Decocking Mystery on PT 92

[KJS]

Having never had a gun with a decocker before, I'm hoping your guys can shed some light on this Taurus mystery.

As you can read in the pic from the manual below it very sternly warns me me in big bold lettering: "DO NOT CARRY THE FIREARM AT ANYTIME IN THE HALF COCK POSITION."

If I'm not supposed to carry the gun in the half cock (intercept notch) position then why is this gun made such that the decocker only drops the hammer to that position?

I asked an online friend who has a Ruger P90 DC and he tells me that his gun drops the hammer fully, which is what I'd expect a decocker to do. One (like me) who didn't know better might well assume that a decocker decocks a gun, as opposed to being a sort-of-decocker that partially decocks a gun, leaving it in a position that I'm sternly warned isn't safe.

I thought the whole point of a decocker was to safely lower the hammer. I'm not seeing the point of a decocker if one is forced to manually decock it to get the hammer fully down, just as they would manually decock a revolver. Of course, revolvers rarely need to be decocked given that they're not in the habit of cocking themselves like an auto is.

What is the decocker for if I have to manually decock it anyhow? I can manually decock it without a decocker, after all.

I'm stumped. Thanks in advance for all your collective wisdom that I'm sure will enlighten me on the issue of decockers.

Thanks,
Karl

 

[foolsgold80z]

I carry my CZ chambered, hammer dropped every day. I would suppose that's corporate lawyer speak is all.

 

[NavyLCDR]

If you PT-92 decocker is dropping the hammer to the half-cocked position then it is defective and should be fixed. Are you sure the hammer is not falling to the firing pin block, which is what it should be doing?

With the gun UNLOADED, cock the hammer and then pull the trigger to dry fire the gun, but leave the trigger pulled all the way to the rear. With the trigger pulled all the way to the rear, the hammer should be down all the way against the firing pin.

Now, watch the hammer as you let off on the trigger. You will see the hammer move back slightly, creating a gap between the hammer and the firing pin. This is the firing pin block internal safety engaging and what keeps the hammer from striking the firing pin if the gun is dropped. That is where the hammer should fall to when the decocker is used.

 

[KJS]

If you PT-92 decocker is dropping the hammer to the half-cocked position then it is defective and should be fixed. Are you sure the hammer is not falling to the firing pin block, which is what it should be doing?

Below is a picture of where the hammer falls when using the decocker:

The manual seems to indicate that the hammer is supposed to fall to what Taurus calls an intercept notch when using the decocker. As you can read in the manual pic Taurus refers to this as an intercept notch or the "half cock" notch, which they say is a safety feature to prevent accidental discharge should my thumb slip when cocking or decocking, and that position is exactly where the hammer does stop if I pull the hammer back and let go without pulling it all the way back to fully cocked as would happen if my thumb slipped.

For comparison I just took a pic of it fully decocked manually.

 

[KJS]

cock the hammer and then pull the trigger to dry fire the gun, but leave the trigger pulled all the way to the rear. With the trigger pulled all the way to the rear, the hammer should be down all the way against the firing pin.

Just tried that and it does.

Now, watch the hammer as you let off on the trigger. You will see the hammer move back slightly, creating a gap between the hammer and the firing pin. This is the firing pin block internal safety engaging and what keeps the hammer from striking the firing pin if the gun is dropped. That is where the hammer should fall to when the decocker is used.

Nope, it doesn't do that. The hammer remains all the way down when I let off the trigger, not moving in the least as far as I can see. I'm used to revolvers where that's how the hammer behaves (remaining all the way down), so this isn't something I would have even thought about had you not mentioned it.

I've included another pic from the manual. It's hard to see I know. The pics & drawings in the manual really stink. It shows the hammer rested directly against the back of the firing pin, with no gap between them. It shows the firing pin block as a thing that goes through the firing pin not allowing it to move unless the trigger is pulled fully back.