Shooting an AK 47 left handed
 

I may possibly be buying a Norinco NHM 91 AK 47 , it has a slant brake that is spot welded. Would this make it extremely difficult to shoot left handed? Not sure whether to buy this one or not.

Re: Shooting an AK 47 left handed
 

If you like the taste of spent brass casings, by all means buy one. That should put the ejector right about at your face. The kalashnikov is a great rifle, but not for lefties. Also the bolt handle may hit you. If you need a good cheap battle rifle try a SKS. They shoot the spent casings out up and kind of behind you. Try one out first..:beer:

Re: Shooting an AK 47 left handed
 

Hard to beat the SKS for reliability + you can buy two of them for the price of one AK-47.

Bomber - The AK class rifles throw the spent casing to
 

the front right - nearly all the time (in English class I learned never to say "never" or "always" for some exception will appear to prove you wrong). I have two, shoot them left-handed on occasion, normal practice for those who take social firearms seriously, and I have never experienced a case ejected into my face.

Its a great firearm, but if you are going to shoot it at ranges greater than 100 yards, best practice on known distance range to know the sight setting to use with the ammunition you are using.

Have fun and enjoy.

Re: Shooting an AK 47 left handed
 

I've never had a problem shooting my Norinco MAK-90 nor any other AK left handed. The spent brass shoots more sideways than backwards so it clears without issue. Actually the vigorous ejection of the AK makes it more of a threat to the man standing to your right than it does to you. You do have to mind the reciprocating charging handle on any gun that has one but your cheekweld must be a lot different than mine if your face falls within the charging handle's length of travel.

You can actually perform one of two fairly simply mods, or have a gunsmith do it, to eliminate all threat from the charging handle. The first is to attach a metal guard to the reciever cover just past the maximum rearward travel of the charging handle. The other is to have the charging handle cut off and blended in to the bolt carrier, then drill and tap a small hole in the top of the bolt carrier to attach a vertical charging handle. These are usually flat "T" or disk-shaped. Of course you have to cut a track for the charging handle in reciever cover so the new charging handle can reciprocate. Some guys do this just because they prefer the ergonomics.

Seriously though, the charging handle shouldn't be an issue. As long as the tip of your nose does not extend past the forwardmost portion of the buttstock you have a margin of safety of more than four inches, and that is to the tip of your nose, never mind any facial features that don't stick out as far. My wife shoots left handed and has no problem with my unmodified AK in that regard. Neither did any of the millions of soldiers who trained on and fought with the M1 carbine, M1 Garand, M-14 and a whole host of other standard issue military weapons, including any Soviet troops who are left handed. I don't know why/how anybody would get a cheekweld 4 inches forward of the the rear of the reciever, that is just wacky. If you get the longer NATO length buttstock some prefer you'd have an even greater safety margin. Otherwise you should find the location of the charging handle on the right side of the reciever to be fairly easy to use, almost as if it was designed for a lefty. The rest of us reach over or under the reciever with the left hand to charge the weapon.