While the ambi safety is nice, I guess, for lefties, it doesn't seem to help them in the op of slide stop and mag release. Has anyone ever produced an entirely left handed 1911. Doesn't seem like it would be that difficult. Just flip EVERYTHING to the left side.
Yep. I believe there was one called the Randel... or Randal.. or some such.
Didn't sell so well, but they still show up sometime or another.
Being a lefty, I always added ambi safties, and left it at that. Not much of a change, or hassle to get the job done... just takes practice and range time to acquant yourself... just like the reatarded righties...
The mag catch is right there under your trigger finger. The slide catch can be operated w/the trigger finger should you choose to do so. Many, many, including righthanders, rack the slide as it's positive and works on every semi-auto.
Ambi safety is the only mod I've installed as a nod to my LH operation.
Smith and Alexander use to make an ambi mag release. I still have one. It would allow a lefty to use his thumb to release the mag, much like a right handed person.
Being a lefty all seems perfectly natural to me except I have to have ambi safety. Having one installed on my Colt and p.u. Monday. Revolvers pose more of a challenge because the cylinder rolls out the wrong direction for fast reloading. Long guns eject shells right in front of right eye but that's life in a right handed world. I just adapt!
Being left handed of necessity, I find the controls on a 1911 to be extremely comfortable to use. The slide release is easily activated with the Left index finger (while maintaining a normal grip), the magazine release is in exactly the best position to push with the left index finger (keeps the booger hook off the trigger), the safety can easily be manipulated with that same left index finger (WHILE MAINTAINING PROPER GRIP), why go for something else?
If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Side issue is economics. Since less than 11% of people are left handed, the cost of development/maintenance is prohibitive.
I'm becoming more and more convinced that people with two hands are handicapped because they never learn to adapt.
I am a lefty and 1911 with ambi is a must no other issues though....on my revolvers I tend to release cylinder with my left hand while placig gun in right to reload amd close the cylinder while swithing the gun back to the left hand... kinda like a slap... just programmed that way....
Wouldn't it be nice if they build one with ejection ports located on the left for lefties?
At least three companies in the past have made true mirror-image left-hand 1911 pistols.
Randall made several variations which were built to military airplane specifications. They sold for much more than normal 1911 pistols at that time. There were about 200 total made. I have several of them. One of the main issues is that the magazines were left-handed and no aftermarket magazines will work or can be modified to work.
Olympic Arms (aka Safari Arms) made some left-hand 1911s of which I also have some.
Rumors persist that another company, and perhaps two or three others, made left-hand 1911s.
As far as the small percentage of total shooters that are left-handed being the reason for no production, don't buy that story for a moment. In long guns, at least Anschutz, Benelli, Blaser, Browning, Charles Daly, Cooper, CZ, Dakota, Granite Mountain Arms, Kimber of Oregon, Mauser, Montana, Remington, Ruger, Sako, Sauer, Savage, Stag, Tikka, Ultra Light Arms, Weatherby, and Winchester have made left-hand rifles and/or shotguns.
There are many right-handed 1911 variations which have been made which never were targeted for markets that came close to the same size as the left-hand 1911 market. Look at the current catalogs of Colt, Kimber, Springfield, etc and tell me that all their current guns have large mass markets as large as 10% of the population of gun buyers.
If one of the majors -- i.e., Colt, Kimber, or Springfield -- were to offer and market a standard 5-inch Gov't model 1911 in 45 ACP they would do OK. So far, the left-hand 1911 market has been tackled by fringe manufacturers.
As far as modifying right-hand 1911 pistols for left-hand use, think I've spent as much as anyone in that pursuit. None of the ambi-safeties are as good as a true left-hand safety. And having hot fired cases ejected into your shirt or in your face is no fun.
We're not asking for twenty different manufacturers to make a left-hand 1911 like they do in long guns. We'd be happy with one left-hand 1911 in current mass production at comparable prices to right-hand 1911s.
Caspian did that a few years ago. Totally left handed 1911. Slide stop on right ejector on right ejection port on left, extractor on left, Thumb safety on right ... The whole nine yards. In the history of weapons systems, I think screen doors for submarines may have out sold it.
What is interesting is how poorly the left-hand segment is both advertised and marketed within stores.
Every new fangled gun and cartridge that comes out seems to have major published magazine stories galore and full page ads to boot. Yet one more 30 caliber short mag -- the world does need one more -- and the publicity machine cranks up. People visit and revisit their local stores wanting to know if the new item has come in yet. The store personnel is ready with the latest story concerning the new fangled item.
I'll concede that there have been one or two magazine ads in the last fifty years dedicated to left-hand guns. Won't count fine print in an ad focused at other products. And when you get in the store, most personnel don't know there is such a thing as a left-handed gun. Hate to think of the number of times I've asked about a left-hand rifle, had the salesman hand me a lever-action 30-30 and tell me that's all there was for lefties, and look behind the salesman at the gun rack and there sit three left-handed bolt action guns that he wasn't even aware of. No product has been more poorly marketed or sold than left-handed guns.
Think of all the minorities that individually make up 10 - 15% of the population and how much business and society markets to them. Many have entire sections of stores dedicated to their niche products. Heck, they have laws and regulations making sure they're marketed to.
If you don't mind doing some paperwork, Dlask Arms makes a nice one... Their website as been down for a few day (https://www.dlaskarms.com/) 604-527- 9942
Only a R/hander would want to mess with a already lefty friendy 1911 I don't even use a ambi safety. The pistol works for both equaly well
There have been a very few. Of those I've actually handled a true lefthanded Randall.
Frankly I only saw a benefit to it to a RIGHT-HANDED shooter. Ever watched a righty release a mag on a 1911? Most have to either shift the gun in their shooting grip (slow and not positive) or have very large hands/long thumbs. That's why you see 'extended mag releases' offered.
Search one out if ya just gota have one but as a lifetime lefty, I'll stick with just an ambi safety and smirk every time I see a poor righty struggle with his mag release
Hell, I'm a lefty and I don't even use an ambi-safety. I grip the gun in the holster with the trigger finger held high. As the gun comes out and begins pointing downrange I sweep my trigger finger toward the trigger, disengaging the thumb safety. The only thing I did was stone the safety edge to let it come off with a little less force for my weaker trigger finger. A little cold blue and you can't even see it when you're looking for it. It is still safe and disengages with a positive snap. And not having to shift my grip to release the magazine is priceless.
If I remember right the Randall even had reversed rifling, a true mirror image weapon.
As he said Randall made some, as did Olympic.
I think Oly got Randalls tooling.
A few years ago, for some weird reason, Caspian ran off 21 sets of lefthanded parts. They had one set finished out into a gun, I saw it at the SHOT Show, and sold the other 20 sets of parts at a very high price. You would think that as long as they had the molds and tooling, they would have cranked out 200 instead of 20, even if it took years to sell them.
I knew a southpaw nearly as bad as Hammer1, he had three Portsiders. he was on a lifetime scrounging program for spare parts and magazines. He was successful, he kept his guns up and running for the rest of his days. I don't know what happened to his stuff after he was killed in a freak accident, though. (Freak accident = he was sweeping the parking lot in front of his store when a passing vehicle lost a wheel. It bounced across the parking lot and hit him in the head.)
In my early twenties, adapted to the right-hand world. Tried right-hand bolt actions and other stuff.
Realized that the right-hand world had no advantages for me.
So I returned to the straight and narrow path.
I saw one of those left-handed Caspians on gunbroker.com for - get this - $3250.00. Being left handed, I wanted it, but that's a little more than I'd like to spend on a pistol.
More lefties at SHOT Show
Ruger, no virgin to the left-hand gun market, introduced several new calibers for the left-hand rifle line up at the SHOT Show.
Previously Ruger only made lefties in their long action 77 providing the 25- 06, 270, 7mm Rem Mag, 30-06, and 300 Win Mag. And, of course, they added the lefty in 375 Ruger a while back.
They have found the lefty market lucrative enough to invest in making a new short action 77 with the 204, 223, 22-250, 243, 7mm-08, and 308 cartridges.
There are also rumors of the RCM cartridges being available in the new lefty.
Now, if Ruger were only in the 1911 market maybe we could get a mirror-image like the Randall back into production.
There is a rumor that Remington will make a 1911.
Remington also expanded their left-hand rifle line up adding the 17 Fireball and 204 to their list of lefties recently.
There are so many folks making 1911s these days, you'd think someone might need to differentiate.
A lefty 1911 might do it.
Quote:
Problems with non-standard parts would be a much bigger headache than
adapting to a standard 1911; get an ambi safety, and call it good.
Very true, but if there were only one manufacturer making the truly left- handed 1911, you would think the tolerances would be more consistent in the same way that Glocks are only made by Glock and therefore have less variation in their components. If I bought a truly left-handed 1911, I'd likely buy at least 1 spare part for every internal that differed from the right-handed model just in case they quit making them.
I'm a lefty and have been shooting semi-autos for years. The only thing that I've found to really be a necessity is an ambi safety.
The mag release is just something I've learned to press with either my index finger or my ring finger depending on the gun. I don't lose much time to a righty.
The slide lock, well the only time this is a pain is when administratively locking the slide back. I drop the slide with an overhand slingshot so I am never actually pressing on the slide release while shooting.
bang bang banb, empty, drop the mag, insert mag, overhand slingshot the slide, bang bang
If you really wan to be able to drop the slide, I used to have a gold cup with a big canoe paddle of a slide release. I could reach up with my index finger and easily drop the slide if I wanted to.
As one who is completely left-handed and has been shooting for more than a half century, I looked into the Randall lefty's when they first came out. Not only were they way overpriced, but the dealer said it would take several weeks for the gun to be shipped. Since I was getting close to being sent overseas again, I just held off. By the time I returned stateside, there were none to be had. I now have a Colt (1911 - not 1911A1-my granddad's), a Norinco (my favorite shooter, got it for $200.00), a Taurus, and a Springfield.
In revolvers, I prefer the Dan Wesson with its cylinder latch in front of the cylinder... its like it was made for southpaws.
Next big expense will be the Stag Arms L6 lefty AR.
Have a look at these, one right one left...
http://forums.1911forum.com/showthread.php?t=329292
I like the idea of a lefty 1911 better than about anything anyone has come up with so far.
I shoot competitively (not very well, but I still have to work with ROs) with both a Glock and a 1911 and find the Glock much easier to deal with as a lefty. Here's why:
1) large slide cut out - the RO can see into the chamber easily when I show clear
2) "auto" slide drop - I've tuned my Glock and with the use of Wolf extra power mag springs, the slide drops when I insert a loaded mag, so the position of the slide release doesn't matter to me.
3) softer mag release spring. (although I'm sure I could change the 1911s)
Now that I'm thinking about it, for a custom built 1911 all of the same things apply other than the ejection port could be set up. But I'll tell you something, ROs are used to standing on the right side of a shooter and most still stand on the right side of a LH shooter. So a left side ejection port will just throw him off.
As far as brass going across my face, I've never ever noticed brass flying across my face with any handgun.
The only time I notice the downside of having the ejection port on the RH side of my face is when I'm shooting a long gun with a suppressor. On a suppressed gun the chamber pressure stays higher for longer (dwell time) which typically results in some blow back out of the ejection port. And since your face is typically much closer to the ejection port of a semi-auto long gun, you tend to get schmutz in your face
Back to the 1911s.
Of all my 1911s my Nighthawk has a shelf type slide release that is very easy
and fast to operate with my left index finger. Its actually easier to operate
than if I was right handed and used my thumb. Its kindof lost on me though,
since I've always done an overhand slingshot.
This is really disorganized and rambling. but I hope it helps.
Don
p.s. Charter arms actually makes LH revolvers. The sad thing is that after shooting IDPA SSR on and off, I don't think I'll ever unlearn how to use a RH revolver.