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Left or right action, does it matter in BR?

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Percula

Percula

Member
Sep 6, 2016
381
12
AZ
Hi All

So my long range gun in talking with the maker, I come to find out that I can get exactly what I want in about two weeks, but in with a left hand action, I'm right handed. If I must have a right hand action I'm potentially looking at upwards of 12 weeks.

This is a dedicated BR gun for 75y/100m+ only. 

While I'm right handed, I'm am what they call "close to ambidextrous" which basically means I can do just about everything left handed I can right handed expect for things like writing.

So I'm wondering if there is any disadvantage to someone assuming a right hand grip on a rifle and operating the action with the left? My rest is also a left hand adjustment. Playing it in my mind I see myself opening the action with my left hand, loading a pellet with my right hand, closing the action with my left, aiming with my right eye and triggering with my right.

Any other right handed shooters shooting a left handed action?
 
I had the opportunity to shoot a left hand action all last weekend at EBR in Phoenix. A reputable rifle company which I cannot mention (Thank you Mark and Martin) loanded to me an off the shelf rifle, stuck a scope on it and said here ya go. It happened to be a left hand action .30 cal and I absolutely loved it. Foremost advantage is never having to take your right hand off the grip and keep your cheek weld during the loading process. A benchrest shooter was standing behind me and was so intrigued by the process, he bought that rifle. I shot the 75yard Extreme and placed fifth in the pro class, the second day I placed 8th which qualified me in the top 10 pros. But, my nerves got the best of me as I was shooting 9's and 10's I lost a pellet into the abyss and it fell into the 6ring...game over. The rifle was then handed to the owner, with a huge smile of course. The next rifle I own will be .30 cal. in a left hand action. 

 
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Thanks all!

The dealer is setting me up to shoot it tomorrow at the local clubs meet. I guess I'll find out first hand PDQ if its something I really like to can't stand it.

Honestly the more I think about it, the more I like the idea. For me shooting my best has always been about my mental state, going off into my own little corner of my mind, zen, meditation, hypnosis or whatever. So being able to not have to make a bunch of moves, lift off the stock like ironman says, would all contribute to maintaining that highly focused state of mind.
 
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I'm right handed and shoot a right handed action for BR. For the type of gun you're talking about, I believe the only difference is which side the cocking lever pulls. I sit on the left side of the bench/gun and the lever pulls away from my line of sight - leaving a clear view of the breech. I think it is important to see the breech to make sure each pellet is loaded correctly, and it would be slower to load pellets "by feel" alone without visibility. (pellet loading should be as quick as possible)

That said trying one is the best way to evaluate this.
 
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Well I ended up shooting a 75y BR competition with the rifle in question. 

All in all I really liked the left handed operation, both of loading the pellet into the breach and the working of the action.

The competition was to shot (4) rounds into (16) bulls. It was a... well I don't want to say it was windy, but the wind played a HUGE role, with cross winds easily requiring a 3"+ drift either left or right and a vertical drift of 2"+. I mention this because the wind was changing too fast to make click adjustments and needed the good old "holdover" method. So after my first shoot on each bull I had a good idea where I needed to hold to lob the next (3) shots in as quickly as possible before yet another wind change.

So being able to firmly hold the rifle with my right hand keeping POA while opening the action, loading a pellet and adjusting the rest to the new POA was critical. 

I managed to shot a 541/640 with 7-X using pellets straight out of an unopened tin, lol. I definitely had some flyers because of that.

The only problem I had was a couple of times not getting the action closed all the way, which is just a matter of doing it a few hundred thousand times more.

Yes I ended up leaving with a new rifle.

 
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Congrats on the new rifle and I know you will enjoy your purchase. I was there and got to meet you, so from your comment how did you like shooting in that wind. That is the normal at that range. Just a question I had what caliber did you end up with, was it the 30cal? Also when the match director get me the match results I will post them in the compition page of this forum. Did you shoot in the 50 yard match before the 75 yard match?

Have fun with your new rifle
Allen S
 
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Hi Allen, not sure why quote quit working on the forum...

Yes, 30cal as you seen in my other post. 

That wind... I grew up in Casper Wyoming, which before the weather service moved/added some weather stations used to hold year after year the "windiest city" title. The wind is so reliable there that the airport is used to do cross-wind landing test/certify planes from all over the world. lol. So the lite breeze we get here is nice. The bad part is on that range is the air flow pattern (yes I looked at the study on it) is something else indeed! That was the first time I seen (6) wind flags stuffed into 75 yards all in different states/directions, lol! I would hate to see a real wind like back home come through there, you'd have a 3' hold-over not a 3"...

I didn't shot the 50y, I have a Thomas 0.177 on order, but don't think I'll have it in hand till sometime in December. So 25m and 50y will have to wait a few matches before I can get in them.

I do hope to make the silhouette match at the end of the month, I know I won't be a speed demon but it will be nice to shot with the group again. 
 
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Well, this got me to thinking about the shooting process myself. I'm left-handed, lefty, south paw, add infinitum. I've used right-handed actions all my life. Left-handed actions were always special order. Boy, was that a pita with semi-automatic rifles. The spent cartridges are hot upon ejection, & burned a bit hitting my hand or arm. Even the side of my face. Ouch! Bolt actions aren't so bad, since I can sorta reposition myself briefly to eject & load another round.
​Now, with these pellet guns, bolt actions are, for the most part, single shots like the springer's. Add a scope & it gets interesting to get my light bulb fingers in that confined area to quickly load a pellet, which is significantly smaller than even a .22lr cartridge. I've been thinking of building a modification of the percussion cap brass pen sorta thing I have for my muzzle loaders. It would have the pellets sideways in it to allow for easier, faster loading of pellets into a single shot bolt action.Rotary mags are nice, but the guns that use them are generally thousands. Hatsan's & such are really nice, but still hundreds & weigh 9-11 pounds. Sheez, why do air guns have to weigh so darn much? It's not like they have to withstand breech pressures of a .757 Remington super express!? At least with BR, I don't have to consider that part so much. So holding the rifle with my left, working the bolt with my right & loading with the right hand while trying to keep my face as close as possible to eye alignment while doing all that. It's purely a matter of repetition & adopting to a given situation.
 
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"unionrdr"Well, this got me to thinking about the shooting process myself. I'm left-handed, lefty, south paw, add infinitum. I've used right-handed actions all my life. Left-handed actions were always special order. Boy, was that a pita with semi-automatic rifles. The spent cartridges are hot upon ejection, & burned a bit hitting my hand or arm. Even the side of my face. Ouch! Bolt actions aren't so bad, since I can sorta reposition myself briefly to eject & load another round.
​Now, with these pellet guns, bolt actions are, for the most part, single shots like the springer's. Add a scope & it gets interesting to get my light bulb fingers in that confined area to quickly load a pellet, which is significantly smaller than even a .22lr cartridge. I've been thinking of building a modification of the percussion cap brass pen sorta thing I have for my muzzle loaders. It would have the pellets sideways in it to allow for easier, faster loading of pellets into a single shot bolt action.Rotary mags are nice, but the guns that use them are generally thousands. Hatsan's & such are really nice, but still hundreds & weigh 9-11 pounds. Sheez, why do air guns have to weigh so darn much? It's not like they have to withstand breech pressures of a .757 Remington super express!? At least with BR, I don't have to consider that part so much. So holding the rifle with my left, working the bolt with my right & loading with the right hand while trying to keep my face as close as possible to eye alignment while doing all that. It's purely a matter of repetition & adopting to a given situation.
Click to expand...


I'm interested! Every time I look at my Cash pistol capper I think about what it could be....
 
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