A friend is a left eye, rightie guy shooting right handed rifles from the left. After showing him why that is a bad idea he has decided he needs a leftie rifle. But not a simple thing...

He wants an upscale sort of rifle with a wood stock. He is not worried about SS or CroMo. He wants it in 338WM. Despite a bum shoulder.

What is available, and where would it be found? Happy to not have this issue personally! 1,500 is about where he would like to go on the high end. He might do more if required.
Thanks

Here's a couple options. A little over the $1500 mark but not much.

Sako 338

Montana Rifle 338

Here's one under $1000

Browning 338

I think Montana makes a 338 lefty.

Sako's never go out of style. Plus you can occasionally hit the "wood lottery" as far as quality of the wood. I would also suspect the quality is higher than the Sako.

Sako and MRC are in... cannot support an A-Bolt for here....

Thank you, especially for the auction links.

Have you seen a good one lately? I like the Sako idea quite a bit...

Those are some good choices. IMO a .338 deserves to be chambered in a CRF rifle. I'd add to the list a used model 70 if you can find one.

Bought two about 5 years ago, one for me one for the wife. The wood on mine was nice. The wife’s was easily AA+.

I have no problems with a model 70, but CRF is the least of my concerns. One in pretty wood would give me... a good out...

Kimbers are horrible garbage in my recent experiences and CRF does not save them from the title.

I have had quite a few big bears very close and all I had was one pushfeed 700 or another and survived the encounters. Have also used an old tanger 77 in 300WM while watching over people around big bears.

Looked around earlier today and found quite a few with a huge spread in wood quality in the same model.

not a 338 wm but I have a nice, new 375 H&H Zastava with a nice piece of walnut for sale and it would go well with a 260 np. in the classifieds if he is interested.

Another vote for the MRC ALR rifle. Nice wood. Good ergos. In his price range. Winchester scope bases. The fact that they tend to be at the upper end of their weight range will help mitigate the recoil.

MRC ALR

Thank you, looks to be a good choice.
It is all about honoring the American West, so let's slap a piece of Turkish walnut on it!

375 is a bit much for what he needs, though I find recoil less brutal on 375s than 338s...

After all these years of listening to wrong-handed folk complain about difficulties finding guns I have to admit it is a PITA.

How about a 9,3x62?

As a lefty owner of 8 bolt actions, only 2 of which are left handed, I'm a bit miffed by the original post.....bad idea?.....while I wont get rich in the process, I'm fairly confident my right handed rifles will sell quicker should the need arise.

Best option in my opinion is try and find a Ruger wood blue LH 338 RCM 20 " barrel 2600 FPS with 225 Gr bullet. Been discontinued around 5 years. Would be easier on friends shoulder. Have a LH Wood Blue and Wife has a SS Synthetic both in 338 RCM.

I'm really struggling to see why you would be "miffed". On many rifles you don't get the benefit of all the safety features if you don't shoot it as designed. Also, I bet many of my left handed rifles would sell faster than your right handed ones. There might be more buyers for right handed guns, but the supply is much more limited on the left handed ones. The key is to buy guns that are more desirable in the first place. I'd be willing to bet I could find buyers for most of my LH rifles within a day or 2.

Forgot all about this rifle, even though I own both the 300 and 338 RCM's. Brass is not to difficult to find, Powder Valley has the 338 RCM brass and one style of ammo in stock as I type this. These rifles are really sweet handling woods rifles. Short barrel, iron sights standard, a slightly shorter LOP.

Purchased both of mine new for about $500 each. Am sure your friend can find a 338 online and I bet there are still a bunch on dealers shelfs NIB.

Why is it a bad idea for a lefty to shoot a right hand rifle?

Because if you shoot a rifle from the left shoulder a right handed rifle ejection port is in line with your face if something bad happens.
Blown primer, gas, bits of metal. It can all come back and smack you in the face and eye

Hmmmmm... maybe in 1954 or something.. far as gun blowing up I give chit what side your shooting on your going to get a face full of something.. I'm a lefty, and I'm not selling all my r/h model 70's to buy a bunch of Remington lefties

Or you just get Winchester lefties...

Oh I have one of those as well..

Took 3 Dr,s to save my right eye when a primer let go on a RH Tang Ruger in 6MM , your right side of the face is exposed to all the gas relief shooting a RH rifle LH. You can buy a lot of rifles for the cost of one eye, makes me cringe when I see a young person shooting a RH rifle LH. But its your face and eyes.

Not wearing shooting glasses?

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbt...2532/may-column-bolt-action-gas-handling

I'm sorry to hear that KK. Were you wearing safety glasses?

Happened about 10 years ago was shooting my reloads then switched to factory ammo took glasses off for 1 shot and a piece of the primer came apart. Dont wear glasses while hunting but I do now.

You would think Bill Ruger being left handed with all of the safety warnings he put in on there rifles would have put something in writing about shooting a RH rifle LH.

KK, that is exact reason I sold off almost all my righthanded stuff. If you are wearing contacts, the sun is not quite up yet, poor visibility, a guy could easily not be wearing shooting glasses. In that situation, I want a lefty port taking most of the stuff the opposite direction as designed.

Had a guy having issues with his Cooper once. Begged my son to shoot it for him. And first round fired had a primer blow and hit my son in the face. Righthanded rifle, shooting it lefty. Something to be avoided for sure.

I guess I've been pretty lucky all these years.....must've gone 46 years using right handed guns left handed.....sorry to hear of the misfortunes of others.

Then again, one of my weaknesses has always been if I found a deal on a rifle that I felt was a seriously quality design and build......but only came in a right hand version......I couldn't stop myself from adding it to the stable.

Early in my shooting ‘career’, I was behind a LH M70 when a case let go. My face and right arm were bleeding from many holes and cuts. The action as a whole held up well, but shed lots of small pieces. The extractor blew 50’ to the left and behind me.

I remember the feeling of being blasted by the gas and debris... and the shock at what had just happened. Thankfully, I’d recently resolved to use shooting glasses at the range and my eyes weren’t hurt at all. I truly believe I’d have been at least partially blinded that day, if not for the glasses. There were little bits of metal ‘growing out’ of my skin for months.

No fun at all. I’ve always wondered if it would have been worse behind a RH gun.