Help me understand the flavors of striker fired pistols

[marine6680]

In following up on this point -- using sear engagement as a way of determining action type changes the context. If positive sear engagement is a criteria, all cocked SA guns (like BHPs and 1911s) are DA, too... and that's a contradiction in terms.

Which was my point... The m&p is SA plain and simple... S&W can claim otherwise, but the striker is fully cocked, but with a little positive engagement... Which apparently they are claiming as necessary striker tensioning.

The glock needs the extra tension from the trigger pull or it will not set off the primer. Hence the assisted double action moniker.


The sig 320 is also SA... All the striker fired pistols that are praised for their triggers, are SA.

I thought I did a review on the 320... I know I did one on sig talk. I've brought up lots of technical details on it... I know my detail strip post has function details.

Either way... It's SA... So is the VP9.

[Whirlwind06]

The sig 320 is also SA... All the striker fired pistols that are praised for their triggers, are SA.

So they are 1911's or Hi-powers, just packaged differently.

Funny that no one would carry a 1911 or HP without the manual safety on, even if it was a 1911 with a firing pin block (with a grip safety also). But if we can't see the hammer, a firing pin block and maybe a tabbed trigger is okay to carry. Not saying the a M&P or XD is unsafe to carry, just musing on how we get wrapped up in the semantics.

[Cyanide971]

Originally Posted by Doyle

Great discussion so far. I'm learning something. For the practical application, which of the striker fired pistols offer true 2nd strike capability (i.e. a 2nd chance to pull the trigger and hit the same primer without having to rack the slide)?

For this discussion, let's limit it to striker fired models and not DAO models with an internal hammer (i.e. older Ruger LC9, etc.).

CZ 100 and Walther P99 DAO/S & W SW99 DAO are the only striker-fire pistols I can think of that are true DAO where the slide cycling serves but one purpose of ejecting the spent case and chambering a new round from the magazine.

[marine6680]

Funny that no one would carry a 1911 or HP without the manual safety on, even if it was a 1911 with a firing pin block (with a grip safety also). But if we can't see the hammer, a firing pin block and maybe a tabbed trigger is okay to carry.

The difference is that a 1911 has a very short trigger pull, and typically less sear engagement area.

So total trigger movement is 10% that of a typical SA striker trigger.

External hammers can also fail by being struck... Not a common thing really, but possible. The exposed hammer is why you carry a SA revolver on an empty chamber. (well an old revolver)


It is a lot of things added together that cause the difference in attitudes.

[BigMikey76]

For the practical application, which of the striker fired pistols offer true 2nd strike capability (i.e. a 2nd chance to pull the trigger and hit the same primer without having to rack the slide)?

Taurus has put that capability into their current lines of striker fired pistols. I know that the Millennium G2, the 24/7 G2 and the 709 "Slim" all have SA/DA triggers, so they are cocked and ready to fire in single action as soon as the round is chambered, but they revert to double action when a round doesn't go boom. I have to say that I like the reversal of the traditional DA/SA that you get in hammer fired pistols, where the first pull is long and heavy. Having it start in single and only go to double in the event of a firing problem is nice.

Is this valuable? It's hard to say. I've seen studies and statistics to support both sides. Some say "A dud is a dud, get rid of it." Others say, "Hard primer rounds have a high probability of firing on a second strike." I personally don't have nearly enough money to spend on the amount of ammo it would take to do my own study, so I will probably never know first hand.