To the left or stay to the right, carbines

There are left handed ARs. I never went one, even though I shoot left handed. My rationale was that you never know when you will pick up another gun other than yours and most ARs will be right handed. While, I might be faster if I had a left handed gun, if I had to in an emergency pick up a right handed gun - would my old mind get confused and I would be killed on the street? (the street - humor).

I never had handgun problems as the Glock's grip angle and controls are easily manipulated with my forefinger. My 1911 has ambi safeties. Revolvers, not a problem. I supposed I might be slower by the millisecond demands of 'competition' but the slowness of my old age swaps that anyway.

Now, I have a Ruger PC 9mm carbine. I will shoot it in USPSA here (WNY) when the weather breaks. Can't shoot in in local IDPA as the nearest one doesn't not allow. However, should I reverse the controls or keep it rightie for the comparability issue with others of its ilk, if the Zombie apocalpyse hits. There were quite a few of the guns at the local gun show, so it seems popular.

I ran it RH in TX but I was more interested in running it than winning, esp. since a friend of mine was a PC state champion, so no way I would come close to that young fellow.

Thoughts - is the pick up issue real. In the service, you just adapted. BTW, I've tried to shoot RH with a long gun and it doesn't work. Practice you say - but now my right shoulder is a ruin (do to a car accident) and I am not putting impulses through it.

If you rely upon the same guns with consistency, configure for best possible performance. Battlefield pick-ups are an outlier, 1% event.
If you're a gun-of-the-day kind of a guy or switch often, choose universal methods and configurations.

If you're a high performer, the hiccup or stutter between what you know and something different may still be within the difference between your ability and the above average.

As a left eyed, right handed mess myself:

On AR pattern anything I leave it 100% right handed and I've learned to adapt. There's an NSN for an Ambi safety kit but I can't get anyone in my chain to order any to build 'lefty' rifles for our arms room. Same for ambi mag releases, and same for the M4 style buttstock kit for our M16's - despite all of those being on the Authorized Accessory List in the TM, no dice.

So I stick with a 'righty' rifle for practice and training, because I can't expect to always get the same weapon off the rack when it's time to draw a weapon.

The issued 'rack configuration' weapon problem is the only reason I'm setting things up that way. Otherwise I'd be setting up all of my rifles with ambi selectors and ambi mag releases.

No sense doing a lefty upper IMHO, I've never had an issue with right side uppers except for one profoundly overgassed and under-buffed PSA upper that was ejecting to 530 without hitting the brass deflector at all.

I've since gone with a KAC ambi mag release because I can install that quickly and easy on any issued rifle, and return it to rack configuration quickly too. The lefty mag release is just so much faster. I've learned to use the selector lever with my left knuckle though it's not nearly as fast or as clean as a proper ambi selector.


Handguns are much easier since I'm just left eyed, so I use right handed controls with pistols.


I can get more benefit out of a properly configured weapon, and I'd imagine you could too. Since you don't have the 'issued weapon' complication, there's no reason to stay married to a flawed or problematic manual of arms.

If that 1% of 1% of 1% crazy shit happens, I trust that you'll be able to operate a backwards safety and mag release.

In my opinion, unless you're an LEO or some other job carrying a gun with other armed guys, then a battlefield pickup is so far out there that you're going to be better off optimizing your guns for you.

So I have to look at the manual and reverse the controls? That probably was my deep seated fear. I did put in the Glock mag setup. I'd better warm up the forge and get out the anvil for this.

Thanks. I think a battlefield pick up of a Ruger in the Erie County yeti attack apocalypse is probably rare. I might wait till I can shoot it a few times in a match or two and decide. No outdoor matches - snow time.

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Originally Posted by Glenn E. Meyer

So I have to look at the manual and reverse the controls? That probably was my deep seated fear. I did put in the Glock mag setup. I'd better warm up the forge and get out the anvil for this.

Thanks. I think a battlefield pick up of a Ruger in the Erie County yeti attack apocalypse is probably rare. I might wait till I can shoot it a few times in a match or two and decide. No outdoor matches - snow time.

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Yetis are all right handed so they would have a harder time using it against you if they go a hold of it.

As a fellow southpaw, I prefer an Ambi Safety and Ambi Charging handle. My main AR has a BCM charging handle that works well for me. Take that FWIW from someone who shoots a AR once a year.

Everything on an AR15/M4 seems perfectly ambidextrous to me, except for the selector, and, Kyle Lamb’s method for a lefty working a normal, single-side selector seems quite acceptable, to me. I am left-eye dominant, and left trigger-fingered. (I am left-handed, but right-armed, so, let’s just leave it at left-trigger-fingered. ;) )

I set-up my first AR15 with an ambi mag release, and found it to have been a waste of money and my time.

I installed an ambi selector in my first AR15, and found it annoying. While my thumb worked the lever, on one side, the lever on the other side required that I open my grip, to allow clearance, for the lever to move. I sold this AR15, which had an A2 receiver, to a fellow LEO with younger eyes. I have not installed ambi selectors in my subsequent AR-type weapons.

My newest AR is a pistol, with an ambi selector, but it is still in the experimental/range-toy stage, so I have yet to decide what to do with the ambi selector. I may leave the ambi selector in place, to enable my wife to use it, as it may end up being a shared travel weapon, perhaps more hers than mine. (Some states do not allow loaded rifles inside vehicles, but do allow loaded pistols inside vehicles.)

I should add the disclaimer that Kyle’s Lamb’s method for operating the AR selector, though it seems expedient enough, for me, may annoy a competition shooter. I know nothing about using AR weapons for competition.

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Originally Posted by Rex G

I installed an ambi selector in my first AR15, and found it annoying. While my thumb worked the lever, on one side, the lever on the other side required that I open my grip, to allow clearance, for the lever to move. I

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I'm left handed and I do this to all my AR ambi selectors. It's still usable when shooting right handed and does not hit my left hand when shooting left handed.

Gringop

Attachment 48796

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Originally Posted by gringop

I'm left handed and I do this to all my AR ambi selectors. It's still usable when shooting right handed and does not hit my left hand when shooting left handed.

Gringop

Attachment 48796

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Thanks. If I am the only user, that is perfectly logical.