As a left handed shooter, I'm pretty pissed that Savage has dropped a lot of their "southpaw" options. To my disdain, I see they removed the FLCP-SR (model 10) from the 2016 catalog. Savage used to have the best lefty selection of any bolt action company (maybe they still do).
I understand that I am in the minority. And in the capitalistic pursuit of the bottom line, producing left handed rifles is not necessarily a profitable venture. I'm just glad, that I got my FLCP-K when I did!
Time to try out a Tikka!
Bill
That sucks. That was going to be my first lefty bolt rifle. Come to think of it I have never shot a left handed bolt gun. It's not that big of a deal to me but it would be nice to have the option. I only target shoot mostly from a bench .
Think I'm going to try the the New Ruger precision rifle
I have a friend that was going to buy that FLCP-SR about a week ago, but saw they took down the page sometime in the last 2 or 3 weeks.
Welcome to the Disenfranchised by Savage Club.
I laughed last summer when this interview was publish where Bill Dermody was touting their "vast selection" of left-hand rifles. Ten years ago that was truly the case, but ever since they came out with the Axis in left-hand they've eliminated almost all of the premium LH offerings. No more American Classic, no more 12 BVSS or 12 VLP, last year they cut the LH 10 FP's to a single model and only in .308, now they've dumped that one as well for 2016. Not to mention all of the specialty models that have never been offered in LH like the Target models, the LWH, the LRP and LRPV, etc. I guess if you're a lefty and want a blued rifle with a sporter barrel and a POS plastic stock Savage has plenty to offer, but beyond that their selection of centerfire rifles is non-existent. That said, they do offer a great selection of LH rimfire rifle if you can put up with their finicky magazines and their weak extraction.
Sadly Ruger is following in Savage's footsteps. Ruger had a pretty good selection of LH Hawkeye's, including the African, Alaskan and Gunsite models. Then they came out with the American Rifle in LH last year, and now they have discontinued all of the lefthand M77 Hawkeye's for 2016. One has to wonder, are they going to discontinue the 77/22 adn 77/17 bolt-action rifles as well since they have the American Rimfire? Or how about their SR series of pistols now that they're coming out with the American Pistol?
Like Savage, Ruger has jumped head first into the race to the bottom to see who can offer the cheapest, chintziest plastic piece of crap they can sell that still safely goes bang.
As for the rest of the field...
Remington's selection of LH rifles has been dismal for decades, and from what I've seen their quality has really gone down hill in recent years.
CZ's selection for lefties is fairly limited, and might as well be non-existent given the sketchy availability in the U.S.
Rumor has it that Tikka is either dropping or is going to scale back the T3 line and focus more on the Sako brand, so likely the LH Tikka models will be gone.
That pretty much leaves Browning as the only major manufacturer offering a decent selection of quality (aka not plastic) left-hand rifles.
"Life' is tough. It's even tougher if you're stupid." ~ John Wayne
“Under certain circumstances, urgent circumstances, desperate circumstances, profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer.” —Mark Twain
And it has magically re-appeared http://www.savagearms.com/firearms/model/10FLCPSR. Still though, Savage's left selection is nothing like it used to be. I am also very turned off by the axis and American type rifles. Especially how identical the American is to the Tikka!!!! I really wish I would have picked up a Savage VLP-DBM
Bill
The Tikka T3 is a good rifle, much much better than the Ruger American or Savage Axis.
I'm a blued/walnut guy and for my tastes Browning seems to have the best selection of LH centerfire rifles available at the moment. If I just wanted something cheap to bounce around in the truck then year, an American or Axis would do, but I prefer to buy guns that will hold or increase in value over time, not go down in value because of how many the manufacturers flooded the market with with cheap prices.
"Life' is tough. It's even tougher if you're stupid." ~ John Wayne
“Under certain circumstances, urgent circumstances, desperate circumstances, profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer.” —Mark Twain
Sure glad I got my FLCPK in .308 4 years ago in May. Over 4,700 rounds, and still good for MOA.
Snipe
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