Little Tom pistol--DAO?

[Loosedhorse]

I have two sources that claim the Wiener Waffenfabrik "Little Tom" pistol (c. 1920) was "double action only." However, it clearly has an external hammer that can be thumb cocked. I think that, since the trigger does not move to a "single-action" position when the hammer is cocked, the DAO label was applied in error.

Does anyone know for sure if the Little Tom's hammer is cocked by slide cycling?

Thanks.

 

[Ron James]

The Standard Catalog of Firearms reads " the first production double action automatic ". So unless the definition has been changed, then it should be the same as any double action automatic. The first shot by a long trigger pull and follow up shots made with the hammer in the cocked position. If the hammer cocks back then I would say that was the case.

 

[Loosedhorse]

unless the definition has been changed

It has. Double action used to mean "two modes of trigger action," as in trigger-cocking and thumb-cocking the hammer. Now, of course, it means "the trigger does two things" (even though, on a revolver, it does three or four things--cock hammer, rotate the cylinder, maybe move a safety or transfer bar, and drop the hammer--and many semi-auto triggers do three things).

If we still used the old definition of double action, then "double action only" would make no sense.

By the way, the Mannlicher 1894 pistol was, I believe, the first semi-auto pistol with a double-action trigger, but the cycling of the action did not cock the hammer. We all know the Walther PP has the "standard" DA trigger (hammer cocking with trigger for the first shot, and slide-cycling cocking the hammer for subsequent shots). I've never handled the earlier Little Tom, though.

I've found two sources that say the Little Tom is DAO, but I think they're wrong.