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Thread: Lefthanded but using righthanded safety...

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  1. #1
    Join Date
    20th July 2009
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    Lefthanded but using righthanded safety...

    I have a stock Springfield Armory GI 1911. I'm lefthanded, and want to practice drawing the pistol (without ammo, of course) in preparation for concealed carry (I have no desire to even start carrying if I'm not proficient at drawing efficiently and making ready to fire.)

    So far, it doesn't seem difficult (when drawing the pistol with my left hand from my left hip) to place my thumb on the left side of the slide, disengage the safety, then sweep my thumb back to the right side of the slide as I bring the pistol up.

    After doing this a few times, it already felt fairly natural, and I'd like to think that even under pressure, with enough practice I could do this instinctively without a glitch.

    I'm curious to know if any other competent lefthanders have ever adapted to a righthand safety like this?

    Or is the general consensus that this is a bad idea...and I should get a lefthanded safety?

    Thanks,
    Scott

    PS - Total beginner's question here: can I get a lefthanded safety installed on a stock Springfield GI?

  2. #2
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    7th June 2004
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    The first step in the draw is to grab the gun in a firing grip. No part of a proper draw stroke includes giving-up most of your grip on the gun, so that you can put your thumb around on the wrong side to get at the safety. Even if someone has spent a lot of time developing it as a skill, they are still compromising their grip on the gun at the precise moment that they need to be concentrating on nothing but getting the gun out of the holster and onto the target. Even if it's instinctive, you've got your thumb on the wrong side of the gun! I wouldn't even consider it as a self-defense technique.
    "A grip safety is just another excess moving part. I have never known one to prevent an accident, and moreover, it is difficult to postulate a circumstance in which it might." Jeff Cooper

  3. #3
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    4th February 2005
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    Using the thumb isn't a good idea, too many things to give Murphy's law a chance at you. You could slide your index finger up on the safety and use it to flip the safety off.
    Otherwise get an ambi safety. I'm left handed and have ambi safties on some of my 1911's, if I was to carry one that didn't have one I'd carry it right handed.
    Lynnie, "Nobody realizes that some people expend tremendous energy merely to be normal. "
    - Albert Camus
    Last edited by Joni Lynn; 15th December 2010 at 18:34.


  4. #4
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    27th November 2009
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    I have a dominant left hand and a dominant right eye.

    I carry both left-handed and right-handed.

    I have experimented with carrying a non-ambidextrous 1911 condition-one in a left-handed holster.

    As I draw the pistol from my holster, I lift the grip with my middle, ring and pinky fingers; I sweep the safety with my index finger early in the lift; and I have the grip in control between my thumb and fingers before the muzzle leaves the holster.

    Yes, this method of carry and presentation requires practice; and, yes, it gives up something in speed and elegance to conventional right-handed carry and/or left-handed carry with an ambidextrous saftety.

    Otherwise, even though left-handed, I shoot right-handed most of the time, nowadays.

    In my humble opinion, everyone should shoot with both hands.

    We can't do much about our dominant eye, but, when we alternate shooting between our two hands, each hand teaches the other hand and each hand learns from the other hand.

    And, we left-handers, living in a right-handed world, have a particular advantage when it comes to shooting with either hand.

    If one has a 1911 that one does not want to modify with an ambidextrous safety, for whatever reason (and valid reasons exist), I think it makes sense to learn to either sweep the safety with the left-hand's index finger, or to learn to shoot right-handed.

    I have no difficulty shooting with either hand, as long as I aim with my dominant right eye, and I think most left-handers will find this the case if they will only invest a little extra time in practice.

  5. #5
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    i am right handed, but i do shoot left handed in practice and often manipulate the safety just as you describe swriverstone. to engage it i raise my index finger. if i was doing it left handed all the time i would want an ambi safety, although non of them suit my fancy
    Let the Love of God be in your heart, and His peace all around you as you prepare for battle.

  6. #6
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    I am a lefty and a big fan of 1911's with no frills, meaning ambi-safeties. I have always had difficulties doing anything right handed, but I have adapted fairly well to carrying, drawing, and shooting a pistol right handed. My suggestion is train yourself.

    Keep in mind also that carrying a 1911 on your left side (or with its left side out) exposes the safety to bumps and grinds of the outside environment. Something I never felt comfortable with.
    Last edited by gunslinger1971; 17th December 2009 at 21:10.


  7. #7
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    I am lefthanded and I have expermented a lot with 1911's, and currently all of my pistols have ambi-safetys. If I was going to carry a pistol without an ambi safety, then I would either carry righthanded, or carry in condition 2, or condition 3. I don't much like the swaping the thumb over, as there is plenty of opportunity to drop the gun.

    I don't really recommend condition 2, (hammer down on loaded chamber) for most people, but I have been cocking 1911's for 30 years and I am pretty good at it.
    Still yet, a strong argument can be given for not carrying this way.

    Frankly, just having a gun is half the battle, and in my walk in life, I feel pretty confortable carrying in condition 3 (hammer down on an empty chamber, with a loaded mag). I know the risks and the arguments against it, but again I have been practicing it for a lot of years, and it's a lot faster then you might think. I know this is outdated but Sikes and Fairbairn advocated condition 3 with a pinned safety, and while a pinned safety would probably get a person sued today, condition 3 is still an option.

    However, I still want to be able to carry cocked and locked, as I feel the need, so for me it's no big deal to add an ambi safety, and being lefthanded, I have had a lot of practice changing them out. When I had my Wilson Combat gun built, I had them custom grind an ambi safety with the normal right hand operating lever ground down to a pretty small but still useable size so it would reduce the possibility of accidently wiping it off, when carrying on my left side.

  8. #8
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    My father-in-law and I are both lefties. For him, however, he started carrying a 1911 in the Navy back in '69. right handed holdsters, and they insisted he shoot it right handed.

    When he carries his 1991 (no ambi safety) he carries it in a right-handed holdster and shoots it right handed.

    I specifically went and found a 1911 that came from the factory with an ambi safety. I think you should look into one.
    The people should not fear their government. Government should fear the people.

  9. #9
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    I have to agree with the ambi-safety. I'm a lefty and see no real issuea with them. To draw a 1911 type firearm with the safety disengaged doesn't seem prudent to me. An unintentional discharge could turn out to be a nightmare.
    Been using ambi-safeties for over thirty years, and a lot of the negative input is hearsay IMO.
    Ken
    "I like Colts and will die that way"
    "It seems to me that I have forgotten more than I remember"

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by gunslinger1971
    Keep in mind also that carrying a 1911 on your left side (or with its left side out) exposes the safety to bumps and grinds of the outside environment. Something I never felt comfortable with.
    make a left handed safety. get ambidextrous safety and grips, cut off the right handed safety, file, sand, and if it's blued, whatever steps to make it look nice if you want.

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