LAST EDITED ON May-31-16 AT 11:24 PM (EDT)
 
>Oh yeah, I should have mentioned bolt-action rifles. There is
>actually such a thing as a left-handed bolt-action rifle, but even as
>the kind of lefty that can't get righty scissors to work, I've never
>minded the right-handed kind. I still shoot them left-handed, but in
>fact, the bolt on a right-handed bolt-action rifle seems to me to be
>correctly positioned for a left-handed shooter to work it, because
>it's my right hand that's over there anyway. To work a left-handed
>bolt, I'd have to take my left hand off the important bit, which has
>always struck me as Doing It Wrong.

As the designated owner* of a left-handed bolt-action rifle (a Winchester 54), the explanation I received as to why you pulled the bolt with your triggering hand was twofold:
-first, a big/heavy/long rifle is going to wear out your wrist trying to support it that way through a long shooting session. YMMV on how big the gun needs to be and how many shots you need to fire before this becomes a problem, but when I first got acquainted with the 54, it was plenty big enough that I believed this would become an issue.

-second, and again this depends on the circumstance, but in theory by keeping the gun clamped between shoulder and forward arm, you can keep your sight picture intact while chambering another round. In practice, I can't speak to value of this argument, since more times than not I'd end up smacking either the gun or myself in the process of cycling the bolt, but that's the theory anyway.

*I say "designated owner" because the rifle was converted to fit my grandfather, who was short and left-handed; so while Dad is the actual owner of the gun, I am the only one in the immediate family who can actually make use of it.

"This is probably a stupid question, but . . ."