November 10th, 2008
Found via Uncle:
Charges on the left, cases still eject to the right
Larger image here. Interesting, and probably not too difficult to pull off considering you’d only need a bolt carrier with a handle on the left and a new or modified cover. As a commenter at Uncle points out, for the safety to stop the bolt carrier you’d still need the handle on the right side, too. Can’t tell if that’s the case here.
Also, the side scope mounts won’t work with this. The one in the front has optics mounted on the front forearm. Okay for some applications, not so great for others. But then sharpshooters needing top-notch optics with perfect eye relief probably aren’t shooting AKs, are they?
Anyone have more info on these things?
November 10th, 2008 at 6:59 pm
[...] a “true” lefty, as the cases still eject to the right. But I’ve not seen one of these [...]
November 11th, 2008 at 1:04 pm
Actually I would consider that “right-handed” (i.e. “typical”) AK ergos are better suited for lefties. Right-handed shooters develop habits to make it easier – like the reach under charging move – but having the bolt on the right side is ideal for a lefty whose right hand is the free hand.
This set up would likely be better for a righty whose left hand is the free hand. So i would say this is finally an AK for righties.
Newer designs like the Masada make it easy to swap the handle to either side to accommodate user preference and “handedness”
November 16th, 2008 at 10:49 pm
[...] Lightning Bolt: Left hand-side charging handle Over at GunPundit last week Murdoc asked if anyone could identify a left handed AK charging handle. I just happened to come [...]
November 16th, 2008 at 10:53 pm
I just happened to come across a left-handed bolt system that I think is the same system:
http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2008/11/17/ak-lightning-bolt-left-hand-side-charging-handle/
November 20th, 2008 at 7:59 am
[...] week, I posted a pic I found via Say Uncle of a left-side charging handle on an AK. Well, The Firearm Blog found it made [...]