[Marinus Knap]

Hello, I’m from the Netherlands and I’m apologizing for my bad English.

Some years ago I was involved with the Dutch Police New Pistol Trails.
One of the items of the Program Of Demands was that the new police pistol must be also equipped (user friendly) for right hand and left hand officers.
The Slide Stop for the right hand is not reversible to left hand users.
At that time the magazine catch also.

I wonder, are there any left hand shooters under you, Glock adics…?
And is being a left hand shooters a handicap on the Glock?
I am interested in your stories about this subject

 

[Mark2Glock]

I am left handed and never had an issue. I rack the slide to slam on a new round. Never use the slide stop. I can eject a mag with my trigger finger better using my thumb which would require reposition my gripping.

 

[Marinus Knap]

That sounds good, did it take a while in training to gat to this point or did you train your self in the simalair way on other type of pistols then Glock?

 

[lazarus66]

I'm left handed and have been shooting since the 60s. The Glock is a pretty simple piece to operate. Lefties should adapt to it easily.

 

[Mark2Glock]

No,I found very natural like when I started shooting.

I do the same with all semi auto regardless.

 

[ItnStln]

I am left handed and never had an issue. I rack the slide to slam on a new round. Never use the slide stop. I can eject a mag with my trigger finger better using my thumb which would require reposition my gripping.

This. I've adapted to the gun. Even on my Sig Sauer M11A1 I use my trigger finger to decock. My only complaints are the lack of left ha dead holsters. Most of them are duty holsters to be worn on a duty belt.

 

[Marinus Knap]

Thank you all !
its great to read how you all manages this 'left-hand-icap' without any disadvantage.

The Glock has a very good grip. And I believe that the greatest accuracy is not made by the barrel or sight, but by the perfect connection of gun and body (hand). When something is wrong in that area then the result will be horrible annyway.
But when this is perfect, then even with a worn out barrel you shoot with not all to bad results.

When I read these solutions of how you all fix it, my compliments to you!

If there are moore stories about this subject I like to read it very much.

Thank you all!

 

[Mark2Glock]

I even tried the opposite by changing the mag release on the other side like it would be for left hand and didn't feel that comfortable and was slower to engage the release.
The only drawbacks are the guns with a thumb safety where I do need it to be on the left side. Still a lot of guns out there that not feasible for me cause they lack this feature. Other than that its only thing that is a pet peeve but glocks and most other striker fired pistols are hinderance. Hopefully that helps and good shooting.

 

[Handwrecker]

I'm a left handed shooter and Glocks are one of the easiest pistols to run for a lefty. I generally slingshot the slide forward but the slide stop lever is easy to release with your left index finger. You won't have to worry about accidentally hitting the slide stop lever with your thumbs while firing, which is a small but nice benefit.

On the gen 4 pistols the mag release is also reversible, allowing you to set up the mag release for either your thumb or index/middle finger.

 

[halfmoonclip]

A southpaw buddy runs a G19 without drama. PPs have offered solutions to the slide stop; if you only have one pistol, then you might want to try flipping the mag release.
Moon

 

[Firecop203]

I'm also left handed and use my index finger to operate the slide stop and the magazine release.

Accurate and reliable shooting requires three things.

1. YOU, the shooter. You need skill and practice to become a proficient shooter.
2. Quality ammo. If you ammo is faulty or of poor quality, you weapon WILL fail.
3. The gun. There are many choices out there. Basic requirement is to be of a quality manufacture and reliable with the ability of acceptable accuracy.

I shoot competition and I constantly see other competitors guns choke in the middle of a match because of bubba gunsmithing or unnecessary modifications.

The biggest complaint I hear about Glocks is that they aren't as accurate as they want them to be. Well, if the three things I mentioned aren't in synch, you're not going to be accurate.

Also, remember that when the Glock was designed it wasn't meant for Match grade precision shooting. It was meant for military and police to be reliable with a designated requirement for accuracy.

 

[WestBerliner]

i'm very left handed, and have never had it stop me from shooting effectively or comfortably. i trained on a G22 in the academy and was one of two left handed people in my group, and it was easy to adapt to doing things the left handed way.

to lock the slide back (for a condition check) i use an overhand technique with my right hand to rack the slide and use my thumb on my right hand to engage the slide stop.

to eject a magazine, i use my middle finger on my left hand.

 

[ItnStln]

to lock the slide back (for a condition check) i use an overhand technique with my right hand to rack the slide and use my thumb on my right hand to engage the slide stop.

I will try that, the only way I found that worked for me was to put my G17 in my right hand and rack the slide and hit the lock with my right thumb. Are you from Berlin?

 

[JimBianchi]

I've been left handled my whole life. (54years). Spent 22.5 in the US Military where everything was right handed.

Don't care.

I'm a better shot then most and have always learned to adapt.

It's not the gun, it's the shooter.

 

[Brasky]

I'm a lefty and have shot gen 3 Glocks for quite sometime. Have been a bit interested in upgrading to the gen 4s for the reversible mag release, but I have already spent the time learning to release the mag with my trigger finger, so I keep saying "why bother?". Like Mark2 stated above, it has become second nature to preform without having to adjust my grip, just, at least for me, took a bit of time and practice.

If it is deal breaker for you, I have found over the years that walther as well as HK are very lefty conscious in their designs with ambi safeties and paddle style mag releases. As a lefty I appreciate the effort and own a few pistols from each of them.

 

[wruess]

Lefty here, and Glocks not a problem.

Mag release with left middle finger (trigger finger stays safely on the side of the slide) (Actually tried reversing mag release on my Gen 4 G26 and couldn't comfortably reach it with my left thumb anyway - small hands!)

Rarely use the slide stop lever. Don't have enough strength in my hand do release it with left hand fingers. If I need to lock the slide open, I have to put the pistol in my right hand, overhand rack slide with left hand, and operate slide stop with right thumb.

 

[sig357fan]

Marinus Knap,

first off, if no one has extended you a "welcome", allow me to do so, I'm always interested to hear from individuals outside the USA and hope you find GlockTalk as interesting and informative as I do.

as not only a left handed person but someone who has been involved in hunting and shooting for many years, I find that it isn't a question of adapting to shoot a right handed pistol as it was learning to shoot what was available, to the best of my knowledge there were few if any left/ambi weapons available until recently.

as an example of this, I purchased my first left handed rifle last year and it seems odd to me, I've shot right handed rifles all my life so now I have to "adapt" to a left handed rifle and I've found that I actually prefer a right handed rifle when shooting off a bench.

I've never owned an ambi pistol and if I ever do, I'd still shoot it as a right handed pistol because that is what I'm use to and shooting it left handed would be where I would have to adapt and re-train.

just my $0.02 worth,

sig357fan

 

[Marinus Knap]

Thank you all for your reply’s.

All of you are well trained left hand shooters. And as more stuff in the world, all of you learned to adopt the worlds right hand system.

Firearms in the USA are very wide spread. I believe numbers are 112.6 guns per 100 residents (that’s 1.1 per person) in the USA.

In my country is the density of firearms a less. Its only 3.9 per 100 residents (that’s 0.04 per person).

That means that most of the novice soldiers or police officers in my counytry handle for the first time in their lives a gun. So the way how to handle a gun is what they have seen in video games or from Hollywood. All those novices says, “that are so guns heavy, we never realise…”

So to make the novices in a quick way familiar with the service guns, Left hand conversions are very interesting issue over here.

That’s why I am very interested in your experience on this subject.

 

[oldmick]

As a lefty I learned to shoot semi-automatic pistols by slingshotting the slide to chamber a cartridge and pressing the magazine catch button with my trigger finger. It works equally well with Sig Sauer, S&W, Glock, Ruger and most other pistols.

In fact, my Sig 320RX has an ambi slide catch, but I never use it.

I also shot the standard M16 left handed in the military, as did all the left handed folks. No issues that I recall.

Seems funny that the military doesn't feel it's necessary, but apparently in the case noted above, a police department does. Just sayin'.

 

[oldmick]

As a lefty I learned to shoot semi-automatic pistols by slingshotting the slide to chamber a cartridge and pressing the magazine catch button with my trigger finger. It works equally well with Sig Sauer, S&W, Glock, Ruger and most other pistols.

In fact, my Sig 320RX has an ambi slide catch, but I never use it.

I also shot the standard M16 left handed in the military, as did all the left handed folks. No issues that I recall.

Seems funny that the military doesn't feel it's necessary, but apparently in the case noted above, a police department does. Just sayin'.