I have never seen one before, either in person or browsing gun sites. Well that is until someone replied to my craigslist ad with a left handed 15-3. Does it being a leftie have any effect on the value? He's asking $300 and I think I'm gonna have to get it just for curiosity's sake but I'm just wondering if anyone else has seen one around or if they are really as uncommon as they seem.

its a reversed image....look at the rear sight. the windage screw should be on the right side. the gun also has a much newer MIM cylinder release

__________________
Kris
OGCA, NRA LM

Photo is reversed. Look at the sign just above the barrel of the gun.

__________________
Tom
1560

A reversed image is how Billy The Kid gained a reputation as a left handed shooter. As I recall there was even a movie called The Left Handed Gun about his life, too bad he was right handed. The proof is the loading gate of his Winchester 73 is on the wrong side in the famous photo of him

__________________
Thanks
Allen

Oh wow. Now I feel a little silly. Thanks for correcting me guys. With as many times as as i've looked at that picture i'm amazed i missed that.

As far as I know, Charter Arms is the only company that makes (or maybe made, haven't seen any in a year or two) a left-handed revolver. It's called the Southpaw and is a true mirror image of a right-handed gun.

http://www.americanrifleman.org/Arti...id=2227&cid=26

A15-3 for 300 might be worth lookin at., you could offer to pay in piasters!

__________________
Halfway and one more step

I'll still be happy to take it off his hands for $300 if it's as nice as he's saying. Last time i saw one at a pawn shop they were asking a little over $500. I just picked up a 2" version to tinker with yesterday and i kinda like the thought of having one of each.

Yes. Starring Paul Newman. Released in 1958. It was kind of a fun movie, although heavily fictionized - including the title!

What's more interesting is that John Dehner played Pat Garrett. When I was a little shaver and before we had a television set in our house, we used to listen to the radio versions of Gunsmoke and Have Gun Will Travel. John Dehner often did the voice of a bad guy trying to take down Marshall Dillon in Gunsmoke, and then later did the voice of Paladin on Have Gun Will Travel.
Now those were the good ol' days!
Jack

__________________
Jack
SWCA #2475, SWHF #318

I wonder what the exchange rate is. In 1969 it was 118 P per dollar (MPC).

If the seller told Coopr it is left handed I think I would steer clear. If it was an honest mistake it could be worth looking at.

All Smith revolvers are left handed (for me, anyway!)

__________________
Even older, even crankier....

There isn't much point in making a left-handed revolver. I'm left-handed and find no difficulty in loading and reloading quickly.

He never actually told me it was left handed. The fault for the misunderstanding rests entirely on me, i didn't pay enough attention to the picture and jumped to conclusions. I would just like to mention though, this is by far the nicest forum i've posted on. I can just imagine the amount of flak i'd have caught for a mistake like this on some of the other forums i visit.

You best jump right on that critter. Left handed S&W's is rarer than whale krap!!

All of Sam Colt's Single Action revolvers are for lefties. Bill Ruger's TOO !!!

Kind of a threadjack, but....

I was wondering if anyone was going to bring up that old chestnut. The idea is that a left-handed person can fire and keep a single action revolver in their left hand, while reloading with the right. Left hand stays on the grip, flip open the loading gate with the left thumb, eject the empties with the right hand, load with the right hand, ready to shoot. No switching the gun back and forth between hands needed. A right-handed person would need a single action revolver with a loading gate and ejector rod on the left side of the gun to do this. (The late Bill Grover actually built a line of guns that were mirror imaged in this way, including a mirrored action.) The conclusion is often made that Sam Colt must’ve been left-handed.

A tiny amount of logic will show this is baloney. Colt’s original percussion revolvers were obviously designed for right-handed use. All of the fine motor manipulation needed to load a cap and ball revolver is done by the right hand, particularly the placing of the caps on the cylinder nipples, while the left hand mostly just holds the gun. Keeping the hand (left or right) on the grip simply wasn’t an option, with all the steps that needed to be taken. And the time lost by switching hands would be miniscule compared to the total process.

When the 1873 Single Action Army (and its 1872 Open Top predecessor) came along, they were continuations of the existing basic mechanism of the percussion revolver. A loading gate was installed where the recess for loading percussion caps had been, and an ejector rod added. To switch those features to the opposite side of the gun would’ve required massive retooling to make a mirror image action, something that the company would never consider. And of course Sam Colt himself had been dead for about ten years.

The use of metallic cartridges made reloading an SAA a hundred times faster than reloading a percussion gun. Completely revamping the action for a tiny theoretical advantage would’ve been a gilding of the lily. However, lefties can now rejoice that if they get in a running battle on horseback, they can reload without changing gun and reins from hand to hand.

To keep this from being a total threadjack, I will say that the few times I've experimented with loading a DA revolver while shooting left-handed, I really don't see any way to do it other than the same way a right-handed person would. How do you lefties out there do it?

Regardless of your error on the handed-ness of that gun, it's a screaming deal at $300.

Tom K: I think you are mistaken that all Colts through the 1873 SA were not designed for left hand use. The Walker, Dragoons, model 1860 Army and 1851 and 1861 Navy guns were all intended primarily for Army service and were for use in the left hand, with holster that were made for a left hand cross draw. The simple reason was that the military carried swords and sabers for use in the "strong hand" or right hand, and the pistol was a secondary weapon for use by the "weak hand". Even the WWI cavalry holster for the 1917 S&W and Colt revolvers and the 1911 .45 were left hand holsters. I have no idea of the reason that all Colt and S&W swing out revolvers are designed for right hand use, but as a left hander, I can assure you that they are awkward for me to reload because I have to change hands.

__________________
Tom
1560

Sam Colt WAS left handed. There has been amused speculation that he designed the gun with that in mind for years. No proof of any kind however. Leftys simply operate right handed guns differently. Most who shoot da revolvers in competetion push the cylinder open with their right thumb and eject with their fingers, while reaching for a speedloader with their left hand. Leftys are a highly adaptable bunch. They HAVE to be. They live in a backward world. Go ahead ask me how I know.

Hey, that left handed M15 would look great displayed next to my 10" Registered Magnum.

__________________
No life story has happy end.