Questions re: "action"

[Felonious Monk]

Okay.
I get the general drift of the elementary understanding of this:
On a revo, if you pull the trigger and it cocks the hammer and fires, it's double action.
If you manually pull back the hammer and fire, it's single action.

There are some other things clouding the water with semi-auto's, though.

Lots of Cowboy action shooting, old-timey revolvers are S/A. No sweat.

A 'KP97DAO' is Double Action Only; I can get my arms around that one mentally.


--what the heck is a Decocker? (sounds like something I want to stay AWAY from, a la Lorena Bobbitt! )

--Some semiautos are D/A first shot, S/A thereafter...
This SOUNDS like a GOOD thing from a safety standpoint. Is this true? Desirable? What guns employ this system?

--Some semis are S/A, then D/A...I think... WHY would you want that?

--Besides the squeeze cockers, what ELSE is there?

Sorry to have to request the Remedial class.

 

[BigG]

The DA first, SA later automatics with a decocker - the decocker lets the hammer down from the SA position if you choose not to fire. Walther P38 works like this.

 

[Delmar]

Glocks have what is known as a "safe action", where the action is partially cocked upon chambering a round, and fully cocked when you press the trigger. I really can't call it a safe action after teething on a 1911, but there are those who like them.

A decocker is nothing more than a lever which allows the hammer to snap back to its rest position without firing the chambered round.

Don't think I have ever heard of one firing single action on the first shot, then double action for succeeding rounds. Double action first shot and then single action for the rest of the magazine, sure. Examples would be a lot of S&W's, Berettas, Sigs, but also understand all of the above can come DAO. Easy way to tell by looking is the lack of manual safeties on the DAO.

 

[yzguy]

DA/SA (like some S&W's) usually have the decocker. This is so you can chamber a round (cocking the hammer) then safely let the hammer fall without firing a round. Now the hammer is down. Some carry in this state, one it the pipe no safety on, just pull the trigger (double action). Then every follow up shot is single action. Or you could leave it cocked and put the saftey on (if it has one) and be single action every shot.