Silly Decocker Q

[GunLvrNLearner]

This is a silly question but why is it when a decocker is used to drop the hammer a gun doesnt fire?,it seems a dropped hammer would fire regardless of what caused the hammer to drop

 

[Loomis]

Because a decocker is also a safety lever. If you have the safety on, then drop the hammer, no bang bang. Right? Most guns with a decocker lever have that lever doing two different things...safety on-off lever, and decocker lever.
A few are labeled as "decocker only", and this means the decocker is not capable of functioning as a safety.

Take a gun apart and look the internals over with your own eyes. You will see.

 

[GunLvrNLearner]

Thanks,Loomis you are a wise man,Everytime i see your name i think of those Halloween movies which i love

 

[floydster]

I have a CZ 75 D PCR decocker as my carry gun, the only way to go, as safe as can be.
Floydster

 

[markallen]

Since every manufacturer is different, here is one way how it works.
The firing pin is inertia driven. It is shorter than it's " hole". It will stick out behind the slide, but the pin doesn't show in the chamber. When the hammer falls during regular shooting, the firing pin is driven beyond the slide, enters the chamber, strikes the primer on the cartridge and rebounds into the slide for the next shot.
The firing pin has a groove, or notch ground out of one side of it. The is a corresponding lever on the decocker that fits into this groove. When the decocker is applied this lever catches the firing pin, and moves it forward into the slide. It moves it far enough that the hammer then falls on the rear of the slide, without contact with the pin, and holds it there, but not enough forward to contact the cartridge primer.

 

[j1979]

On my CZ SP01 the hammer goes to a half cock position when you use the decocker

 

[Josh Aston]

On the Beretta 92 series (and probably some other guns with slide mounted decockers) the hammer never comes in contact with the firing pin. The decocker has a striker in it. When you rotate the decocker it rotates the striker out of position as well. When the decocker is down the striker can't come into contact with either the firing pin or the hammer. When the decocker is up, the striker is in line so that the hammer hits it and it hits the firing pin.

 

[Steve C]

Many different ways to prevent the gun from firing. Walther P38s lock the firing pin to prevent it from firing. Ruger P series, Makarovs, Walther PP and PPK's, rotate a block up that stops the hammer before hitting the firing pin. As mentioned, the Beretta rotates the transfer pin so the hammer never strikes it. Sigs lock the firing pin and drop the hammer to a less than full position and then drops it lightly the rest of the way to a rebounded blocked position when the lever is released.

Of the systems the Walther P1/P38's are the oldest design and with wear dropping the hammer with its decock can result in a discharge. I personally am in the habit of lowering the hammer slowly with my thumb even when using the decocking feature on most pistols except the Sig's. It may not be necessary but there really are no drawback to doing so.

 

[bwavec]

The HK USP series decocks to an about 1/4 cock position (the hammer never drops all the way down). Similar to what was described in the above post.

 

[Loomis]

huh? What halloween movies?

 

[TX1911fan]

Just keep in mind, all safeties can fail, so point the gun in a safe direction when using the decocker, just in case.

 

[The Lone Haranguer]

A frame-mounted decocker will always (if the gun is functioning properly) drop the hammer to a position where it cannot contact the firing pin. For example, SIG-Sauer pistols use what they call an "intercept notch" (just before it hits the fully forward position), and CZ drops the hammer to a sort of "one-third-cock" position. They will also usually drop the hammer in a more slow and controlled manner. On my CZ, sweeping the decocker down starts the hammer on the downward stroke, releasing the lever completes it, and the hammer drops slowly to the aforementioned position.

Slide-mounted safeties/decockers (e.g., "old-school" S&W metal-frames, Beretta) work differently. Although the hammer drops quite fast, there is a barrier between it and the firing pin, so again it cannot strike the firing pin. Again, this is if the gun is in good working order. (Early production Ruger P85s, which used this system, were recalled for firing when decocked.) You should always point the gun in a safe direction (and/or at something you don't care if you put a hole in) when decocking any pistol.