at the gunshop, found Mel Doyle is going to retire(Plummer ID). He had a RH Mauser that was pretty nice, 30-06 so I bought it.

Can't see much on spending 2-3 grand or more for a hunting rifle that I will bang around with. Makes no sense to me and having a safe full of queens is not my bag either--it would be a wasted thing for me if I didn't hunt with it. That said, I am thinking of a 7x57 from MRC would be the next thing I would like to do soon or change a ruger into one. David(Avery, ID)

Mel Doyle is my smith-30 minutes away....I'll be calling him to get the 'retirement' details.

I have work for him...

Not all suggestions to rifle companies falls on deaf ears. I've sent some suggestions out and Browning was one company that came through. I asked them to produce a LH with a cheek rise. Out came the Browning X-bolt White Gold. I had hoped they were going to make the hunter version. which would have been less expensive. But they came out with a top of the line model. I have corresponded with other companies and ignore the ones that refuse to produce LH rifles.Roughly 15% are left handed and up o 40% are left eye dominant.

Any of you guys heard anything about when Bergara is coming out with left hand models? Their website says under FAQ that they plan to in the future. I sent them an email a couple of weeks ago but no reply.
Paul

Davidson's is showing a RAR in stainless compact 223 with an 18" barrel. I don't think those were available last year.

I'd like to see the RAR in the Predator model be offered as a lefty.

Fyi, Davidson's is now showing the Ruger American compact all-weather in left hand in .223, for those who might be interested.

At those prices, they certainly should

By the time a guy finishes "fixing" his 700, he's likely spent 80% the price of a Blaser and still only has 1 rifle.
The R8S (non-removable fire control system) is $2,899 MSRP. That gives you access to all calibers up to and including the 375. A standard R8 adds the big calibers up to 500 Jeffrey.

That's certainly a valid concept. Extra Blaser barrels are ~$1k+, so for $4,000, you would have two rifles in one. Personally, I'd rather have a couple of Sako 85's or Weatherby MkV's for the same money.

And that's why there are so many different brands...we don't all approach decisions in the same manner.