Not all that long ago, not knowing how to drive a stick shift was a statistical oddity. Plenty of automatic transmission cars were sold, but just about everyone learned to drive a car with a third pedal. Heck, it was even advantageous to have one; automatic transmissions usually had only three or four gears until the 1990s and a 5-speed manual got you marginally better gas mileage.
Then there’s the sheer fun of manually shifting gears. Nothing better than rowing gears on a back road, even if American carmakers didn’t seem to understand that whole “handling” thing until a few years ago (or that – in the case of Chevrolet – vehicles shouldn’t explode promptly at the 110,000 mile odometer mark).
Today, though, a manual transmission serves as a theft deterrent since almost no one under nobody under 50 knows how to drive them anymore.
Which brings us to the double-action trigger.
Up until the 1980s, there were precious few single-action pistols being made among manufacturers. There were 1911s, Browning Hi Powers, single action revolvers like the Colt SAA and its clones, and that was about it. (There were a few target pistols too.) Aside from that, double-action triggers were more or less the default layout.
Revolvers and semi-autos both had long trigger pulls, though semi-autos usually (except for DAO models) have the hammer cocked by the slide after each shot and therefore go into single-action after the first shot. This was advantageous from the standpoint that it prevented accidental or negligent discharges, which is also beneficial if carrying a pistol in a concealed carry holster.
Even police were well-served with the double-action trigger with fewer unintended discharges. But a long 10- to 13-pound trigger pull tends to result in firing only when it’s intended.
Today, however, the handgun market is dominated by the poly-striker pistol. Though technically not single-action (striker-fired pistols actually partially cock the striker when the slide is actuated, meaning they’re halfway between DA and SA) the plastic fantastics have light, short trigger pulls. Almost anyone can use one with ease.
Granted, a lot of those triggers are also rather “numb.” You just don’t get the feel with a striker-fired trigger you would from a revolver or old Smith & Wesson auto, a CZ 75 or a Beretta 92. It’s not the case (at all) that every DA/SA gun has an amazing trigger and the plastic guns are all bad. Quite the opposite in fact. It’s more that the longer, harder initial pull of a double-action gun requires a person to employ a bit of technique that a striker trigger just doesn’t, or at least doesn’t to the same degree.
Kind of like driving a manual transmission car.
Learning how to balance the clutch and the throttle on an incline is an art…though some people cheat and use the parking brake…as is gaining the sensitivity to know when the you’ve disengaged the clutch and can start accelerating. There’s a feel to it that’s impossible for someone who’s never driven one to appreciate. A manual also adds a certain something to the driving experience that an auto just doesn’t.
Similarly, a double-action pistol is something everyone should try, or better yet own at some point. You appreciate a short, light trigger pull even more and definitely begin to understand the importance of follow-through, something that matters a lot with a DA/SA pistol.
It was how our fathers and grandfathers learned to shoot, and just like the manual shifter, it’s becoming something of a lost art. However, there do appear to be just enough people out there who still prefer the old ways to keep both of them going.
Sam Hoober is a contributing editor at Alien Gear Holsters and Bigfoot Gun Belts. He also contributes regularly to Ammoland, Daily Caller and USA Carry.
Golly I drove a stick for years. Lots of tricks but dam what a pain in a traffic jam! Learning to brake with your left foot is invaluable. As far as guns I didn’t really “learn” on the 22 cal 6 gun I shot as a kid. Plastic is normal to me. As is a double action semiautomatic pistol…
A great analogy.
I’ve taught my children how to shoot not just the plastic fantastic Glocks but revolvers and Smith and Wesson third generation, DA/SA, pistols. This has influenced their decisions on what gun to carry.
I also taught all three of my kids how to drive in a VW Jetta with a diesel engine and five speed manual transmission. Once they had mastered modulating the throttle and clutch, I taught them how to shift without using the clutch by just modulating the throttle. Since we have miles of gravel in our travel, they know how to drive with marginal traction
Cool story, gramps
“Cool story, gramps”
Spoken like a true millennial or gen Z’er who thinks that he knows fuck-all about everything.
We also remember our first beers, kiddo… 😉
When I first started working as a farm hand the boss said “Can you drive a straight truck?”
Why sure.
Opened the door got in , pushed on the clutch and said, ” What’s this pedal do?”
Ho ho, the look on his face.
I’ve lived long enuff to recognise the difference between ignorance and purblind stupidity. Guess which one “wascally wabbit” and “lugnut” are.
Thanks pissant.
One of my first cars I drove as a teenager was an ’85 Jetta Diesel with a 5-speed manual. I think it had about 50 horsepower, so you need the manual to wring every ounce of “go” out of it. Got 52mpg on the highway though, if you didn’t run the AC.
Later had two Toyota 4×4 pickups, both with manuals. Didn’t live in a place where heavy stop-and-go traffic was a problem when I bought them. Once I moved to somewhere where it was a problem, that constant clutching became old, and I reluctantly switched to an automatic on the next car.
I think all kids should have manuals when they are new drivers. It would be a lot harder to screw with their cellphones while having to shift.
There is absolutely nothing fantastic about a Glock. It is simply a plastic gun and really quite crude.
saw a ’38 knucklehead yesterday; i’d like to ride that foot clutch/ tank shifter setup. i managed to go around the block on a similar sidevalve flathead without killing it. really makes you focus.
vehicles, like firearms, may need to be utilized. familiarize yourself with what you can. there are some weird configurations out there.
DA trigger pulls on DA/SA semi-autos don’t have to be 10-13#. I recently replaced the 16# hammer spring (stock is 20#) on my 92fs compact with a 14# one. I didn’t have a trigger gauge when I replaced the stock one, but the 14# spring dropped the DA pull from 9-1/2# to 8-1/2# and SA pull from 5# to 4-1/2#. I suspect the stock spring would yield ~11#/6# respectively. In comparison, my EDC 3″ GP100 which has a 10# hammer spring (stock = 14#) and 8# trigger return spring (stock = 12#?) yielded 9# in DA and a mere 2-1/2# in SA. Despite the slightly higher DA pull the revolver has a much better trigger. There’s still a lot of stacking in the Beretta (in DA). Due to the ammo shortage I only put 44 rounds downrange on the Beretta but no failures. I’ve probably put over 1000 rounds through the GP100 with the lighter springs and have had no failures. Both are easy enough DIY projects assuming you have better cognitive abilities than Joe Biden.
And if you don’t have better cognitive abilities than Joe Biden it might be a good idea to let the grandkids hang on to your firearms for you.
I was one of those oddities, the first car I bought from a dealer was a stick, it was a 2011 in 2013 when I was 23. It had a turbo in it so for the first year I enjoyed it, and thought it was a lot of fun to get that visceral “connected to the car” feeling of a stick. But after that…it was just a hassle. Having to plan out your merges, driving in heavy traffic, I came to really appreciate how convenient an automatic is. And my wife couldn’t drive one, and refused to learn. I think it’s definitely a dying art though, and the nostalgia makes me want to get an old truck with a stick just for puttering around occasionally. For now, I get that manual urge with motorcycles.
I learned to drive on a manual transmission equipped Datsun when I was nine. When I drove my dad’s automatic Buick for the first time, I felt like I had less control. I was used to the engine braking on the Datsun. I see no reason to personally get a DA/SA other than as a novelty.
“I see no reason to personally get a DA/SA other than as a novelty.”
It offers one distinct advantage :
One in the pipe and hammer down for concealed carry gives you a (relative) safety that you can’t forget to disengage in a panic situation. That can literally save your life.
If the first round DA pull is still too light for your comfort, install a heavier spring in it…
I do like the idea of that. I was seriously considering one. I rented three at the range. I had no problem with the controls on any of them (FN, Beretta 96, and P30L). After reading about it, I thought the DA pull would be more difficult. It was very heavy, but I had no problem making shots. Of course that was slow fire at the range. The deciding factor was both training and price. I was already familiar with a striker fired gun, and an M&P C.O.R.E. came with the slide ready for optics instead of paying more to get the P30 (my favorite of the three) slide cut.
Another advantage — if the round doesn’t fire, just pull the trigger again. The majority of times, the primer will ignite the second time. Faster than tap, rack, bang.
Never liked the DASA guns and have only ever owned one. Still driving my 10 year old straight shift car and when I am done with it there will only be automatics available to replace it with.
I learned on a B61 Mack with a quad box.
And a Model 57 Smith.
YES! I first learned to drive stick was before a car I learned in a 1966 Mack cabover with 5 by 4 transmission!
That Mack I bet brings back memories. I was 14 when I learned 5 by 4 hauling tanker with my dad.
All guns are double action revolvers to me.
I can smooth-up any smith and wesson revolver and reduce the DA trigger on K and N frames by reducing the mainspring or replacing it.
I will admit that the new Colt mainspring are pretty nice. Way better than the old coil spring Colts and better than the original Pythons I owned.
The LCR has a good DA pull but does it at the expense of a positive trigger return spring. My newest LCR has a heavier pull and better trigger return.
But not like a smith.
My Beretta 92 with a D mainspring is excellent. The best DA is recent times was the Sig 250…..but nobody wanted a DA only auto.
Loved my Sig 250. Had to sell it to pay some bills. Wish I still had it.
Try a Kahr
Loooong but smooooooth
Work for 2-3 h0urs in y0ur spare time and OO get paid 1200 on y0ur bank acc0unt every week…
Get m0re information 0n f0ll0wing site… 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐣𝐨𝐢𝐧.𝐭𝐤
Where does a 3 on a tree fit into this analogy?
Sumewhat less desirable than a four on the floor and a fifth under the seat.
That’s what we always heard was the reason for the Jack Daniels bottle to be square, wouldn’t roll out from under the seat whenever you braked hard at the roadblock.
That’s pure gold, if true.
well, depending on which miner, it’s either amusing or pure dumb.
I drove a Nash Metropolitan once. It was more like 3 on the dash.
Or a Simca….4 in the dash
saab 95 w/ ford v4. four on the tree, just try to find reverse.
out, back and down. no really.
My truck was 3 on the tree. Worked fine until it rained and was guaranteed to jam as soon as the rain became heavy forcing me to pop the hood and unjam the linkage with a screwdriver.
Replaced bushings and lubed it and spent time with a chiltons book trying to fix it. Never did figure what was wrong.
I think that truck liked screwing with me.
292 four on floor w/ granny gear. no point wide opening that one barrel, faster at three quarter trottle.
shoulda put a 2v on there.
My daughter, in college now, prefers old revolvers, SA and DA. The mechanics of them, the lines are more artistic somehow. Okay, I’m good with that.
I prefer old DA semi-autos myself. But own across the spectrum.
atkay
HMM…I shoot a Cz75 Compact….just completed a very rigorous shooting qualification ending up with a combat shoot…total possible points 500…I had 498 (the glock boys and striker fired kiddos…were in the low 400s..with the exception of a person whose primary weapon failed and he was using a Glock target pistol.
I absolutely love double-action/single-action semi-autos with decockers.
Some day I may be able to justify the expense of a CZ-75 which is my dream handgun. For now I am stuck with a Smith and Wesson M&P40 with an aftermarket trigger which makes the stereotypical, God-awful, mushy trigger of striker-fired handguns marginally tolerable.
Having said all that, I shoot it with amazing accuracy. I set up my own “shoot, don’t shoot” course with human analog targets which, unfortunately, I could only place in fixed positions. Even though my targets were not moving around, I was and scored incredible hit-rates: my lowest hit rate was 13 out of 15 shots while moving and shooting, at distances from 5 to as much as 20 feet.
More importantly, I have not had a single negligent/unintentional discharge with that “dangerous” striker-fired semi-auto handgun with enhanced aftermarket trigger. I attribute that to proper safe-handling practices and always carrying my handgun in a holster which protects the entire trigger guard area.
75.
solid platform.
b model runs. compact comes out soon with the jackets, cool weather.
always trolling for a rami.
super crappy combat sights, hard to miss because they point.
try a Hi-Power (FN or Browning) with a SFS installed.
If you don’t know what the Safe Fast Shooting system does for a single action (Hi-Power or 1911), research it.
It’s like carrying cocked and locked, but with the hammer pre-cocked and DOWN.
Round chambered.
Hammer down.
Safety on.
Draw.
Drop safety. [Hammer snaps back to full cock (no thumb cocking)].
Single action (the Bestest trigger) FIRST shot (and all other shots too).
And the advantages of a decocker too.
Chamber the first round.
Press the hammer forward (no pull trigger while holding hammer involved).
Safety clicks up, sear & hammer locked, firing pin block in place.
Hammer down and loaded chamber.
Cylinder & Slide sells and installs their version.
A Rob Campbell article on SFS here:
https://www.cylinder-slide.com/sfs4.shtml
I’m so old, not only did I learn to drive with a third peddle, the windshield wipers were vacuum operated and there was a fourth peddle you pushed to start it.
Anyone that old? You didn’t turn the key to start it, the key turned on the ignition and there was a starter peddle.
I’m so old I fart dust.
MLee:
I’m probably just as old as you are (almost), and I have seen cars with a starter pedal, but have never driven one. They were still around in the WWII era, but I hadn’t come of age then. I learned to drive on a three-speed steering-column shifter (with a key starter) and later drove four-on-the-floors. Anyway, I have no nostalgia for it, since it was a bloody pain in the butt to drive one on a Detroit freeway in a rush-hour traffic jam. In those days I always felt like I was ROWING home.
As for DA/SA pistols, I was never a fan until… I recently got a Beretta 92X. That gun has the best DA/SA trigger I have ever run across.
When you learn to drive the worst there is in the worst driving conditions there is, it creates a knowledgeable experienced safe driver.
As a professional mechanic (retired) I’ve driven just about everything there is including a Rolls Royce. Start forward from about a 51 Jeep pickup and go forward and I’ve driven it.
My first carry weapon was a S&W 39. A DA/SA firearm which is all I’ve every carried besides a few wheel guns here and there. All DA/SA hammer fired. No strikers for this kid. My daily carry now is a Sig P229.
I’ve never been able to wrap my head around strikers. Easier to teach yes, but I’m old school. You don’t start someone with the easiest, you start them in the hardest.
Make the wipers manual (operated by levers at the top of the fold down windshield) and you’re describing the Willys I used to drive as a teen.
The first time I drove a buddy’s 60-something Mustang, I went to flash headlights at an oncoming car that had highs on. I stomped on the switch with my left foot, and sprayed washer fluid instead. Didn’t know they had a little foot pedal sprayer down there where I expected the high beam switch to be. Took a few years to live that down.
“Didn’t know they had a little foot pedal sprayer down there where I expected the high beam switch to be.”
I’ll say this – Putting the high beam switch on the turn signal stalk instead of the floor was pure brilliance…
have some passion, man. i won’t argue design but for chrissakes nostalgia.
it’s weird they called it a dipswitch… it implies everyone had their brights on as a rule. anyhow, imagine growing up without what my maternal ancestors referred to as “no drafts.” i miss those. and if you had a floor button for yer high beams, you also had a big vent knob you could yank open for breeeeeze, baby.
now we have cabin filters, put your mask on bitch.
Yup, and the headlight dimmers were on the floor.
Electric windshield wipers was the last improvement they should have made.
Sure the new motors are making 300,000 miles now, to bad you need collage degree and a computer array to work on them.
No more, the points are sticking get out the gopher matches. Tapping on the float bowl is out.
What’s a shade tree mechanic to do?
First truck/vehicle was an old IHC. 3 on the tree, starter on the floor, as well as the dimmer switch for the lights. 0 to 45 with a calendar, but could pull a house of the foundation.
First handgun was an old single action .22 revolver. First centerfire was a surplus 1911. Followed by a Colt trooper in 38SP.
Yep, my Dad had a Chevy pickup with the starter pedal.. a ’56 as I recall. I found a model of the exact same truck, so it sits in my living room.. I spent a lot of hours in that old truck.
I will stick with my Ruger p89 with it’s decocker. And its 17 round magazine. It works just fine!!!
And that Judge revolver makes a great night stand gun.
That’s funny as I’ve got my Taylors And Company Smoke Wagon 45 Colt (LC) 4109DE in my my night stand…sort of. In the room is a stashed loaded AR pistol .300 AAC, my 45 revolver, a Ruger SR22 and then the Sig sleeps with me. I sleep just fine.
I had to look that up. You’ve got a great gat!
And RIP to Mr. Jeff. He was one of my early youtube teachers about guns back in 2007(?).
Shooting Taylor’s & Co. Tuned “Smoke Wagon” Single Action Revolver – Gunblast.com video 10 min long
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xssut_8Ga0I
I tell you what, it has the finest trigger of any firearm I’ve ever owned and that’s no joke. I’ve had the old 3 screw Ruger 44 Mag, the original Colt Python and yes it had a really smooth action and many other weapons but NOTHING compares to the trigger on that tuned 4109
Here it is.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0By3-l1P1kK4sRTlJQ2ZHcmE4X00/view?usp=sharing&resourcekey=0-tRX4TxtKx8qbFqmfM3CfzQ
If DA semi-autos constitute the manual transmission of handguns, then revolvers must be the manual steering — there’s no power assist.
Also, .38Spl revolvers are like early Porsche 911s. Even though the horsepower was relatively low at 148, they were still fast whips.
Tortured analogies are fun. But they’re still tortured.
When I was a teenager in the 60’s everyone wanted a 4 speed Mustang or Camaro. Today I would not have a manual transmission up my ass. Age does that to you.
As far as pistols I rate them from safest to most unsafe to carry and handle.
Most unsafe: The striker fired guns with no manual safety and an unsafe take down system, read that Glock and copy cat Glocks of which there are so many I have lost count.
The single action only pistols like the 1911, FN High Power etc. carried locked and cocked. If the safety gets accidentally pushed off you have an accident waiting to happen. Ever notice that the Morons think nothing of carrying a loaded Glock but most carry their single actions like the 1911 with the hammer down. It shows that they do not understand how most striker fired guns work.
The next safest would be the double/single action like the Beretta 92. Very safe if carried with he hammer down and the safety on although some would say putting on the safety is a bit much.
The safest of all is the double action only pistol. Beretta made one for police use. The long hard 13 lb pull definitely let you know you were pulling the trigger to shoot the pistol.
Another warning is that once you attempt to shoot a pistol double action that is not full duty size and you get down into the .380’s and even worse the diminutive .32’s like the Seecamp, (and copy cat variants), despite its excellent double action pull trying to hit something beyond across the bar room table becomes a challenge. If you do not believe me try putting out a man size silhouette target at 7 yards and the try to hit it firing fast with a double action very small pistol like the Seecamp or copy cat variants. They are fairly safe to carry with that long double action pull but they definitely have their draw backs.
And not to forget that some pistols like the HK P30s can be loaded and unloaded with the manual safety in the “on position” something I cannot praise highly enough. It also has a decocker and also the variant with the manuals safety gives one the option of carrying cocked and locked which I usually do not do as I can cock it on the draw very easily without losing control of the weapon although some people cannot do this. If both hands are free one can draw the pistol with a death grip and then cock it with the weak hand as the pistol comes up to eye level.
If the danger is not immediate I would not thumb cock it on the draw as there have been many instances of cops shooting people when they were using pistols that they had cocked and with the safety off or using the Glock that has no manual safety.
I must also caution people that if one likes to shoot double action there has been more than one case where the heavy double action pull has caused people to miss at amazingly close distances. One kidnapped woman managed to get ahold of her rapists .357 revolver and cut lose on him at almost arms length and only succeeded in hitting him in the hand. He took the gun from her and later murdered her. If she had cocked back the hammer I am sure she probably would have drilled him through the heart. It takes a hell of a lot of practice to be able to shoot double action only and hit something even at close range. In another instance I saw a video of a cop shooting it out with a fugitive in my state at only a few feet, both men blazed away at each other and both missed every shot by a good country mile. The fugitive then simply jumped in his truck and drove off.
Another grave mistake most people make is never practicing with “the weak hand”. I knew one guy who was attacked from behind while going to his car one night while shopping. He hit the pavement and fractured his gun hand but because he had practiced with this weak hand he still managed to draw his gun but shot a little low and hit the guy in his penis. It was not hard for the cops to find the guy at a hospital with his penis shot off.
I have come to the conclusion that Dacian has a split-personality.
On rare occasions he/she posts insightful and reasonably accurate information in a casual/civil tone. (This comment of his/hers is one such example.) Most of the time he/she ends up in the weeds spewing a bunch of nonsense in a very condescending and uncivil tone.
If it were not for his consistent use of his photo/avatar, I would be convinced that there are actually two people posing as Dacian.
I believe Dacian’s preferred pronoun is ‘zhe’.
dacian is very mentally ill. Of that there is no question. He will make headlines one day.
The only reason the tone is civil is because the comment isn’t directed toward the people he hates. I’ve never interacted with a more intolerant, vile, hate-filled person in my life.
Similar to a conversation with my ex wife.
Dacian does kinda bear a resemblance to this guy, who was also a teenager in the 60’s:
https://www.facebook.com/kenneth.fingeret
It’s just drugs. It does that to a person.
I really don’t think I’d like any transmission up my ass, manual or automatic. Exit only, dude.
The first letters of transvestite is trans.
*Vrroooomm Vrrooomm *
“Oh my is that a 4 speed♡”
A pair of fuzzy dice hanging from the……wait a minute. Ain’t they supposed to be dangling from the rear view?
“fuzzy dice, bongos in the back. my ship of love is ready to attack.”
wonder if it’s middle name is muncie rockcrusher.
“Today I would not have a manual transmission up my ass. Age does that to you.”
That’s not age, that’s senility telling you you’re too incompetent to own firearms… 😉
Manual cars are a joy to drive… if you’ have open mountainous roads. Try commuting to work in a city with one and hitting rush hour traffic on the highway. Real fun times 1-N or 1-2-N for miles. My right wrist gets more numb than other fun activities requiring it.
“sure, but then it feels like someone else.” -archie mcphee
There are too many variations from too many companies that all last far too long. Creating this kind of analogy is a mistake. Auto makers will make fewer and fewer manual transmissions as time goes by. If the green new deal takes hold the we might not see ANYTHING anymore. This is not the way gun makers do things. Gun manufacturers give us new on THEIR terms. Not a new model every year. They are not subject to the same terms the auto industry is.
You tell me…
What would the gun industry look like if California determined everything?
“Auto makers will make fewer and fewer manual transmissions as time goes by.”
They become unnecessary because electrics have full torque available at all motor speeds…
they must be detuned so as to be driveable.
Hrm….If DA/SA pistols are the equivalent of a stick shift, I’m wondering what is the firearm equivalent of a push button powerflite?
Or, conversely, the firearm equivalent to a CVT?
I’d guess that’d be a Gatling gun.
I’ve been retired for a few years. Recently I took a part time job to get me out of the house. Driving cars at an auto wholesale auction place. In a brief period of time I’ve driven a wide variety of cars. Masseratti, Ferrari, Vette, Mustang. These were stick and fun to drive. Not for commuting or dailey driving.
But it had been about 30 years since I drove a stick. Commuting in CA traffic really is about the auto. My first stick in 30 years, my first day on the job, was a 500 hp Mustang. I think I grinned for the rest of the day.
As for firearms. If you cannot pick up and run any gun made over the last 150 years without being told how step by step then you are not a real gun guy. They aren’t that complicated and your favorite type of action may not be available when you need it.
JWM sez: “As for firearms. If you cannot pick up and run any gun made over the last 150 years without being told how step by step then you are not a real gun guy. They aren’t that complicated and your favorite type of action may not be available when you need it”.
I sez: How very true. Not all firearms owners or even shooters are really “gun guys”. Some of us have been messin with firearms since childhood and have always had an abiding interest in the gun… I suppose if we lived in the Hollywood “Old West” we would have been considered “gunmen” by the likes of Marshal Dillon and that lot. Now we’re considered psychologically aberrant by the lib/dem/proggie/commucrat crowd. Even if all we do is enjoy and play with our treasures and never turn them on anyone..
I’d say a single action revolr would probably be more like the manual transmission.
” What’s this thing on the back do.”
DAO needs to go the way of the flintlock. There are more options now than just striker fired.
Wait a minute, I still hunt with a flintlock. Dead on out to 200 yards. Nothing like having to wait for the smoke to clear to see if your deer is down or half way to the county line.
For range and fun, I will take a DA/SA or 1911/HP any day. For carry, there’s no competition. With 10-13 rounds of 9mm in the new batch of micro-compact striker fired guns, why would I choose 8 rounds in my SIG P239, which I love and shoot great with at the range? My SIG P365 carries great and feels like a “big gun” at the range. It’s practical, just not as much fun.
By the same token, I got rid of my 5 speed manual truck in favor of an automatic with on-demand 4WD. It didn’t make sense in the hilly area I live in, and my wife refused to drive it (she can drive stick, just hated it). My sons want to learn manual for the fun of it, but I bet they won’t ever buy one. By the same token, I think shooters should learn SAO, DA/SA, revolvers, and striker-fired. But that’s just me.
I heart my HK45
I grew up shooting DA/SA, just as I grew up driving manual transmissions. I still have an affinity for DA/SA, but knee and hip issues caused me to prefer automatic transmissions. A day spent in stop and go travel, is a night spent in pain and and misery.
A look through my gun safe shows I’ve a 3:1 preference for DA/SA. My PDW is Striker Fired, but range time is spent equally with both designs. I love the trigger on my Walther PPQ M2, and believe that one’s hard pressed to find an equal when it comes to a stock trigger. First pistol I was able to consistently triple tap with. My Beretta 92A1 is stock, and one of the most accurate guns I own. That Falling Locking Block action is inherently more accurate that Locked Breech Tilting Barrel Action, as the barrel moves in one plane not two, allowing tighter tolerances. IMHO, only a straight blowback pinned barrel is the most accurate of the three systems.
Still, I carry a P365 daily, so I’m not totally averse to Striker fire guns, and believe they have some advantages. With the P365 I carry, the safety is the one between my noggin and my trigger finger.
Definitely a great analogy. I’m sure it’s already been mentioned, but I do like the safety aspect of the double action as well as the ‘second chance’ concept.
Try a Kahr
Loooong but smooooooth
Still drive a stick in the Pick Up. Car has an automatic. Still prefer my 1911, own and sometimes carry 9mm strikers. But, again, my favorites is either my Walther P-38, or Browning/FN Hi-Power.
Give me a firearm and the right ammo and I can make the silly thing go bang. Let me fire a few rounds and I will make it hit as well as it can.
Toss me the keys and I can drive anything with wheels. Model T to new Mustang. Smoke pole to wundergun.I can use whatever is available.
Gave up on al DA/SA semi – auto handguns about 6 years ago. If I could not get them converted to SA they went to sale or trade. Own all SA now with triggers 3-4 pounds an adj rear sights and can down a man at 25 mtrs with 3+ in the head, 4+ in the neck and whatever is left goes into his stomach and I do not look back.
Gaston Glock sealed the fate of the DA/SA auto pistol.
Speaking from personal experience garnered over a lifetime of personal and work experience, I have to come down on the side of the DA/SA semi auto pistols. The plastic fantastics of the Glock style have no safety and have been known to fire when being holstered. I don’t like the cocked and locked carry of the 1911 either- and Ive carried more than a few. The grip safety of the 1911 helps assuage that concern. Not so the HiPower, which I otherwise love and handle well. The Springfield XD pistols have a grip safety, which I am much more comfortable with. One iteration of same even has a functioning hammer rather than a striker, which I mean to look into.
The DA/SA pistols are comfortable to carry and go into action quickly. Little chance of accidentally jerking the trigger while covering someone. Usually when the pistol comes out it means a fast shot, in which case the added trigger weight will feel non-existent. IF you train and practice shoot, which you should be doing anyway, it all becomes muscle memory- brain/hand co-ordination. Most are/were made with metal frames and feel like a “real gun” instead of a Mattel toy, and this I also appreciate.
All that said, I have carried a Glock 21 for some years now and is my main duty-type handgun. I know and understand it’s ins and outs and am familiar with handling it. Still, the lack of a safety and the light trigger pull still bothers me. I had considered having a safety installed but was warned that in the event of a shoot I could be open for a lawsuit or worse based on having tampered with the pistol’s functioning.. so I havent.
I shoot in a monthly revolver league for the very reason stated in the article – to develop the skillset that translates to single action shooting.
FYI – a lot of the modern striker guns are fully cocked and ready to go – the Glock partially cocks with the trigger pull but the guns with what we consider “good” striker triggers are truly single action (with a bunch of other safeties like firing pin blocks, drop safeties, trigger blades, etc).
“but the guns with what we consider “good” striker triggers are truly single action (with a bunch of other safeties like firing pin blocks, drop safeties, trigger blades, etc).”
Translation: They are single action pistols with a vague trigger pull and no safety.
Firing pin blocks and drop safeties are obligatory for safe firearm handling- a modern firearm without such is simply unacceptable. By definition, a trigger blade cannot legitimately be called a “safety” by any means- if a loaded firearm can be discharged by simply activating the trigger then it categorically has no safety at all.
Pulling a trigger (especially a single action one) without the requirement of any other action to successfully discharge the firearm is manifestly the opposite of a “Safe” action system.
And therein lies the irony of the terminology.
I like to relax when I drive my ZL1. Automatic all the way… through all 10 gears… and dual clutch. Makes a manual transmission totally obsolete.
That said, I like my guns DA/SA. My PX4 Storm converted to type G (decocker only) is like driving an automatic. Sure, first gear is a little heavy but the next 19 gears are light and smooth. Too bad it’s not a dual clutch also 🙂
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