Perhaps we should put steering wheels on the passenger side. Just in case.

Jeans, with ambi-flies.

Ambi-screws. No more righty-tighty, lefty-loosy. It goes both ways.

Electricity, left-hand rule. What's that about? Flemming had a right hand rule for magnetic field and induced current...but a left hand rule for motors. That's gotta change. Ambi. For the modern era, you see.

Goddamn shoes...my right shoe doesn't fit the left, and visa versa. Ambi-shoes. It's about goddamn time. Those shoes should fit either foot.

We keep producing kids that are largely right handed, a few that are left. Production needs to stop until this is sorted out, and we only produce ambi kids. It's the modern era, after all.

This seems an appropriate time to stop the earth's rotation. It's only spinning one way. Not in this modern era. Unacceptable.

quote:

Originally posted by DSgrouse:
To me, ambi also includes ejecting on the opposite side.
<snip>

The Walther P5s eject to the left. But making a pistol that would eject to the side of your choice would be really tricky.

Fifty years of shooting and I’ve never once needed a safety on the right side of the gun.

Agree that switchable controls make sense, but no need for ambi.

I even cut off the right-side lever when I installed the MS on my P365; haven’t missed it for a second.

The ambi safety on my Ruger MK IV was a pain in the ass. At least you can easily remove it. Also, I didn't like the ambi safety on my Colt Rail Gun. That was one of the reasons I sold it. No such problem on my Colt Wiley Clapp Lightweight Commander.

quote:

Originally posted by FHHM213:
What is meant by “in today’s world”? Has the % of lefties increased significantly or is this a reference to extreme inclusivity?

Maybe automakers should sell LHD vehicles here, especially those few with a manual gearbox.

Anyway, some guy named Hendrix adapted to a right handed guitar fairly well.

Uh, we do have Left Hand Drive cars in the US. Steering wheel on the left side. UK, HK, India, Australia, and a few others are Right Hand Drive.

I've driven right hand drive cars in the US, and it's weird but you get used to it. Best one was an Australian Ford Falcon which basically had a Mustang drivetrain. Passing other cars on the highway can cause them to freak out though. I have yet to drive a right hand drive with a manual though.

It's irrelevant because you generally have to drive whatever is normal in a given country - so EVERYONE in a right hand drive country that has a manual transmission has to shift with their left hand. But at least the pedal arrangement is the same either way and not reversed. THAT would really cause problems.

Those of us who are left-handed are consistently about 10% of the population. We are born this way and cannot choose to be right handed. We deal with a shit ton of things that are designed for right handed people, mostly without complaint, because it takes time to realize that holding things left handed causes issues that right handed people don't have. For example, holding a weed whacker right handed points the debris away from you, and holding it left handed points the debris directly at your legs. Scissors are designed for right handed people, not only in the contour of the handles, but in the geometry of the blades. Using them left handed causes the blades to separate and not cut well, whereas right handed forces the blades together.

I play guitar and have a very limited selection of left handed instruments, or I have to pay a lot more to have them custom made. Hendrix played a right handed guitar strung left handed, because that is all he could get as a kid. By the time he got famous he didn't change, partially because it was his look but also because he believed that the one-off left handed guitars Fender made would be less consistent than the normal right handed ones. He did use Gibson SG's and Flying V's later on, and they flip over more easily due to the symmetrical body shapes.

It is disappointing to see people basically saying "screw-em I only care that it's optimized for me". It's bad enough that self-loading rifles eject brass into our line of sight and gas into our faces, and in the worst case, a case head separation might cause serious injury. It's bad enough that bolt-action rifles are completely backwards, and crossbolt safeties on lots of rifles go the wrong way.

For a range toy, it doesn't really matter. P210A, Ruger Mark II, Model 41, etc. I don't care about single sided safeties. But for a carry gun, it had better have an ambi safety and a reversible mag release (or ambi paddle like Walther or HK) to prevent bumps from ejecting the mag on a holstered gun. Ambi button releases are the worst of both worlds and I've never seen one that was very good.

For an AR, I use Norgon ambi-catches, ambi selectors (I like Radian lately), and ambi charging handles (Geissele or Radian). They are easy to install and I don't mind doing it, but then I don't buy factory guns anymore, I just build them how I like. I had left hand eject Stag's before, but have switched to "normal" because of the lack of left handed barrels and BCG's.

I am OK with reversible things, as long as the parts are available. HK offers ambi or left handed safeties for the USP and HK45, but getting the parts hasn't always been easy. Colt has a reversible single side AR safety.

But in generally, if you expect me to deal with a right handed gun, the least you can do is tolerate ambi controls that still work fine for you.

And yes, I am amused by the BAD levers and other bolt catch extensions on AR's because a lefty can hit the bolt catch with an index finger as it is.

quote:

In today’s world why wouldn’t you bring a 100% ambi gun to market???

Quote from the Interwebs:

The majority of people are right-handed — somewhere between 70 and 90 percent , depending on which study's findings you accept. The other 10-30 percent are primarily left-handed or ambidextrous.

Could be just a business decision.

The are only a few issues with traditional right handed setups that cause problems for us left handed shooters. Cross bolt safeties such as the one on the Remington 870 cannot be operated quickly, so when it comes out of the car and gets a round chambered I turn the safety to off and treat it like my Glock. Bolt action rifles involve alot more movement to operate.

AR 15 safeties operate with the left thumb and the mag release gets hit with the right thumb. Pistol mag releases get hit with the left index finger and just slingshot the slide so there isn't an issue with the slide release.

I can configure my guns with more left handed features, but that does some negative things. First it makes the gun different which means right handed people freak out over it. Second, if I pick up a right handed weapon I have to use it differently than I have trained. Third, if you use your gun for defense you should expect it to be seized for evidence so replacements are to be expected, and getting a left handed setup takes time/more money.

Overall, shooting is very much like golf, in that, it is easier and much cheaper to use the equipment designed for right handed people, than to use the very small percentage made for lefties.

Tang safeties and Sig DAK/Glocks are the bomb for lefties.

If I'm shooting with my left hand/arm, it's because I am FORCED to shoot it with the wrong hand (AKA my right hand/arm is disabled). If that's the case, then other options like running/hiding, are likely better options than attempting to be very useful with the wrong hand/arm. Even then, if I have to shoot wrong handed, my brain and reflexes make my wrong hand's fingers go to activate lever/buttons where my normal right hand would be trying to do the same things since I have no real "reflex movements" with my wrong hand like I do my right hand/arm.

For example, just trying to draw my concealed pistol from my right side hip with just my left hand/arm because my right hand/arm wasn't working would be an utter joke not even counting my horrid accuracy if even managed to get my pistol out with the wrong hand. Better to use my hopefully still-working legs and get distance. Yes I should theoretically train my wrong side better, but in all reality, I barely have the time or money to even train my normal hand/arm to stay halfway proficient, much less train for strong arm injury scenarios.

I can't imagine that if I were a lefty, and my pistol and carry rig was setup that way, that having duplicate controls on the other side would be any more useful. So basically, the redundant ambidextrous other-side controls don't add any value in "my" circumstances, and have some serious negative drawbacks as others have mentioned.

My P365 only has the thumb safety lever on the left side only as I chopped off the opposite ambi side lever, because: A. it was useless to me B. Seemed like an afterthought because it stuck out too far on right side with a ugly gap between lever and frame/slide (compared to the left side lever which was nice and flush with frame/slide).

quote:

Originally posted by Guardian555:
Tang safeties and Sig DAK/Glocks are the bomb for lefties.

You have a safety on your Glock?

quote:

Originally posted by sns3guppy:
You have a safety on your Glock?

Yep, the 4 rules.

quote:

Originally posted by Guardian555:


Yep, the 4 rules.

Which one of those is a tang safety on the Glock?

Which Sig has a tang safety? Which Sig DAK has a tang safety?

I read it to mean that he likes tang safeties on long guns, and likes DAK Sigs and Glocks because they lack safeties and other controls that would normally be right-hand specific (decocking lever, for example). I don't believe he meant that his Glocks or Sigs have tang safeties.

I like ambi controls but I agree that it has seemed to be problematic in actual production. The paddle release ala HK or Walther is probably the best execution for a ambi control for the mag release. Most of the lefties I encounter work the release with their fingers vs thumbs. I've done it similarly when doing off-hand drills.

After reading this thread, apparently because lefties will adapt and righties will piss and moan.

You ought to see lefties case letter mail at the Post Office.

An NAA revolver is ambi.

My P229 is a perfect lefty gun. The mag button is easily reached by the left index finger, and the slide stop is nicely placed so as not to interfere with my left thumb. What’s not to like?
I would NOT reverse the mag release button, if that option were available, would absolutely hate a lefty or ambidextrous slide stop, and most certainly would not buy a lefty P229, with “left-hand” controls.

Having said that, my P229 is retired, due to .40 S&W, and the high bore axis, vexing the arthritis in my right thumb and wrist, even when my right hand is the support hand. I can shoot the P229 left-hand-only, of course, but generally regard wide-body pistols as handSguns, requiring two-hand shooting, with a both-thumbs-forward hold, for best results. A few lefty-hand-only shots, on “commemerative” occasions, will do. A fun gun, now, after being my longest-serving single duty pistol. (I switched to lower-bore axis Glocks, as soon as my chief OK’ed 9mm duty pistols, in 2015.)

Notably, I do not care for the ambidextrous slide stop, on Gen5 Glocks. Very, very annoying, as they interfere with using a two-handed hold. There is simply not enough real estate, on the right side of the pistol, to enable proper placement of my right hand, unless I use one of the older support hand methods, that places no part of the support hand on the frame of the pistol. My most recent three Glock acquisitions have been a G30s Short Frame, which is Gen3, a Gen4 G30, and a Gen3 G26. No silly “ambidextrous” Gen5 slide stops, on these.

My two Gen5 Glocks, a G19x, and a G17, may well have their offending slide release pads, on the right side, for the left thumb, dremeled-away. As a lefty user of Glock pistols, I did not ask for them, and do not want them. I have enough Glocks, that these two can be relegated to being only range toys, so, there has been no hurry, to alter them.

FWIW, I was born a natural left-hander, but being right-armed, so throw right-handed, and have tended to use larger, heavier tools right-handed, while using smaller tools left-handed. I have not considered myself fully ambidextrous, but can do some things well enough with either hand. Handgun shooting is one of those things I have been able to do with either hand, to the extent that I chose to carry on my right hip, ‘way back in 1983.

My right thumb, hand, wrist, and shoulder have not aged as well as the corresponding parts on my left side, and I no longer fully trust my right hand not to induce “limp wrist” malfunctions, with at least some autos, so, shooting auto-loading pistols is largely becoming a lefty activity. (Actually, it seems to be more of a “numb-thumb” issue, than a limp-wrist problem. My right thumb does not always seem to do what my conscious mind tells it to do.)

I have yet to transition away from right side carry, for the “primary” weapon, however, so my revolvers have returned to more significant roles. I retired from LEO-ing in 2018, so am no longer required to carry autoloaders, as primary weapons, 40+ hours a week.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Rexster,

FWIW, I have carried pistols with the magazine catch moved to the right side in concealment and LE duty holsters for nearly 20 years. With the exception of the first older model Galco “Concealable” that had leather covering the mag catch, I have never had an unintended magazine release caused by the seatbelt mechanism. (A simple mod fixed the Galco, and I used it until I switched from a P229 to P320 for routine carry some months ago.)

There are holsters that are clearly designed to keep pressure off the catch if it’s on the right side. Seek and ye can find.

quote:

Originally posted by sns3guppy:

quote:

Originally posted by Guardian555:


Yep, the 4 rules.

Which one of those is a tang safety on the Glock?

Which Sig has a tang safety? Which Sig DAK has a tang safety?

He didn’t say that. The “and” is a separator in that sentence. Tang safeties AND Sig DAK/Glocks. Functionally, a comma would have worked as well instead of the “and.”