I'm a southpaw and was wondering if anyone could tell me if this will pose a problem when shooting an L1A1. I've got one on order and it's gonna be here the end of the week.

Not much. Just get used to the safety. I have to shoot lefty now, and I've had no problems - certainly not ejected cases, if that's what you were worried about.

I shoot left-handed and when I shot my friends FAL type rifle I didn't have any problems with getting hit by ejected brass.

It is good to hear this. I have a Cetme ordered and was hoping I could shoot it lefty. I can shoot either handed as I am right handed but left eye domanant. I prefer to shoot left handed if I want to be accurate.

No problem. Brass goes forward 'bout 20 feet to about 2:00. Goes fast, too.

Beware of the safety/selector lever. If'n you sling it on your right shoulder, you can flip the safety to fire by rubbing it on your hip. This is a bad thing....never had any trouble with it, probably there's a LH or ambi lever on the market out there somewhere, let me know if you find it.

Thanks for the repies guys. Most semiautos are are no problem for a left handed shooter but I knew nothing about one of these.

I'd concur with those above - the safety wears a spot on my index finger.

Redial

SDS if your gun is ejecting spent cases 20 feet you might consider opening the gas regulator several clicks. The gun is beating itself to death. FN recomends 6 to 8 feet.

D Humbarger,

My L1A1 ejects brass about 10' with the gas valve wide open. Would you consider this a problem?

I cannot answer the orginal question directly, but I have a left handed friend who has shot my L1A1 without incidence.

Lucs

D Humbarger, thanks for the advice. It also tends to bend the case rims back a little bit, which I suspect is consistent with your suggestion that it could use with a little bit less gas. I don't reload the Berdan primed West German or Portuguese NATO ammunition, so I hadn't worried about it. I'm a left-eyed, left-handed shooter. The magazine and bolt releases are easy to get to, but the safety is just a little bit harder, since it was intended for a right thumb. You can still get to it pretty well with a left index finger.

I picked the gun up yesterday and it looks pretty nice. I'm gonna try to get to the range today and try it out. I can already tell you that I'm not gonna like the safty/selector switch as it will dig into my finger during recoil but I can probably learn to live with it if the rifle shoots halfway decent.