semi auto rifle with hammer? sa/da ?

[hipoint]

Today while playing with my new to me marlin 30-30 I was wondering if anyone ever made a semi-auto rifle with a hammer? I have owned nice semi auto rifles and have eventually sold them all (aside from the mandatory .22). The reason is I never personally felt comfortable carrying a "cocked and locked" weapon through our dense woods. With the little marlin all it takes is a hammer cock, and with my bolt guns I just leave the bolt up, quick flip with the thumb and it's ready to roll.

I think it would be pretty cool to have a rifle like that, semi auto with sa/da action. Like a ruger P series pistol (and many other handguns).

That way a quick flip of the hammer and then you're semi-auto. I haven't heard of anything like that, I'd bet someone has made one at some point. I can see some serious issues with a system like that though, bolt coming back and going through your peepers is just one, but that doesn't mean I don't think it would be neat.

I don't wish to start a discussion about "this is stupid" or "use a safety", plain fact is I don't trust safety's, I trust a hammer being down or an action being open. As well as I'm just curious if one was ever made. Couldn't really find anything through google, but my google skills can be somewhat lacking at times...

 

[TonyDedo]

All guns have a hammer, you want a gun with an exposed hammer.

I've never seen a semi auto rifle with an exposed hammer, but you may be able to turn a SA/DA pistol into a carbine. I've seen kits like that for SIGs and the 92FS.

 

[firesky101]

Not all guns with a hammer are drop safe with the hammer down. If there is no transfer bar type safety then a cocked hammer with safety on is far safer. Every long gun w/ hammer i know of is single action, non-repeater. The exception (in current production) is the circuit judge. Not a semi, but a double action trigger/ revolving cylinder gets you close. That is basically a carbine made from a handgun though so tony is on to something there.

 

[Carl N. Brown]

Most semi-auto rifles and carbines have an internal hammer (M1 Carbine, M1 Garand, AK47, AR15, etc.) but there are examples or two of a hammerless striker-fired action (the semi-auto TM1 Thompson carbines, for example).

Does this count as a semi-auto carbine with a hammer?

The hammer and bolt can be hazardous to the thumb, so right thumb goes along the right side of the frame if firing as a carbine.

 

[hipoint]

well, not exactly what I had in mind, I've seen a few of those before anyhow.

I had a circuit judge, lets not speak of that again ;-)

I was just daydreaming about something similar to a levergun but in semi-auto. I bet someone made one at some point in history, although it may have sent a bolt through their head and that's why I never heard of it...

 

[navajo]

semi

There was the Webly-Foresby revolver the cocked it self. But thats not a rifle either.

 

[jmorris]

Before semiautos existed as we know them today, they lever and bolt actions were used as the base gun/concept for semiautos.

 

[jmorris]

As you can see in the second photo above, the primary reason its a bad idea is that you have a large hunk of metal that has to travel rearward to cock the action and load/unload the chamber. The shield was to ensure the user didn't get caught up in the action. So 100 years later and they just build that feature in from inital design.

 

[hipoint]

wow! that's awesome, thank you for the time it took you to post that stuff!

I figured someone somewhere had done something like that. That first one looks a little fragile, I could imagine "that dog would bite ya" to, hehe.

I really enjoy learning about history and antique firearms, and this site is a wonderful resource for that.

 

[Mobuck]

At one time there was a shotgun trigger setup that mimiced the DAO trigger pull of the issue handgun so that the relatively unskilled cops were less likely to have ND with their issue shotguns. I don't think it was a real DA trigger action- just a long travel against a heavy spring.