“Throughout the years, we’ve received a number of requests for left-handed slings,” Blue Force Gear reveals in an April Fool’s email blast. “From hopeful requests to the just plain angry, it’s been pointed out to us that we don’t have as much love for lefties as we do for our right-handed customers. To show you we appreciate all of our customers equally, we’ve developed the revolutionary Left-Handed Vickers Sling. Now all you left-handed shooters can go to the range with your right-handed friends without fearing ridicule and poor performance.” [FYI QOTD sponsor DeSantis Gunhide makes left-handed holsters.] Any lefties out there care to share their firearms and gun gear-related anger and frustration with the group?
Nope. No birth defect here. (HA!)
I suspect I was born a leftie but was “fixed” by the nuns in grade school…
There is no pain like that a Nun can inflict on knuckles with an oak ruler…
(ouch)
jwm,
As someone who can basically use either hand if needed (not that I don’t have a preference), I consider those who are hopelessly right handed to be birth defective.
Some people are ambidextrous… I have been accused of being anti-dextrous, can’t do anything with EITHER hand!
I’d give my right arm to be ambidextrous.
I’m a lefty, but I’m also right-eye dominant. So, I carry/hold hand guns left-handed, but hold/shoot long guns right-handed. Other than the occasional difficulty finding very specific types of holsters for very specific pistols in a left-handed version, I have no angst to share with the group.
I have the opposite issue. Right handed with left eye dominance. I can adjust for that with pistols but can’t get i sight picture off my right eye with a rifle to save my soul. All my rifle gear is left handed.
Same.
I can use my right eye with a reflex sight but it takes too much time and concentration.
Of course, I grew up using a “normal” (i.e. right-handed) AR left handed – using an left-handed AR is actually a bit odd, since one develops coping mechanisms over decades.
I thought the correct term was “wrong handed.”
Well if you’re trying to make sinister implications, God’s other children also works.
The correct term (pardon my French), is “gauche.”
But your humor was appreciated.
We prefer the term ‘sinister’.
^^^^ THIS (in oh so many ways). That old BS about being the only people in our right minds is great if you’re a floppy-hatted artist, but I’d much rather be thought of a s sinister.
The politically correct version is differently abled.
On the plus side, for TTAG and BFG, you finally got me to click on the link and go to their site. I have been looking for slings for my M1A and SR556 – but – BFG, not all of us are Operators. Maybe a few pictures of the slings attached to weapons so we know what we’re getting, how they work, and why that style is important? Just sayin’. Been to the site and still don’t know what makes a Vickers Sling different or special or how it works with the rifle.
That has been a gripe of mine with many, many sling mongers. You see a package that says SuperDuperWonderSling on it and have NO idea what the fuck you’re going to actually get. Then, when you open it up…you see a bunch of pieces-parts, and no instructions on how to put the fucker together. (If there were instructions, then *perhaps* you’d be able to know what you were getting beforehand, which seems to be against the rules.)
I have a sling graveyard, next to the holster one… full of stuff I bought and had no clue how to use, much less decide whether it would be suitable IF I could figure out what the hell it was.
Why are slings made so damned hard to understand?
Sounds like a call for JWT to pen an “How to use a sling” thing for TTAG…
Shhhhh. You just took away my contest entry!
mountain shooter slings are all I buy for shooting slings. For carry slings I go with Fighter Design for all but my heaviest ARs.
In the Marine Corps we had standard issue simple j hook cloth like belt sling with a metal sandwich clip to keep it adjusted. Never once even in Iraq did any of our gear resemble anything tactical. We had to use cardboard to camouflage our Hmmwv ‘s lol. It was only when I got out that I saw all the “tacti-cool” trend.
Would you also have to use left handed mags?
Only with left-handed ammo….
Don’t give away the secret…
Left-hand mags *only* if the bore has a left-hand twist…
*cough*
Shhhh. You gave away my secret move!
I’m ambidextrous, but actually shoot a little better with the left hand. Since we live in a world of right handed people, I simply adopted right hand carry from the start and don’t worry about it. I train using both hands both ways, and each hand alone, so it doesn’t really matter a lot to me.
The only time I wished I’d had a left side holster was when I hurt my right hand a few years ago, but my CC rig is ambidextrous, so I just carried left handed that way for the duration.
Need to be flexible, folks. 🙂
Is this a leftover April Fool’s joke? A left-handed sling? Sounds like a left-handed shoe string to me…
+1 Everyone knows left handed people celebrate April fools a week later than right handed people.
bad URL.
Seriously though, a few LH things:
1)Winchester 290s suck LH. I have the neck scars to prove it courtesy the brass. Be leery of ejection angle in general.
2)I haven’t bought a LH rifle yet. Certainly want to, just haven’t done it.
3)Reloading revolers can be interesting. Exception being an SAA but I digress.
4)Be careful of your hand when cycling a bolt action rifle left handed. Lost some skin courtesy an Enfield that way.
5)Ambi AR parts are EXPENSIVE. The mag release is a $70 vs a $5 standard part. What gives? It is easy to put a few hundred bucks into ambi parts by the time you get a charging handle, bolt release and mag release for an AR.
6)Not a ton of time on semi auto pistols, but dubious I’d do a 1911 unless it was tweaked accordingly.
7)People who are righties by and large won’t get it. I had a guy bitching that I was training wrong and if my rifle broke I’d have to relearn someone else’s. I pointedly told him that when they start making something for the other 90% of the world that drives him nuts give me a call.
8)Overall I would consider being cross eye dominant more of a detriment to rifle. With handgun it makes a lot less difference.
#2 – Not frickin’ worth it. I have a few ARs and one of them is a lefty. I’m now stuck with a lefty BCG, upper receiver, etc that are unique snowflakes and can’t be tuned up with some standard AR parts. Stick with a righty AR and adapt. As to bolt guns, see #7.
#5 – You’re going to want to buy quality parts for your AR anyway, so get a Raptor charging handle, BAD ASS ambi safety and a Troy ambi mag release. You’ll only buy ’em once, so there is that…
#6 – Yup, get an ambi safety and you’ll never look back. Totally worth it.
#7 – Yes, they don’t get it. If I were a SJW, I’d tell them to check their handedness privilege. However, we deal with it and in some areas, especially with knife and sword fighting, have a definite advantage. BTW, I love running a righty bolt gun as a lefty. I can keep my trigger hand in place and keep on sight while running the bolt with my right hand. Same thing with righty mag releases on a semi-auto. Much easier to run with my index/middle finger than switching to lefty mag release and having to run it with my thumb…
Being a cross dominant right hander I have no problem with rifles. My shotgun deficiencies can be attributed to form and needeing to improve my sight picture acquisition.
The real problem is pistols. I have serious problems quickly acquiring a proper sight picture. But I’m to solidly right handed to switch hands.
Just close the left eye
Nobody said you HAVE TO have both eyes open
Using iron sights with both eyes open on a far&small target while focused on the front sight actually gives me two images of the target, quite disconcerting
If you ever get the leisure and time to reload a revolver in a gunfight and have to do it fast…
Put it in the right hand and reload and put back into the left hand. Allows you to carry the speedloaders or moonclips on the right and the gun on the left. Just two extra steps that are much easier than aligning the chambers…
That technique works great with Dan Wessons because you can just pull the cylinder release with your right index while pushing it out with your thumb. If a couple shakes doesn’t clear it you can hit the ejector as well. Then just roll it closed with your fingers as you transfer.
That’s similar to the technique I use. Push cylinder release forward with left index finder. Push cylinder out with right thumb, cradling gun in right palm. Flip up gun with right hand; right thumb holds cylinder open, last thumb knuckle ends up against forcing cone (this can be hot), right fingers and palm wrapped around bottom of gun and kinda of pinching it like a claw. Slap ejector rod with the left hand and reload with left hand. Reverse steps to get back to shooting.
This was an April fools joke, guys…
You really should take less than a week to read your emails.
Yes, content has been lagging a bit lately. Dead Air’s new AK suppressor has been on other forums for over a week.
So TTAG fell for an April Fool’s joke product a week after the fact. You guys just made my day.
Lefty here. Left eye dominant.
It’s advantageous to shoot lefty and I taught my wife and kids the same way.
Better ejection port access to assess the status.
Stovepipes are on the easier side to clear.
Easier malfunction clearance because of no need to rotate the gun back and forth.
Mag release is not an issue if reversible or ambi, like most modern pistols and a lot of ARs. If not, using the inside of the middle finger is as fast on a pistol, or the weak thumb on an AR.
Slide stop, the MAJOR issue. There is never the concern (until the recent stupid marketing fad of ambi slide stop) of touching the slide stop and it rubs on the slide to cause a malfunction, or depressing it and preventing lockback. Releasing the slide is easy as swiping down with the trigger finger. On an AR15, using the trigger finger is very easy too.
Need ambi safety, but nearly all modern defensive firearms have addressed it. Recreatinal guns aint need no lightning speed operation.
Bolt guns, righties have demanded left knob for prone/bench shooting for years, we’ve been doing it since the beginning.
I’m a lefty who was trained to shoot right handed. I’m also right eye dominant so it made sense. I do everything else with my left hand like writing and throwing. I can still shoot decently with my left hand, but I am much better with my right.
I’m right handed, but left eye dominant. I shoot southpaw as a result. It’s very frustrating dealing with the dearth pf support for lefties in the market. I get it. Left handed shooters are a very small market to build for. Doesn’t mean I have to like it .
Lefty, guilty as charged. I’ve kitted out my AR with an ambi selector, ambi 1-point sling mount, and ambi charging handle and those mods really make the AR my own. I think I’ll call it “Mr. Sinister.”
You need an ambi mag release and a BAD lever. Trust me.
Or just reach up with the trigger finger and middle finger as the weak hand goes to the handguard. Really takes no extra time and save the lever-around-the-receiver hassle
Mag release ambi, yes
1+ on mag release. Maybe next time.
Ambi mag release might be my next mod…
Did you fall for an April Fools joke? I like how it can be actually added to the cart, for some reason I wonder why..hhhmmmm??
born lefty here, with handguns it’s a non issue for the most part. had an ambi safety installed on my 1911, my baby eagle came with one. as far as long guns are concerned, left handed bolt guns can be found for very reasonable prices if you shop around, I personally have 4 of them. installing an ambi safety on an AR is about a 10 minute job and unless I have my gas block turned all the way up on my SR-762 ejection isn’t a problem. Otherwise the only real ergonomic issues I have are with cross bolt safeties, my 10/22 and Winchester 1300 come to mind.
To all of my fellow southpaws…
If you can run a computer mouse with your right hand
Shift your transmission
Wind your fishing reel
Use scissors
etc. etc.
then you can sure as hell learn to shoot with your right hand and see with your right eye.
(Unless you’re blind in your right eye after being hit with flying brass while trying to shoot a right-handed gun left-handed.)
Grow a pair and learn to use common tools the way they were designed to be used.
You can thank me later, or spend the rest of your life looking for your left-handed hammer.
Every time I go to the range, I shoot 60-80% two-hand, 10-20% strong hand, 10-20% weak hand. I’ve always thought it important to develop all three. I’m actually better weak hand (right) than I am strong hand (left) – possibly due to the cross-dominance?
But scissors? I gave up trying to use those properly a long time ago. Not a chance.
I’m right handed (for shooting pistols, anyway; I do a lot of things left handed so maybe I’m closer to ambiclumsy) but left eye dominant. I’ve had zero trouble with pistols–close the non-dominant eye if it helps, but aim isn’t significantly different. However, with a rifle I do have to shoot left handed because my right eye is bad. Not just not dominant, but it can’t see for crap even with the left eye covered. Fortunately shooting a rifle weak-handed is NOT hard; if you can use your weak hand while typing you can surely pull a fricking trigger with it.
From where I sit, one should shoot their rifle with their good eye. The hand doesn’t make nearly the difference that the eye will.
But then again, I’ve noticed many righties are utterly helpless when asked to do something left handed, but will nevertheless be utter assholes to lefties who have the reverse issue. Sort of like Curtis, here.
I was born totally lefty but i found that, whatever i was TAUGHT, i use right hand, and whatever i found out for myself i’m southpaw.
Right hand for:
Scissors
Mice (the computer, not catching mice)
Writing
Cell phone
Lefty hand:
Guns
Knives
Fistfight
Fork (even when theres no knife)
Flashlight
Hammer
I’m right handed, but left eye dominant. I shoot rifles left handed and pistols right handed. It’s kind of just the way I picked them up when I was first learning to shoot. I have had my share of gear woes, most of them related to slings. I’ve found the best way to go when carrying Uncle Sam’s M16A4 is just a plain old 2-point sling, adjusted loose and slung like a one point. You can easily flip the rifle to and from your back when working with other tools like a metal detector or crimping blasting caps and it still shoulders naturally if adjusted correctly. I got burnt out on the fancy new tacticool sling fad while I was in Afghanistan 4 years ago, I now use my MS3 as a QD 2-Point.
Everyones born right handed, only the truly gifted overcome it.
In this case im an odd duck. I shoot rifles left handed, handguns with either, shoot a bow right handed, eat and write left handed, throw, bat and golf right handed. Came in handy when i was turning wrenches for a living being able to switch back and forth.
As a lefty:
Locking pistol slides open is pretty awkward.
A piston AR is much preferable to a DI gun. I eat way less exhaust.
When configured for left-handed use, the sling the Marine Corps gave me for my M4 interfered with my ejection port cover and caused a failure to fire. Every time. I cut it up and made one that worked.
Left handed. Right eye dominant. Shoot rifles righty, so no worries.
I shoot pistols with weaver stance so no worries there.
Moss burg shotguns are excellent due only to the safety location.
Left handed safeties and slide locks (especially the later) are tough to find on a compact pistol. I’ve had to accept an awkward slide-lock back operation on the otherwise perfect
Xds.
I really believe all pistols should have ambi safeties and mag releases at a minimum.
I’ve trained myself to carry knives in my right pocket, but Scissors are a bitch.
The only other really bad one are knives that are contoured for righties. I use both hands for things like gutting/processing game and this is an issue I overcome with a judicious use of a file and sandpaper. It’s tough to do on an expensive knife though.
The one non-gun related one that I had never thought about was measuring cups. Blew my mind when my wife was given a “left handed measuring cup” as a present.
Golf also sucks. But nobody ever wants to borrow my clubs!
I’m lefty all the way. I learned to shoot on right handed bolt actions, but currently I take the lazy option and use semi-auto rifles. I plan to get a left handed bolt action, but not right now. I definitely prefer ambidextrous controls on pistols, although Glocks are easy to run lefty by using your right hand on the slide lock and trigger finger on the mag release. I don’t remember any issues when I shot a revolver but it was a long time ago and I probably held it in my right hand while I loaded.
My big gripe about being a lefty….all the stupid ambi junk on pistols. All it does is get in the way and make it more likely to Paul Blart a mag in the middle of a string of fire.
Starboard ejecting ARs and AKs were made for left handed people. Mag releases work fine with either hand once you learn to do it. Slide catches (since they’re not supposed to be used to release the slide) are more out of the way and perfectly servicible on the support side of the gun.
Also, holsters are harder to find. But…whatever. That just means I don’t impulse buy junk I don’t need.
I am Left handed, too.
Solved the problem quite easily with a levergun: aMarlin 39a doesn’t care about left or right handedness.
A K31, doesn’t care, provided you get a LH oprod form Swiss Products.
Furthermore, for serious ISSF shooting Anschutz sold me a completely left handed 2007/2013 (not cheap, tho’)
And, for heavyer gaugs, Sabatto does its bolt actions LH, too.
However I hate Garands. Eight cases and a clip falling ove me aren’t the nicest experience.
Can we stop emphasising the importance of handedness regarding firearms? Because it really doesn’t matter. Holding a rifle with both hands and using the right index finger to squeeze the trigger should not be a problem for a full functioning human being. I guarantee you I could work the bolt with my left hand on a left handed rifle. Everything else is a push button or pull lever. Lefties complain so much, I wonder how they drive a right handed car. The left hand is occupied on the steering wheel while the weak hand has to manipulate the wipers, radio, defrost and gear shifter. It is amazing lefties aren’t running off the road in higher numbers.
I’m left handed and left eye dominant. I shoot left handed too; never had much problem with right handed guns you just adapt to them.
As a consequence of being left handed though, I buy almost every used high quality left handed holster I come across. I’ve ended up with many holsters for guns I don’t own but they are all $100+ holsters I generally get for $5-$10 because they are left handed; and some of them fit other gun besides. I’ve found most holsters designed for a Beretta 92 or M9 will fit a CZ75/85 nicely.
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