Custom Left Hand Rifles - 4 to 6 week completion times on left hand rifles

Re: Left Hand Rifles - How much interest is there in "Ready To Ship" left hand rifles

I'm a lefty, when I decide to purchase a custom rifle, I will be looking for left handed
 
Re: Left Hand Rifles - How much interest is there in "Ready To Ship" left hand rifles

Here's my idea for you. Stock the actions, magnum, long and short or lets say 3 magnums, 2 long and 2 short. Have the stocks pre bedded to the actions in left hand and then sell them like this or advertise them this way:
2 weeks till it ships, left hand (insert stock, action and barrel description) and then say in (for example) 264 win, 7mm stw, 300 win. You have the barrel blanks and can cerecoat them so instead of one extreme or another you have them prebedded and all you have to do is chamber, cerecoat and headspace (not in that order) and it simplifies how much inventory you have while still having as close to "ready to ship" as you can without all the cost and inventory. What I would say is look at how fast anything left hand is sold in your classifieds! They never take long and us lefties are way more used to paying substantially more than righties. We also go the custom route faster since there are so few " non-custom" options. You would be filling a niche and in this economy anything that gives you an edge is good. Let me.know since I need a 6 mm something.

From a business side AND consumer side this makes the most sense! That's the way I'd go if I were you Len.
 
Re: Left Hand Rifles - How much interest is there in "Ready To Ship" left hand rifles

Len this is a pretty major undertaking. In any event i know you have made issue of the cost adjustment to make this transistion.
I am left handed and shoot right handed or left handed i made it a practice to do so and have no problem.
We left handed people have to adjust and i did.
 
Re: Left Hand Rifles - How much interest is there in "Ready To Ship" left hand rifles

I think it is an excellent idea. As a leftie I am frustrated in the limited selection of rifles and calibers offered in the marketplace. I ordered a custom left hand .375 H&H Mag several years ago, and it took eight months to produce.

Regards,
Bill.
 
Re: Left Hand Rifles - How much interest is there in "Ready To Ship" left hand rifles

Although I'm left handed I have shot with right handed bolt actions for so many years it makes little difference to me. I have only one LH bolt action rifle and it feels strange to use, but I can get off a followup shot a little more rapidly than with a RH action. The big issue would be getting the tooling for LH actions and stocks - manufacturing cost on very limited volume pieces should not be very different. If I was in the market for another rifle and it was available in LH without a serious cost and time penalty I would opt for the LH version.
 
Re: Left Hand Rifles - How much interest is there in "Ready To Ship" left hand rifles

I owned an archery shop a short while ago. One way that we stayed on top if offering things the competitors didn't. We had a full selection of 'lefty' gear. In our case if any one person of the bunch was a lefty folks came to our store to shop because then they all could have a selection to choose from. In your case it's obviously different because it isn't retail. That being said, I don't think it would hurt to have 1-2 lefty's in stock.

Obviously I don't know what your inventory looks like or what your carrying costs are for the products. That all has to be factored in, of course. My suggestion, build 1 in the most popular two calibers. If they sell quickly build them again. If they do not sell in a reasonable amount of time move them off the shelf and have them via custom order only.

I'm not a big fan of $ sitting around collecting dust... :)

Good luck!!!!
 
Re: Left Hand Rifles - How much interest is there in "Ready To Ship" left hand rifles

Yes, yes, a thousand times yes. I agree with the others that stocking would be a bad idea from a business perspective. Lefties are used to waiting for something that is primarily a right-handed product (especially a product worth waiting for). The 4 to 6 week wait for a quality left handed rifle is a small price to pay for what we would be getting.
 
Re: Left Hand Rifles - How much interest is there in "Ready To Ship" left hand rifles

I am relying on this POLL at LRH for cartridges to determine what is mainstream.

View attachment 2350

I assume you're relying on that poll because those are the calibers you do/may offer? I say this because there are other calibers that come to mind that aren't listed. Just a comment.
 
Re: Left Hand Rifles - How much interest is there in "Ready To Ship" left hand rifles

After I bought my first lefty I was sold on them. Have six to date and most took about 6-9 months to make. Don't care how long it takes. I want the best gun....for me
 
Re: Left Hand Rifles - How much interest is there in "Ready To Ship" left hand rifles

Lefties---------------God's cruel joke? From a purely economic business perspective having product sit on the shelf is costly. to some degree, how fast could you turn a custom southpaw around for a customer would be the main selling point. Cash on the barrel, is four weeks out of the question? If not, then by all means take the lefthand orders. Long range shooting is a challange, make southpaw custom a challange and expand business horizons.
Then again, I may be missing the target on this one. Nothing ventured, nothing gained!
 
Re: Left Hand Rifles - How much interest is there in "Ready To Ship" left hand rifles

I think that your potential sales, at least initially, will be greater than the 10% LH shooter figure because there is a pent up demend in the market. Plus it would give you some measure of "goodwill" to offer quality rifles to that segment of the market.
 
Re: Left Hand Rifles - How much interest is there in "Ready To Ship" left hand rifles

Yes, I'm left handed.

My vote would be is if you are willing to at least offer to make them that would be huge. If there isn't enough demand to keep one on the shelves then that's fine. I'd be willing to wait a few extra weeks to get a custom build in left handed.

Off them in which ever other calibers you already build rifles in if that is possible.
 
Re: Left Hand Rifles - How much interest is there in "Ready To Ship" left hand rifles

Well being left handed myself, I actually enjoy shooting right hand bolt guns. My right hand is quick to reload and my left gets to stay home on the trigger. That being said, I have actually heard a few righty guys shooting lefty bolts for same reason. Mainly blaser guys though. That could be another angle for you...
 
Re: Left Hand Rifles - How much interest is there in "Ready To Ship" left hand rifles

Being left handed I would look at stocks with ambi features more than lefthand righthand only. While prone using my right hand to work the bolt while my left stays has never bothered me at all. Off hand shots I bring the rifle down and work the action with my right hand. Not quite as fast with follow up shots though. Never owned a lefthanded gun, learned with a righthanded and never looked back. Just my 2 cents.

Brent



X2....
 
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