Is "double action only" correct?

[Handy]

Okay, you win.

Now, what good does labeling everything "DA" do for you? It's not an important mechanical definition, since the inside of a DA Glock and SA Steyr are nearly identical. It also isn't instructive for operation or trigger style.

So what are we to do with this useful term?

 

[Handy]

JC2,

Oh yeah, forgot an important question.

Since you are defining "cocked" by the compression of the mainspring, what do you do with weapons that have a cocked mainspring and a relaxed hammer or striker? The mainspring is cocked, but has no energy to deliver since the hammer is down.

I'm not making this up. It's how the FN designed Fast Fire trigger in the Daewoo works. The hammer is at rest, the mainspring cocked, and the trigger set to a long, light "DA" pull. Once the hammer comes full back the mainspring and hammer are released together.

By you're definition, this gun is SA.

 

[Tamara]

There was a time when these terms meant something, but these days there are a lot of guns that are neither fish nor fowl.

I was talking with a friend and my gunsmith at the shop once, and we were discussing DA autopistol triggers (specifically I was opining that the DAO Beretta may have the sweetest) when this guy walks up and says "What about the Para LDA? It's a lot lighter." We all just kinda looked at him for a second, and tried to point out that we meant "true double action", so comparing a Beretta that trigger-cocks the mainspring with an LDA that cocks it with the slide just like a regular 1911 is kinda apples and oranges.

Well, actually, triggers were once just apples and oranges, now there're bananas and pomegranates, and peaches and...

So I've officially given up. I'm finally comfortable with describing some newer trigger mechanisms as "sorta DA" or "pretty much Single Action-like" and not losing any sleep over it.

 

[Shawn Dodson]

Shawn, would you then say a DA revolver and DA Sig are the same thing?

Hmmm..., let's see...

DA Revolver

DA Automatic

Seems to me the term "DA" accurately describes both.