How does a striker-fired gun work?

[Nightcrawler]

How does a striker-fired gun work, exactly? The system has been around for a long time. It was introduced around 1912 in the Roth-Steyr pistol, I believe.

In any case I'm fuzzy on the specifics of how it works. And there are different kinds of striker fires, too. The Glock and the Sprinfield XD use different systems and have different trigger feels. (The XD has the better trigger, in my opinion.)

Thanks.

 

[38snapcaps]

I can tell you how an XD-9 works, having just bought one last week:

The firing pin assembly in the slide has a square block on it. As the slide progresses back on recoil it moves over the sear. When the slide goes back forward that block catches on the sear which "cocks" the gun. When you pull the trigger the sear moves down releasing the spring loaded firing pin assembly and it snaps forward.

There is a firing pin block that prevents the pin from going all the way forward to hit the primer on the cartridge. It's spring loaded in the down position and is moved by a little arm that is connected to the trigger, this is the firing pin safety. As you pull the trigger the arm lifts it out of the way of the forward movement of the firing pin allowing full forward movement to fire the gun.

The grip safety is another block that prevents the sear from going down all the way to release the firing pin. Its a very simple device, it just pivots on a pin and is either under the sear or not.

You can't even move the slide all the way back unless the grip safety is depressed because it prevents the sear from going all the way down to allow the firing pin assembly block to move over it.

 

[kidcoltoutlaw]

in case of a light primer strike you have to cycle the slide on order to cock the gun is that correct.

 

[Gewehr98]

You can go back even further than that...

At least to the P-08 Luger, and it's even earlier variants. All striker-fired.

 

[Handy]

Basically, all a striker is composed of is a pin with a spring behind it to drive the pin into the primer. It could also be termed a linear hammer.

The sear holding the striker can have a fixed location in the frame or be able to move the full range of the striker. (Glocks are kind of in-between). If it has full motion, the striker can be reset with the trigger. If the sear location is more narrow, the slide or bolt has to move back to reset the sear.

Many rifle, including old bolt designs, use a striker.

 

[kidcoltoutlaw]

if you have a misfire on a glock you can't just pull the trigger again .you have to work the slide is that correct.

 

[yankytrash]

Yes kid, to "answer" your questions, most any semi autoloader single action works like that, in either case you ask about. Although, through proper maintenance of the firearm and use of decent known ammo, occurances in either case are just as rare as blowing the top strap off a well maintained revolver shooting decent known ammo.

 

[Nightcrawler]

Double action only handguns, like the Beretta 92G and others, have what is known as "second strike" capability. In the event of a hard primer, or if the round doesn't fire for whatever reason, you can pull the trigger again and see if it'll fire the second time. Sometimes this works with hard primers.

Still, the odds of this coming in handy are fairly small.

 

[Morgan]

From Kahr:

 

[WonderNine]

How does a striker-fired gun work, exactly?

Not as well as a hammer-fired gun.

 

[chevrofreak]

there are a few stiker fired handguns that have second strike capability. the FN Forty-Nine being one of them. This also gives the gun a much heavier trigger pull, at about 11 pounds.

on a glock, if it doesnt fire, retract the slide about 1/2" and release it, and the striker is once again in its half cock position

 

[kidcoltoutlaw]

a hard primer is rare but i ran into a bunch of winchester one time.my p229 has a trigger job by EGW it's so slick they should call it something else.no trouble going from the first shot double action to the second shot single action.i had a action job done on a redhawk and started using fed. primers for everything so i don't know if it will work with cci or not .it being the redhawk or the p229 .