Basic pistol questions

[Riverblue]

I am new to this forum. I just posted this message in "general gun discussion" and will post it here too. I have rimfire rifles, shotguns, and rimfire revolvers for hunting small game and for target shooting, my primary interests. I have two snubnose revolvers in 38 sp for self-defense. I don't know much about pistols as I have always preferred revolvers. I am considering getting a pistol in 9mm at some point, and like the look of the CZ pistols. I have a few very basic questions: (1) do all pistols have a slide which needs to be pulled back to chamber a round before you can fire? I consider that extra step a minus in terms of the possible need for immediate firing in self-defense. I would be more interested in pistols that don't have this. Also when I tested a couple pistols (a Glock and a Walther I think) at one range, the slides were hard to pull. (2) When I look at the descriptions of some CZ pistols, some are described as "single action/double action" which confuses me because I don't see that they have an external hammer like revolvers which can be cocked. What do Single Action/Double Action mean in terms of the way the pistol is fired? (3) Also some of the CZ's are described as "decocking versions" (CZ75 BD). What does that mean?
WHo's a pistol expert out there?

Riverblue

 

[SilentStalker]

Ok, I will try to answer this question to the best of my knowledge. First off, the Double Action/Single Action that you are referring to is much like most revolvers that you are used to. If I remember correctly most revolvers are Double Action unless you pull the hammer back before firing every time. This Double Action/Single Action is referring to the trigger pull of the firearm. Basically, in a Double Action/Single Action semi-automatic your first pull, unless the slide is racked manually is going to be a double action pull, and every trigger pull following that one single action until the magazine is emptied. Do not let the DA/SA confuse you, again this simply refers to the effort of pull on the trigger. A double action trigger pull is longer and usually requires more effort than a single action pull. It is kind of a small safety feature in a way and this type of pistol does take some getting used to on the transition phase. However, every shot after your first one will be single action and have a much easier to pull and shorter trigger pull than your very first one. Does this make any sense? You can avoid the DA trigger pull on the first shot by manually racking the slide yourself or as some like to call it locked, cocked, and loaded, but if you do this you risk a much easier discharge of the first round than you would have if you had left it alone. it is kind of hard to explain without showing one first hand. Perhaps someone else can explain it a little better. It is more of a safety thing than anything.

As far as the decocker question goes, this is more or less another safety thing. This allows you to rack the slide manually and safely decock the hammer by pushing down a lever on the side of the gun. This feature decocks the hammer without it hitting the firing pin. It also does this automatically without you manually having to perform this action with your thumb etc. This way you avoid accidentally discharging the weapon from manually decocking the firearm. I hope this helped you some. I am sure someone will come and elaborate even further.

SS (J)

 

[LightningJoe]

Almost all automatic pistols have a slide that has to be drawn back to chamber a round. This is normally done when the gun is loaded, not immediately before firing, so there is no delay after the gun is drawn. Some find these slides hard to pull, but unless there is an underlying medical condition like arthritis, the slide should be workable if you grip it firmly.

Single-action/Double-action means that unless the hammer is cocked before firing, the weapon is fired from a condition in which the hammer is down (a double-action trigger pull) and that the gun cocks itself each time it fires so that all subsequent trigger are single-action.


A double-action automatic pistol that is "decocking" doesn't have an external safety. It as a lever that drops the hammer, the "decocker."

 

[SilentStalker]

LightningJoe did a much better job at explaining it and he did it in a summed up few sentences. I think I was making it a little more difficult than it had to be. Anyways hopefully that gave you some insight.

 

[Phantom Warrior]

Just to tag onto LightningJoe's post, pulling the slide back is something you will have to do on EVERY pistol. It is part of the way it functions, like closing the cylinder on a revolver after you load it.

As he mentioned, it is normally done immediately after you load the gun. I load the magazines for my Glock, put on in the gun, pull the slide back to chamber a round, and then stick it in the holster like that. That way, if I need it, it's immediately ready to go.

Pulling the slide back will get easier with practice. Most people makes mistakes when they first try and cycle a slide. Once you learn the tricks (grip with your whole hand not just two fingers, push your bottom hand forward) it becomes very easy.