Southpaw Stuff (left handed shooter tips and tricks)

Hey all you leftie shooters out there (or right handed people who like a bit of ambidextrous shooting).

Left handed manipulation of firearms and gear that is designed for a right handed person can get interesting at times although there are some advantages (like charging an AK pattern rifle without non dominant limb gymnastics). What solutions have you found over the years to make shooting a bit easier?

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I use a g19 and I swapped the mag release and am forced to slingshot the slide till the new ambi gens come out.

Ar pattern rifles that’s tricky, you can get all the ambi controls for a right hand rifle.

Even left hand ar uppers come with right hand lowers but an ambi mag release, selector but oddly use a right hand charging latch.

Stag arms has lots of options to pick from, some makers like kac have ambi controls but iirc the bolt lock on one side is just a release.

Shotguns, a friend of mine he’s a lefty as well and out of the 5 shotguns he’s let me fondle I’ve had no problem operating them I’d go for the gun model that has ejection out the bottom.

I think it was a Browning bps, really nice but even with my long arms it’s a stretch for the pump.

He’s got a Mossberg that the pump is a bit longer on the backside so it’s not as bad a reach and the problem for me is I get shells in the arm and that sucks.

You can get left hand bolt guns or shoot like the guy from saving private ryan.

I’d always try to find a left hand option if you are a lefty, the left hand on right hand gun will slow you down during reloads.

You get much more gas in face with RH rifles in the LH, in the AR you can use the right hand to remove the mag with a hand and dump/put away. Reach for a reload then use your left hand to reach for the paddle and your back on target.

I hate this method, I prefer to reach for a new mag, grab the old and insert the new then back on target while the one hand puts the old mag away or dump it.

There are several videos on YouTube that help lefties find a method of use for rh rifles but I always go for the left hand option is available.

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I do really appreciate the ambi swappable mag release on gen 4 Glocks (and hopefully ambi slide lock/release on future gens). All of my firearms are right handed guns that I manipulate left handed, purely for the reason that I’ve shot right handed guns since I was a kid.

I think the accessory that helps me the most on my AR is the Magpul BAD Lever. I just hit it with my right hand thumb after seating a mag and I’m back in business without having to reach around the rifle.

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That’s a good method with the AR, I usually have my index finger ready to drop the bolt because my left finger is on the mag release.

I found the norgon clone and live that thing.

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I found a place that still seems to have lefty rifles in-stock. Unfortunately, although they sell uppers, they have to be paired with lefty lowers, so it seems best to just get a complete rifle from them. I wish I knew how they ran.

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Rock River makes good guns.

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Even though I shoot righty, I want the ability to change shoulders and hands, so I’ve used the Strike Arms ambi mag release, a B.A.D. lever from Cross Armories (CA-compliant kit, maybe I’ll get the Magpul original too), the Raptor ambi charging handle, and a 45° ambi safety.

On the safety, I found that if I have the lever at full length on both sides, it digs into the first phalanx of my trigger finger when it’s down in the Fire position. Better to have a shorter lever if that bothers you.

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