Why I love to hate my Ruger 22/45

My first .22LR pistol was a Ruger 22/45 Mark III.  When I bought it, was favoring my right handed side when it came to pistol shooting.  So it really didn't matter to me that it is totally a right handed pistol.  Now after I've made my transition to fully left handed shooting, this pistol drives me crazy.

The positives of the 22/45
This is a very accurate pistol.  The bull barrel adds some nice weight to the gun, along with the accuracy.  The sights are nice, and it's drilled and tapped for the included Weaver scope base.
Installed the base, and with it installed, it doesn't block the sights, which is really nice.  I put on a BSA 30MM Red Dot .22 scope on this.  When installed it rides a little to the side, but it really doesn't matter once you get it sighted in.
You pull the trigger, and it shoots a bullet.

General  PITA problems of the 22/45
This things is a pain to strip and reassemble.  There is almost a Rube Goldberg set of instuctions to get this thing apart and and put back together.  After a while it got harder, and I found the main problem.  You need to clean, and re-grease the mainspring in the handle.  If you don't, the bolt doesn't seat properly, and I am also assuming it leads to extraction problems (of which I've had many).
I was told (incorrectly I assume) to only run copper plated bullets though this pistol.  The problem with this is most copper plated bullets are hollow point, and this helps with feed problems.  I had a lot of hollow tip rounds get stuck on the feed ramp.  When I moved to lead only round nose bullets, my feed problems almost completely stopped.
Oh, and cleaning all the nooks and crannies is pain too.

The lefty PITA problems of the 22/45
Every thing is on the wrong side.  You have to use your trigger finger to do everything. Release the magazine, release the bolt.  Don't even try to you your left hand to access the safety, you'll have to use your right hand. Most of all, the slide lock isn't under magazine pressure.  You have to push down the slide lock to release the bolt with a new magazine.  You can't simply rack the bolt back and release it like on many other handguns.

Aside from all the problems listed above, it's still fun to shoot.  Just be prepared to do a lot of work afterward.

A true left handed 1911: The Cabot South Paw 1911

When it comes to hand guns, one pistol stands out: the 1911.  You can go from the basic all the way to ballistic when it comes to makes a models.  But what is out there for the left hander?  I have been shooting a basic Springfield Armory GI Mil-Spec 1911A1 for a while, and as a lefty, I've gotten used to it.
Upgrades I'm considering:
Ambidextrous safety
Ambidextrous magazine catch

I always rack the slide back, both left handed and right handed, so I don't see the need for a left handed slide stop.

But what about the lefty shooter that has (almost) everything?  Thankfully Cabot Guns has come out with a fully left handed 1911: The South Paw 1911.  Left handed safety, left handed magazine catch, left handed slide stop, left hand twist rifling, and it ejects the brass to the left side.  A fully left-handed 1911.

Hurry up, they are only making 100 of these pistols.