Monkeying with stuff
Why do gun manufacturers monkey around with the trigger style? Do they sit around a big boardroom table smoking cigars lit with $100 bills saying, “how can we ruin the trigger on the NEXT product we release, gentlemen?” No. They have some reason. That reason may be dubious, as Jeff Cooper would say, “an answer to a question nobody asked,” but there is still a method to the madness.
Nah. It’s ’cause their dudes and dudes like to monkey with stuff. Just because.
Regarding double actions (real double actions, not those made up safe actions and such), they do have a couple of advantages. Such as if your round doesn’t fire, you just pull the trigger again. And the heavier or longer trigger pulls tend to be harder to accidentally tug on.
July 25th, 2008 at 1:41 pm
I plug “real” semi-auto DAs with my students because of the “cycle it again” feature. I’ve noticed that women requently have problems with them – especially in the major calibers – because the reach from trigger to backstrap is frequently too long for their hands, and often they can’t handle the 12-14 lb DA pull.
For all the interest and clamor about women joining shooters and buying guns I haven’t seen the mfgs actually start building all that many guns that women find easy to shoot. For example, find me a compact, single-stack version of a CZ-75, and I’m not even asking for a decent trigger. In the last class I taught a female student arrived with a NIB S&W 642 that had a trigger pull in DA slightly over 14 lbs. She didn’t have the hand strength to make the gun work without using the index finger on her weak hand to assist the strong hand. A good gunsmith can fix most of that, but why should that be necessary?
July 25th, 2008 at 3:59 pm
And don’t forget that with some, the slide has to be moved back a bit to reset the striker; which in a bad situation means no bang/cycle slide/bang.
July 25th, 2008 at 4:40 pm
I have a Smith with a trigger so hard and gritty that it cannot be held on target in double action mode.
I figure someday to do a trigger job on it. Won’t take it to a gunsmith because of the de facto registration and NICS check to get back my own gun.
July 25th, 2008 at 5:14 pm
But anyone who has a problem with a conventional DA’s pull weight can always pretend it’s a SA and use it accordingly. Besides, I doubt it would take any great amount of practice to become able to pull the DA trigger weight. Really. My wife’s arms are pencils, and even she can pull an AMT Backup .45 if she puts her mind to it. That’s as hard a trigger as you will find.
I’ve been with several women who have problems with certain DA’s but for the vast majority of those I believe it was mostly a matter of familiarity. Once they get used to it it’s not really all that difficult. Same goes for racking the slide. The first time you ever do it the required force is a surprize, plus you haven’t developed any of the technique that makes it easier.
Anyway, we use Single Six’s and Mark IIs and the like, for starting a new shooter.
Side Note: You do realize that virtually all semi-auto rifles and shotguns are SA? Anyone ever complain about that, or even think about it?
July 25th, 2008 at 7:45 pm
I’ll stick with what is right – 1911.
July 25th, 2008 at 8:05 pm
I find the lack of terminology here disturbing. Please distinguish between DA/SA’s and straight DAO pistols. I am not a fan of DAO’s but I love DA/SA’s.
The reason why semi-auto rifles and shotguns are usually SA is that they usually have fully internal hammers. They are also physically larger and have a multitude of places for ergonomic manual safety placement. I find the manual safeties on most autoloading pistols to be either too small, in the wrong place, or just plain awkward to use. Most are strong-thumb-activated, and the strong thumb is a critical digit in helping me to solidly grip and aim the pistol. On a rifle, the strong thumb is freer to manipulate the safety because the support hand and shoulder stock help to hold and aim the rifle.
I am a fan of Sigs, if that wasn’t clear enough already. No external safety; decocker and internal firing pin safety makes it safe to carry with a round chambered; fairly smooth DA first pull and slick, quick SA for the next 15 rounds. A pistol is a personal defense weapon. It needs to be available to use as soon as it is drawn. External safeties just slow things down, no matter how good you are. Yes, a DA slows you down too, but it’s still the same trigger-pulling action; and if things are tight (close quarters) then it won’t matter much anyway; while if you don’t need to pull the trigger immediately (i.e., you want to aim more precisely to hit somebody farther away, or just brandish to hopefully scare the attacker away) you can take the extra time to pull the hammer back and have the first shot SA. Plus, the benefit that Uncle mentioned when you come across a dud round.
July 26th, 2008 at 8:02 pm
Actually, the cigars have $100 bill wrappers. They suck, but those guys are so rich they can afford not to care. 🙂
I got a Brownell kit to try to tame the trigger on my Taurus 85-3, just waiting for a free hour or two to do the work.