Bolt question?

[wildcat284]

Guys,

Would a right handed shooter benefit from the bolt being on the left hand side so that he doesn't have to break his shooting grip to work the bolt if mounted on the right hand side?

Michael
,New Zealand)

 

[brickeyee]

How are you going to hold the rifle up if your left hand is now working the bolt?

 

[Caduceus]

How are you going to hold the rifle up if your left hand is now working the bolt?

With a bipod or a front rest probably. :idea:

 

[Cheechako]

How are you going to hold the rifle up if your left hand is now working the bolt?

Real men don't hold the rifle. They are called benchrest shooters.

To your question - I know shooters who do that very thing and it doesn't really seem to make any difference. You will always alter your grip to some extent even if working the bolt with the other hand. Plus, in the heat of battle you might forget which hand is doing what. Don't ask me how I know that.:,

Ray

 

[Hipshot]

I am a right handed shooter but am switching to left hand for F class due to a predominant left eye. I've shot for over 40 years with my right eye, closing my left. All my rifles are set up for right hand shooting. My F class rifle is my old,relative) Savage with a new 6BR barrel. I find working the right hand bolt with my left hand is a royal pain. It breaks my prone position. It would be impossible to shoot standing or kneeling with any consistency since the position would be REALLY broken to work the bolt. When this barrel needs replacing, I will get a left hand action.

 

[RDesJardin]

I am building a left bolt right port rifle now for BR. I think that it is a great idea, even for bipod varmints, your finger never leaves the trigger in a repeater. I first thought of this while shooting PD's in MT.

 

[BoydAllen]

If you are not going to shoot from a position where you support the rifle forend with your non trigger hand, and you are limiting your action selection to a "factory" action, and you are handy with your non trigger hand, building a rifle with a left handed action for a right handed shooter may be a very good idea. I shoot LH because of a dominant eye situation, and I have used all configurations, LR,RR,LL, and RL from the bench. Of these configurations I prefer LR and RR, in that order. Some time ago one of the PS writers did a tactical rifle project with one of the custom action and rifle manufacturers. He specified a LL action. As a part of the rifle's evaluation he worked with a right handed tactical instructor that has extensive military and competition experience. When the test was over, the instructor remarked that after using the rifle,LL) he wondered why he owned RR rifles, since the LL worked so much better for that application. That style of shooting is done over a pack or off a bipod feeding from a magazine. The LL action allowed him to say in position and crank in round after round with his left hand, more rapidly and with greater ease than would have been possible with a RR action in the same situation. On the other hand I believe that Tony Boyer shoots a RR right eject. Cats may be successfully skinned by several methods.

 

[DesertLefty]

As a lefty living in a right-handed world, I have a lot of experience with this approach.

Using your "weak",non-trigger) hand to work the bolt only makes sense if you are using a bipod or other front rest to support the rifle. It is totally impractical if you are using a sling for support. Hence, it would work for benchrest or tactical matches, but not for NRA Highpower or Palma.

However, sometimes with a bipod you are using the non-trigger hand to control the rear of the stock,pinch bag or whatever). In that case, it might be disruptive to your position to work the bolt with your "weak" hand.

When shooting slow fire from a bipod it is nice to have the ejection port on the "weak" side, since it greatly improves your visibility into the action. Makes it easier to single load or to clear jams.

I don't think that "confusion" is a big factor, but my experience may be atypical, since I'm frequently confronted with things that are wrong-way around for my preferences. However, I do think that the faster you need to go, the more important it is to stick with your natural side.

Bottom line: It all depends on your application. If you are shooting NRA Highpower, the rapids pretty much demand that you put the bolt handle on the "natural" side,and probably the port too). If that's not your game, then you have a lot of freedom to experiment.

Good luck,

Lefty