Pistol handedness

[Kermit]

Just musing here, but howcome a righthanded long gun has the lock on the right where it's ready to cock, but a righthanded pistol also has the lock on the right where you have to either reach across or change hands to cock? Think about which shoulder is closer to the target when fired.

It just occurred to me that a right handed shooter might find a left locked pistol a lot handier. Anyone have short and long guns with locks on opposite sides? It sorta seems that lock location for pistols came out of where it's located on long guns, and not what makes for convenience...

[Sir Michael]

:?    

Just a guess.

I don't think that many gun makers made left handed guns so they made pistols just like they made rifles.  Except for makers of double rifles and fowlers putting a lock on the left side wasn't commonly done.

Like I said just a guess.

[biliff]

Not sure why you would be using the left hand to cock a pistol. Use left hand to hold barrel and right hand to cock just like a rifle. Drop left hand away, take stance and fire.

[Sir Michael]

biliff, I'm not sure what you mean by your description of cocking a pistol but I can tell you that I use my left hand to cock my pistols and it seems quite natural.  Also, if the lock were on the left side of the pistol I would cock it the same way I think since hold the stock and pull the trigger with my right.

[Captchee]

see i do it eather way .
some pistols i can cock with my right thumb  by simply reaching up  just as you would with a revolver .
 i think its just more personal preference and yes a standardization . IE right handed , right hand lock . Left handed left hand lock

[biliff]

Probably like Captchee said, its a personal preference thing.  Left handed just seems like it would be more awkward for me.

[Longhunter]

Being left handed I have most of my locks on the left side, including my pistols.

One reason when the pistol is tucked into a belt or sash, it's usually on the opposite side of your drawing hand, in a cross draw position. That way the lock isn't diggin into your belly and draws out smoothly. It's also easier to prime when the lock is facing away from you.

If for some reason I ever wanted to carry two pistols I thing I'd have one left and one right hand lock for ease of carrying in a belt.

 

[jim m]

not specifically about pistols, but even into the 19th century it was socially unacceptable to be left handed

[Longhunter]

Correlations with left-handedness
[edit] Left-handedness and intelligence

In his book Right-Hand, Left-Hand,[29] Chris McManus of University College London argues that the proportion of left-handers is rising and left-handed people as a group have historically produced an above-average quota of high achievers. He says that left-handers' brains are structured differently in a way that widens their range of abilities, and the genes that determine left-handedness also govern development of the language centres of the brain.

McManus also says that the increase in the 20th century of people identifying as left-handed could produce a corresponding intellectual advance and a leap in the number of mathematical, sporting, or artistic geniuses.

In 2006, researchers at Lafayette College and Johns Hopkins University in a study found that left-handed men are 15 percent richer than right-handed men for those who attended college, and 26 percent richer if they graduated. The wage difference remains unexplained, and does not appear to apply to women.[30]
[edit] Left-handedness and politics
Main article: Handedness of Presidents of the United States

[Kermit]

That does it! I'm gettin' a left locked pistol, and I'm goin' t' be FILTHY STINKIN' RICH!

[Longhunter]

That does it! I'm gettin' a left locked pistol, and I'm goin' t' be FILTHY STINKIN' RICH!

It don't work that way you gotta be BORN  Left handed...

[Kermit]

Then I oughta get REALLY rich, since I was born with TWO--a right AND a left!

[Longhunter]

I can see I ain't gonna win....

[Kermit]

 

[Gordon H.Kemp]

I think that the idea that to be left handed was thought to be evil had a lot to do with the majority of older fireams having the locks on the right.My older brother was a lefty and the teachers used to beat his knuckles if he used his left hand in school.
     He was a stuburn boy and only used his right hand when forced to. As he grew older he became proficient with either hand,he coud write,pitch/catch aballetc. with either hand. SeveraL of my grandchildren are leftys . I think that leftys tend to be more talanted  per capita than us right handers.