What do you prefer? DA/SA SAO DAO for a CCW and why?

[Marcus L.]

Some people don't view it as a safety feature. I carried a DA Beretta 96FS on police patrol and I carried with the manual safety engaged to extend the time a potential gungrabber needed to figure out how to get the gun running.

I will say that such a feature could come in handy. I knew of a K9 officer who had his weapon taken from him and the perp pulled the trigger several times trying to kill the officer but the safety was engaged. The officer pulled out his backup pistol and killed the scumbag. However, the officer was using a level I holster and foolishly wrestled with the perp with poor weapon retention techniques. His backup pistol was also not secured very well. The officer also decided to do a "tombstone" and go after a group of 4 gangbangers by himself. Very poor judgement all around.

A good triple retention holster would be a better option in my opinion. Quite a few perps know their guns and will likely figure out how to get the pistol running versus figuring out how to get the pistol out of a good level III holster. You're practically never going to find non-cops that know how to use a good level III holster and will fumble much more with that than more well known safety features on a pistol.

 

[Don357]

I carry either a SA/DA or a DAO depending on what I'm wearing, but my preference is the SA/DA. It gives a quick DA first shot then SA follow up shots. My SA/DA is a Witness P Compact .45 which has a "half-cock" that makes the first shot much easier. The DAO is a Kel-Tec P-11 9mm chosen for reliability and concealability instead of trigger pull.

 

[mfcmb]

I only recently took up handgunning for concealed carry and self defense. After a lot of study I decided to to go DAO; feeling that it would take me a long time and lots of practice to get good enough with all the various aspects of self defense preparedness and skills, that I wanted to make the core action as simple as consistent as possible. With a DAO I just draw and fire, and it's exactly the same experience -- first time, every time.

That being said: (1) My Kahr has a smooth but loooong pull with no particular reset point, and I understand the complaints about this aspect of DAOs, and can see that a short, crisp trigger would (when my mental faculties are attentive and clear) be a better thing for accuracy. (2) My Springfield XD trigger is very good and has a nice reset point. The times I've fired friends' SA guns the trigger action has not been better enough to make me want to jump ship.

Maybe in a few years, after all the self defense basics have become well-ingrained and old hat I'll want to move to SA guns, but for now I'm happy with my choice for concealed carry and self defense.

 

[PhiloebeddoUSA]

Chief's Special

637- Simple to operate, SA option if you want it. No safety to forget about and almost nil possibility of it jamming on you.

 

[SwampWolf]

...a hybrid compromise decocker safety combination doo-hickey...

It's called a hammer drop safety.

I think what he means is a semi-auto equipped with a lever that performs a dual function: decocking the pistol and/or placing the gun in an on/off safety position (as found on certain S&W "Third Generation" and the Beretta M9 pistols to name a few). This is not the same as a "hammer drop safety"-which prevents the pistol from firing when dropped, even if dropped squarely on the hammer.

Regarding my choice of actions for a CCW, I prefer "traditional" double action (DA/SA). I like the relatively safe carry position afforded by a longer, heavier, first shot double-action trigger pull and the increased accuracy (at least for me) afforded by subsequent shots fired with a shorter, lighter trigger pull. Transitioning from double-action to single-action and decocking a pistol that's in a cocked configuration "when the shooting's over" are problems that good training resolves.