I'm curious here. Why is the safety on the right side of a rifle for a right hander? I put my thumb on the left side of the rifle and have to move it to the right side to disengage it. Shouldn't it be on the left side of the action for a minimum of movement?

The FN 300 Mauser has as safety on the left side. Somebody makes a Win. M70 shroud with the safety on the left side. I think he posts here.

Dave

Absolutely not; that creates an additional movement for a right hander to disengage a safety if it was on the left side. On the right, it is positioned directly in the path of your hand movement toward the grip, which it has to follow naturally to grip the stock. Any further movement, as in moving your thumb to the left side And making a conscious movement to manipulate a lever on the left side, is wasted motion, and time. Yes, you put your thumb on the left side of the bolt shroud, BUT your thumb has already by passed a closer, more direct, area for the safety to be. Hence, all safeties are on the right side. If you always had your hand around the grip, true, a left sided one would be fine, but most people don't constantly keep their rifles at port arms. Now, some Mausers did have reversed bolt shroud safeties, not sure why.
Anyway, too late now. You could fit a left handed Model 70 type one to your Mauser or Model 70, but those are very expensive.

To each his own...some like them on the left. Stuart Satterlee, Deadwood, South Dakota, who sometimes posts here as Timan has in the past made them for the Mauser 98. And NECG stocks them in a couple of versions, by Recknagle I think.

Sure, I have installed left handed safeties on Mausers, for left handed people. Left handed shooters should rejoice at right handed safeties, but they don't. No right handed shooter has ever asked me for a left handed safety. Maybe it will catch on though.

I have two of Stewart's on rifles. The lever is not a mirror image; it sweeps more to the rear for easy acquisition by the thumb. Pretty ergonomic.

Right-handers probably have more thumb reach on the right side and possibly greater purchase. I have not had any problem reaching them in a hurry, so far.

Why Mauser made the wing safety drop to the left I can never understand, since releasing it quietly becomes really hard without a handy forefinger.

There is, however, a good reason for having a safety like the Lee Enfield's on the left - but I can't tell you what it is yet, for industrial reasons

quote:

Originally posted by packrattusnongratus:
I'm curious here. Why is the safety on the right side of a rifle for a right hander? I put my thumb on the left side of the rifle and have to move it to the right side to disengage it. Shouldn't it be on the left side of the action for a minimum of movement?

Absolutely agree. When your hand slides in position on the grip, the natural position for a safety would be "1911" way, somewhere on the left side of the action.

Tang safeties are not bad in this respect.

My guess is that it was mechanically easier to put them on the right side due to bolt stops being on the left, then the old rule of "That's how everybody does it" kicked in.

quote:

Originally posted by Philip A.:

My guess is that it was mechanically easier to put them on the right side due to bolt stops being on the left, then the old rule of "That's how everybody does it" kicked in.

When the Model 70 Winchester first came out in the 1930's its safety was on the left side of the bolt sleeve. Soon afterwards an aftermarket device was made which shifted the safety to the right side. Finally, after World War II, Winchester saw the light and moved their factory safety to the right also.

I might point out that the BRNO Models 21 and 22 both have a safety on the left side of the bolt sleeve. Unfortunately, they are only two position safeties, but they are easy to use and to get used to.

quote:

I'm curious here. Why is the safety on the right side of a rifle for a right hander?

On the Pattern '14 that became in .30-06 your US Model of 1917 it IS on the right hand side. So needs the finger to push it off. Or the right thumb with the hand out of the trigger guard.

Hello Sambarman...On the SMLE and No4 Lee Enfield it's on the left hand side. As you know.

And not unknown...I did it on a night exercise in my youth...to fire the rifle with the finger as you "turn" the hand to push the safety off.

And I'd reckon you might, just might, also have memories of someone doing just the same. Fortunately as it was dark no one knew it was me that had done the deed!

But the huge advantage, of course, is that you can SEE if the safety is on or off as you bring the rifle up. No need to half rotate it to look on the left side of it.

It sounds like the pre war safety on the pre 64 Winchester would be perfect for you.

If your thumb is twice as long as the thumb on the right side then the left hand mod. 70 type safety works fine! The up and down safety on a Mauser works fine either way, but mostly on the left side.

quote:

Originally posted by enfieldspares:


And not unknown...I did it on a night exercise in my youth...to fire the rifle with the finger as you "turn" the hand to push the safety off.

And I'd reckon you might, just might, also have memories of someone doing just the same. Fortunately as it was dark no one knew it was me that had done the deed!

But the huge advantage, of course, is that you can SEE if the safety is on or off as you bring the rifle up. No need to half rotate it to look on the left side of it.

These matters interest me very much but, ironically, I have always been a Mauser man and never owned a Lee Enfield.

Could you explain exactly that firing 'the rifle with the finger as you "turn" the hand to push the safety off'? Was this caused by already having your finger on the trigger when you reached for the safety? If so, would a Mauser also be at risk in that situation?

The visibility of the safety on the left is in fact central to my interest in the SMLE type. Can't say too much

Finger on the trigger while working the safety is not a good thing! Finger only inside the trigger guard when ready to squeeze the trigger...

Regarding rifle safeties, I am right-handed and I currently only have M98 Mauser actioned rifles.
My two commercial FN actions, 338 LM based wildcats, have Satterlee's left-side 3-position safeties. I have a 3rd Satterlee LS M98 safety for a 3rd LM wildcat build. And yes I specifically purchased these safeties for my rifles.

I find the RS safety for a right-hander illogical for stalking snap-shooting.

quote:

Was this caused by already having your finger on the trigger when you reached for the safety?

Guilty as charged! On the Mauser flag safety the push of the thumb takes the finger away from the trigger. On the Enfield SMLE and No4 it turns it in towards it.

I love that old ugly Rem 30 (Enfield) safety on a DGR, you never miss it and its plus positive. now if I just figure out how to make it beautiful, but like Michele OBama, it aint gonna happen..

Left hand mod. 70 type safetys with that long forward movement do go off because the finger is on the trigger and pushing forward on the safety can pull the trigger back. The finger should not be in the trigger guard, but in a stressful situation it can happen and does happen on occasions. I even witnessed this on one occasion with a mod. 70 pre 64 375 H&H, the user was not a very accomplished rifleman, but never the less it happened and shouldn't have. several of us suffered hearing for longer than usual.

On a Mauser I really like the original Mauser safety best but its not scope friendly and designed only for iron sights, so I use a Buehler type that just drops down and I like it except it touches the scope and that can be a disaster in a stressful situation as its easy for the thumb to slide off of it. I fix this by heating the arm an rolling the contact portion down give a better purchase of the safety. I wouldn't be surprised if one could do the same on a milsurp safety by shortening it and adding a roll on feature at the contact point, but Ive never tried that..

I have no problem with the mod. 70 3 pos. safety and use them mostly. just don't stick my finger in the guard until Im ready to shoot. Again familiarization of the firearm is the best approach every time..

There is no perfect safety on a rifle, some are just better than others.

tang, like my dbl shotguns, just can't afford it

The safety on the '17 Enfield is
the main reason I like them best over any other.

I'm right handed and use my R thumb when getting ready for the shot as the gun is coming up to my shoulder it's done automatically.

Plus, anyone half familiar with them can see it's position from 20 feet away. They don't get knocked off safe either.

I have four rifles on this action: '06, .300Win, .358U/m, and a .243 in the works right now. I also have two other actions left yet. All these came to me as parts or chopped up except the .300 I got as a kid in 1958 for $15 as an '06. In '73 I had it rechambered.

George

I'm right handed but switched to shooting left handed in my 20's because of a bad right eye. I was pleasantly surprised that my M700 and M70 safeties were very easy to manipulate with my left thumb and like the OP have always wondered why they are on the "wrong" side. I do have fairly large hands and maybe someone with small hand wouldn't be able to work the safety without disturbing their grip but it works for me. Safeties on the trigger guard like an A5 are impossible to work backwards though. That's why I shoot an O/U shotgun.

The best place for a safety on a rifle is where the thumb can activate it with minimal movement of the hand. The location is near perfect on an AR. The best location for the safety on a standard rifle is the upper tang.

These are NOT my rifles. They are just pictures to illustrate tang safeties.