At one of the online re-sellers there are a number of K 38's listed for sale with this in the description. I understand this is made for target shooting, but don't some of the competitions need the DA function?

Seems odd to me, but then I'm not a competition shooter. I am a pretty good shot with a handgun but I've never been driven to that particular mad corner of our sport! I respect the folks that do it and understand the time and dedication required.

Just curious. Y'all have some explanations?

No, NRA Precision - bullseye - does not have a double action phase.

That said, I don't know what improvement the single action gives. My regular Smiths have impeccable single action triggers.

Removing the DA sear will reduce the weight of the hammer by a few grams, possibly reducing lock time as well, but I doubt that it would really make a practical difference.

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Richard

I have a 6" Nickel 19-3 with target hammer & trigger and it is wonderful either single or double action. Single action is around 2 pounds and crisp. Double action is very good as well.

It just made me go, hmmm.

EDIT: I have a 14-2 on the way. Picked it up for $650. Has rubber grips and I have already bought the target grips for it.

S&W revolvers have two different sears in the function of the gun! A double action sear and a single action sear which require different interaction between the trigger and the hammer! Slow fire target shooting, usually done with one hand holds, offers a long time to fire the required rounds. This type of shooting offers the use of SA firing which is best for a precise shot because of the trigger pull length! Many shooters tune their guns to a very light trigger pull. With S&W's two sears it is easy for the shooter to remove the DA sear making the gun SA only. When the gun is made SA only it is impossible to have a DA accidental firing! Keep your finger off the trigger until you have your sight pattern acquired and ready to fire! When this type of shooting was popular S&W made a "Single Action Trigger Kit" for the model 14. In this kit the hammer was not cut for the DA sear. S&W also sold SA only model 14s.

jcelect

This is the minutia I want to know!! Thanks

This question comes up surprisingly often, and I'm going to guess the OP is asking about K38's for sale listed as single action only (SAO). In the majority of these the double action was not "deactivated". S&W sold guns from the factory in SAO configuration, and also sold the hammer/sear assembly seperately. As far as I know the only way to know if one came directly with that option is with a letter, or the original box.

For bullseye shooting this made the hammer throw slightly shorter, and it was easier to cock, both important in a long day of precision competition. It doesn't sound like much until you try it. :-)

There are a lot of past threads on this, and I'm sure there are better descritions than what I've been able to recall today.

I loooooove mine.

I cannot explain that in correct English, so..... I'll copy&paste what Ralph Tremaine stated in previous threads like this one: Factory single action kit

In particular, post #9

I hope rct269 will not be offended by my copying

While never a bullseye shooter, I do recall that
the S&W SAO Model 14s were designed to better
compete against the Colt Officer's Model.

Using one hand only and cocking, the Colt was much,
much easier with its "V" mainspring all the while not
disturbing the grip or sight picture in any way.

The traditional DA/SA S&W with its flat mainspring was
much harder to cock single-handed and not disturb
the grip and sight picture.

At the time the Colt model was king in the bullseye game.
But it's DA was never that great compared to the one on
a S&W but that didn't matter as it was not needed.

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Ubi Est Mea