Optimizing defensive weapon selection under specific constraints.
- Send email to Oleg Volk.
-
Recent Posts
Recent Comments
- Boris on If a knight was like a tank…
- Oleg Volk on If a knight was like a tank…
- Larry Arnold on If a knight was like a tank…
- Boris on If a knight was like a tank…
- Matt G on A moody day.
Archives
- September 2024
- August 2024
- July 2024
- June 2024
- May 2024
- April 2024
- March 2024
- January 2024
- December 2023
- April 2023
- November 2022
- June 2022
- May 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- January 2022
- December 2021
- November 2021
- October 2021
- June 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- October 2019
- September 2019
- August 2019
- May 2019
- April 2019
- March 2019
- February 2019
- January 2019
- December 2018
- November 2018
- October 2018
- September 2018
- August 2018
- July 2018
- June 2018
- May 2018
- April 2018
- March 2018
- February 2018
- January 2018
- December 2017
- November 2017
- October 2017
- September 2017
- August 2017
- July 2017
- June 2017
- May 2017
- April 2017
- March 2017
- February 2017
- January 2017
- December 2016
- November 2016
- October 2016
- September 2016
- August 2016
- July 2016
- June 2016
- May 2016
- April 2016
- March 2016
- February 2016
- January 2016
- December 2015
- November 2015
- October 2015
- September 2015
- August 2015
- July 2015
- June 2015
- May 2015
- April 2015
- March 2015
- February 2015
- January 2015
- December 2014
- November 2014
- October 2014
- September 2014
- August 2014
- July 2014
- June 2014
- May 2014
- April 2014
- March 2014
- February 2014
- January 2014
- December 2013
- November 2013
- October 2013
- September 2013
- August 2013
- July 2013
- June 2013
- May 2013
- April 2013
- March 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
- December 2012
- November 2012
- October 2012
- September 2012
- August 2012
- July 2012
- June 2012
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- 0
Categories
- advice requested
- ammunition
- armor
- art
- author
- beast
- book
- camera and lens
- cat
- civil rights
- computing
- craft
- dangerous
- economics
- flowers
- food
- green
- holster
- hoster
- humor
- hunting
- interesting people
- knife
- light/laser
- nature
- nude
- pet
- pink
- pistol
- portrait
- prey
- red
- rifle
- rkba
- self-defense
- shotgun
- sound suppressor
- tools
- training
- travel
- Uncategorized
- weapon
- wordpress
Meta
This harkens back to the old saw, “give the little lady a 38 snubbie”, but you make the best case for it that I’ve seen.
S&W, I find, doesn’t offer one with a hammer spur, visible sights and a laser grip. You can get any two, but not all three.
The DAO I have works for me, but several women I’ve had try it were almost totally unable to cycle the trigger using all their might.
A young lady I recently took shooting was totally unable to rack the slide on a 9mm automatic which has a rather mild recoil spring. She’s interested in self defense, but a DAO 38 and an easy-to-rack 9 mm are both out of the cards.
At some point there comes the question; is he or she committed enough to self defense that he or she is willing to do the minimum practice and exercise necessary to make it feasible?
Tam makes the case that a full sized 380 auto has a lighter recoil spring and would be suitable for people with weak hands. But then there’s that carry size issue. So there’s that need to buck up at some stage, on some issue, stop making excuses and make the necessary accommodations.
Does anyone have any firsthand experience with shooters who can’t operate a conventional DAO trying the Ruger LCR trigger?
There was a time when “Conventional DA” or simply “DA” meant double/single, meaning you could thumb cock it or trigger cock it, and “DAO” meant DAO. In these enlightened times though, hardly anyone remembers. I’ll allow for the possibility that there is such a thing as a “conventional DAO”, being different from both a DAO and a conventional DA, but I’d need it explained to me.
Meanwhile all the poor beginners are asking; “What the what and who the how? (as we can’t figure out what to call those things we all know well) You mean it doesn’t go bang when you pull the trigger, or it does, or whatits? This is all too much…”
So yeah; I know what people are saying, sure (usually) (I think), but without sticking to the standard terms, no one else knows crap about what we’re saying and they’ll get confused and walk away. And if they’re disgusted with us then we deserve their disgust.
SO OK, CLASS, how many experienced shooters can properly define;
Single Action
Double Action
Conventional Double Action
Double Action Only
…as pertaining to both revolvers and semi automatics, in such a way as a newbie will easily understand the differences, and without starting an argument? I bet none, mostly because of the understanding and the argument clauses in the question. I’ve read well-known gun writers who couldn’t do it, at least partly because there’s been some disagreement in the past about what should be called what and why and partly because of inattentiveness while reading other peoples’ works.
I don’t mean to distract from JHat’s question because it’s a good question and needs answering. But jeeze.
Single Action- The trigger performs only one action: releasing the hammer to fire the cartridge, so the hammer must be cocked before the firearm will operate. In a semi-auto pistol, the slide cocks the hammer after the first shots, so all subsequent shots are SA without any need to cock the hammer manually. A revolver behaves the same for all shots, whether they are the first or subsequent.
Double Action (aka DA/SA)- The trigger performs two actions: it both cocks the hammer, and then releases it. Alternately, the hammer may be manually cocked, but this is not required. In a semi-auto pistol, the slide cocks the hammer after the first shots, so all subsequent shots are SA. A revolver behaves the same for all shots, whether they are the first or subsequent.
Double Action Only- The same as DA, but manually cocking the hammer (or striker) is impossible, and it does not stay cocked after the first shot, so all shots are DA. This could also be called “conventional DAO” to differentiate it from systems which half-cock the striker between shots, as in Glocks.
That’s roughly how I’d describe them to a newbie class. But I tend to include gestures and such, as well.
The bit about complex manual of arms etc. strikes a chord. I own two SA/DA revolvers (one S&W 66 .357, one Orbea Hermanos .38). The former was the carry weapon of my late sister in law, all 100 pounds 5’0″ of her. And I own two Boberg DAO pistols.
The nice thing about all of these is ease of operation. The revolvers most of all — no slide to rack. DA operation is pretty decent. And the S&W has good sights; I assume you can put laser grips on it, so that satisfies the “three requirements” Lyle mentioned.
I looked at the manuals for the 1911 and the Ruger Mark n .22 pistols. Both leave me wondering about all that complexity. External safeties, carry with hammer cocked and safety on, strange sequences of steps for various operations… I can imagine dealing with that; I can’t imagine trying to explain to my wife about all that stuff. Why is it necessary to stray so far from “pull the trigger and it goes bang?”
“We have an inveterate dislike of the profusion of safety devices with which all automatic pistols are regularly equipped. We believe them to be the cause of more accidents than anything else. There are too many instances on record of men being shot by accident either because the safety-catch was in the firing position when it ought not to have been or because it was in the safe position when that was the last thing to be desired. It is better, we think, to make the pistol permanently “unsafe” and then to devise such methods of handling it that there will be no accidents.”
– Captain William Ewart Fairbairn and Captain Eric Anthony Sykes