I have a couple of 1st and 3rd gen 39s and 59s that all seem to share a common feature with their triggers.
If I do not fully release the trigger after firing a shot it would appear that there is an intermediate reset that will, if the trigger is pulled again, only cock the hammer about half way and with out sufficient force to fire another shot. It's as if something is worn and not fully engaging. Is this normal with the way these guns are engineered, guns are a mixture of lightly used and well used.

I've heard mention of a "half cock" but am not familiar with this, maybe someone would be kind enough to explain.

Cheers
Robert

Not trying to be rude but what your experiencing is "operator malfunction". As you said you do not fully release the trigger and therefore not allowing the trigger to reset.

As for half cock that's something total different. Basically its a final fail safe to prevent 1 of 2 things from happening.

1. If the shooter wants to thumb cock the weapon and the hammer slips then the half cock notch will catch the hammer and prevent it from firing. If the hammer is not back far enough to catch the half cock notch the weapon should not fire if the hammer slips because the hammer is not back far enough to have enough spring tension to fire.

2. Prevent the weapon from firing due to some sort of mechanical failure. This is normally some sort of extreme wear conditions.
An example would be the hammer and sear is worn to the point when the weapon is loaded and the slide released the shock causes the hammer to fall without pressing the trigger. The hammer should catch at the half cock notch and prevent the weapon from firing.

Thanks for the explanation. Truth be known,it's not an issue when firing any of them. I only noticed it occurring after a disassembly and deep cleaning of a well used 5906 that I bought and initially thought it was worn beyond limits but then I discovered all my 39 and 59 series guns will do it.
Thanks again.
Robert