Left Side Only?

[shotgun_lobotomy]

in the manual that came with my kahr 1927a1 says i should only load and unload the drum from the left, why is that? i saw something somewhere about it could hurt something if u didnt but ive looked and i can see any reason it cant be loaded from the right. is that just something from the older guns cause i know mines brand new (round knob) and they maight have changed it

[Ron Mills]

The original guns (1921's) were to be loaded from the left side only in order to "protect the feed lips", but I've seen them loaded from the right with no problems. But, I have no experience with the Kahr, so maybe someone else can chime in regarding that particular gun.

[kilroyjones]

Doesn't the original Thompsons have drum divots on both sides of the receiver? Seems odd to have the divots on the right if you aren't suppose to load from the right.

 

My Kahr is the older version with the cheese grater bolt handle, it to says to load only from the left. No idea why.

[shotgun_lobotomy]

yeah it had me wondering cause i found no issues with loading from the right, at first i had trouble not pushing the drum all the way through

[PK.]

There is a slight angel on the left side of the part of the mag catch that engages the drum to help it spring back if the drum was inserted from the left (not true of late model cast mag catches & some military). Inserting from the left is also pushing the mag catch into the frame instead of trying to unseat it.

 

Regardless of that, I never insert a drum without manually retracting the mag catch with my thumb; no sense incurring more wear & tear than you need to. If you follow this procedure you may insert from either side with no fear of damage whatsoever. This is true of both SMG and semi.

 

[Sgt]

Aside from the mechanical reasons, maybe the left side is recommended because more people are right handed. It would seem more natural for those people to hold the gun using the right hand and making a left side insertion. See, the army thinks of everything.