Left handed revolver?

[Watchdog]

Left Handed Revolvers? Sure, why not?

Unless you're limiting your choices to double-actions and top-break guns, I'm really surprised no one has mentioned Bill Grover and his Texas Longhorn Arms single-actions.

Surely I'm not the only person here who's heard of Kentucky-born Bill Grover?

Briefly, his very well made revolvers had the loading gate on the left side of the gun, and the cylinder rotated counterclockwise.

If anyone's interested, you can read more about Bill Grover and his beautifully unique sixguns in a well written and illustrated article by John Taffin.

 

[Muss Muggins]

Unless you're limiting your choices to double-actions and top-break guns, I'm really surprised no one has mentioned Bill Grover and his Texas Longhorn Arms single-actions.

Surely I'm not the only person here who's heard of Kentucky-born Bill Grover?

Briefly, his very well made revolvers had the loading gate on the left side of the gun, and the cylinder rotated counterclockwise.

If anyone's interested, you can read more about Bill Grover and his beautifully unique sixguns in a well written and illustrated article by John Taffin.

If the loading gate is on the left side, you have to hold the pistol in your right hand and extract and load with your left. One of the reasons that people have speculated that Sam Colt was left handed, given the design of his revolver. . .

 

[Tired Gunsmith]

Galesi in Italy had a "left handed" revolver which they tried to introduce in the American market.
Omega imports in NYC had a few samples of the thing.
POOR quality, they didn't import more than the few samples.

 

[Watchdog]

If the loading gate is on the left side, you have to hold the pistol in your right hand and extract and load with your left.

Well, that's the whole idea. The left handed shooter is simply holding the gun in the non-dominant hand instead of having to make awkward movements (for a lefty) with it. The left hand is used for ejecting empties and loading fresh cartridges. That's why it's called a "left-handed revolver".

 

[clang444]

lefties adapt. The way I reload is to push the cylinder release with my left forefinger then push the cylinder open with my right thumb. Slide my right thumb through the frame and push the extractor rod with my right forefinger while tilting the barrel up. Tilt the barrel down and load new bullets with my left hand. Push the cylinder closed with my left fingers as I grab the grip.

I can't imagine a righty doing it any faster.

 

[Watchdog]

I don't believe it gets any more ambidextrous that this.

Maybe not, but that isn't a revolver.

 

[Muss Muggins]

Well, that's the whole idea. The left handed shooter is simply holding the gun in the non-dominant hand instead of having to make awkward movements (for a lefty) with it. The left hand is used for ejecting empties and loading fresh cartridges. That's why it's called a "left-handed revolver".

Then why did Grover market his revolver to righty's . . . .

Texas Longhorn Arms

 

[tekarra]

Charter Arms Southpaw. Also available in pink.

 

[Old cop]

As a hard core leftie I just learned to handle the gun the way it came from the factory, both revolver and semi auto. All my training was from my LEO days and it never occurred to me to question the availability of a left handed model.

 

[wrangler5]

My brother in law has a Grover "right handed" 44 Magnum, which I have shot. As a right hander, it is indeed more intuitive to keep the gun in the shooting hand, flip the loading gate open with the right thumb and knock the empties out with the left hand on the ejector rod. But they are rare (supposedly well under 1,000 made) and expensive if you can find one. They do confirm in my mind that Sam Colt was a leftie, as his single actions would be easier for me to manipulate if I were left handed.

That said, I've learned to handle a "regular" single action. The first real gun I ever saw, and the first I ever handled, was a black powder Bisley Model Frontier Six Shooter, which I still have, 75 years after my father bought it in a pawn shop in AZ. I've shot it and many other single actions over the years, and their handling is second nature (except for the new model Rugers, which I never got used to and don't have any of any more), but even so they would be easier to handle if I were a leftie.

 

[qballwill]

I'm surprised no one mentioned the 19 K comp L from the performance center.
Ilive mine

 

[jaymoore]

I've always heard that the Colt SAA was designed that way for horseback use. (I.e., U.S. Cavalry) Drive the horse with the right, run the revolver with the left hand.

Pretty sure Sam'l Colt was long dead before the SAA was in the works any way! Seems if loading that way was awkward the design could have been easily changed with the adoption of non-converted metallic cartridge revolver for the U.S..

Besides, it seems few militaries aside from the French seem to have thought having the cylinder swing to the right was all that good an idea.

In actual fact I find not having to contend with the cylinder latch under my thumb a bonus, being a LH shooter. I managed to do fairly well in the various IDPA and CQB matches at Ft. Benning in the mid 90s to early 2000s. Reloads weren't any drama at all.

 

[Donald Paul]

I'm surprised no one mentioned the 19 K comp L from the performance center.
Ilive mine

...very unique, even the lettering is backwards, mirror.

 

[Big Cholla]

I've always heard that the Colt SAA was designed that way for horseback use. (I.e., U.S. Cavalry) Drive the horse with the right, run the revolver with the left hand.

In actual fact I find not having to contend with the cylinder latch under my thumb a bonus, being a LH shooter. I managed to do fairly well in the various IDPA and CQB matches at Ft. Benning in the mid 90s to early 2000s. Reloads weren't any drama at all.

Except that you 'heard' wrong. My first FIL was an actual U.S.Cavalryman when he first joined the Army. We spent hours talking about his training and experiences with horses and firearms. ALL Cavalrymen handled the reins with left hand and fought with right hand (both handguns and saber). Even the lefties. The reins were 'looped' so to allow the rider to drop the reins when necessary to reload (keep the handgun loaded). All the horses were taught to knee rein in response to knee/leg pressure i.e., turn just as if reined...... .

His issue handgun was a Colt M 1911 to be carried with three magazines. The handgun and loaded magazine and the two spare magazines were on a lanyard around the rider's neck. The Army had JMB redesign the submitted version of the M 1911 to add the grip safety to allow the rider to safely drop the loaded and cocked handgun to be held only by the lanyard. .............

 

[IAM Rand]

I am a law enforcement officer and I have qualified with a 627 time and time again and yes I am a lefty. I have even reloaded faster than some with a semi-auto. Gotta luv moon clips.

I would still be carrying it if the powers that be would let me.

 

[Lobster Picnic]

Charter Arms Southpaw. Also available in pink.

Wife has this model. Would not recommend it. Cylinder binds up after about 12 shots. Sent back to factory, returned with same problem.

 

[bgrafsr]

Single Actions. Hold gun in dominant left hand, shoot, open loading gate with right hand, use right hand to eject empties, load fresh rounds with right hand, go back to shooting. The gun never has to leave the left hand.

 

[44wheelman]

My TLA's load/unload from the left side, and my S&W's load/unload from the left side, but my my Colt & Ruger sa's load from the right....hmmm why is that.

 

[jaymoore]

Except that you 'heard' wrong. My first FIL was an actual U.S.Cavalryman when he first joined the Army. We spent hours talking about his training and experiences with horses and firearms. ALL Cavalrymen handled the reins with left hand and fought with right hand (both handguns and saber). Even the lefties. The reins were 'looped' so to allow the rider to drop the reins when necessary to reload (keep the handgun loaded). All the horses were taught to knee rein in response to knee/leg pressure i.e., turn just as if reined...... .

His issue handgun was a Colt M 1911 to be carried with three magazines. The handgun and loaded magazine and the two spare magazines were on a lanyard around the rider's neck. The Army had JMB redesign the submitted version of the M 1911 to add the grip safety to allow the rider to safely drop the loaded and cocked handgun to be held only by the lanyard. .............

Thanks for the info! I think I've ridden a horse maybe twice, so what I don't know about them encompasses volumes!

 

[DFrame]

I've been reloading Lefthanded exactly as Ayoob does in the video for years. Charter arms makes (or made) a left handed revolver they called the southpaw. I have one and it's a lot of fun to use. It's a mirror image with cylinder opening to the right and the release is also on the right.