Anyone else prefer DAO pistols?

[otis24]

It has taken me a long time to get there, but I think (after many years of trading/buying/selling) I’ve settled on my two “perfect for me” carry pistols. A Glock 42 for pocket/church carry and a S&W 3953 9mm for primary carry.

I like the safety of a very deliberate double action pull. Much like firing a double action revolver. I do not find the double action pull of the 3953 to be stiff or difficult. In fact it is very smooth and the pistol is very shootable.

Does anyone else prefer a Double Action Only pistol for concealed carry? I’m wondering why more law enforcement agencies didn’t require a DAO pistol for safety reasons.

 

[DesertFox]

S&W 3rd Gen DAO were completely off my radar in spite of their rather good trigger performance. Wish I wouldn't have ignored them over the years.

Especially since the prices do not seem to have gone anywhere but up.

 

[malph]

I enjoy the DAO Smith semi-autos.

The trigger pulls are generally good. They are sort of like flatter, higher capacity revolvers.

As I like shooting Smith DA revolvers, I took to the Smith DAO semi-autos like a duck to water.

 

[pantannojack]

I would prefer a DAO to a striker fired with no thumb safety

 

[Sevens]

I believe the S&W 3rd Gen DAO's were ground breaking for the time but I never myself warmed up to them. There were two struggles that I certainly could have trained through but I didn't care to since I had what I felt were better options. The first problem I had was trigger reset, the S&W had a tendency to give a tactile half reset click and I disliked that greatly. -YES- you can train this out and teach yourself to let that trigger swing fully forward and ignore what you feel but again, I didn't care to. This wasn't a deal breaker but it was a complaint that I had.

The other problem I found quickly is that the slide mount decock lever on S&W 1-2-3rd Gens that anti-S&W 1-2-3rd Gen people hate so much is an item that I absolutely LOVE because it works for me like a grab handle on the slide and I never lose purchase on the slide because the big gangly decock lever is there and my hand expects it after decades of loving and using S&W DA 1-2-3rd Gens and of course... the DAO Smith & Wesson pistols have no lever up there whatsoever and I found the slide too smooth, especially when I was flinging lube on the range with a wet pistol and that annoyed me also.

Huge, long time dedicated S&W 1-2-3rd Gen guy here and I have a safe full of these pistols but no, I just never cared for the DAO 3rd Gens, even though I thought they were a fine design that kind of set the standard for DAO moving forward.

As a side note, I believe it is improper and technically wrong to try and define a striker fired pistol such as a Glock as a DAO. I understand what the shooting experience is like of course, I have some Tupperware, carried a Glock and now a Walther PPQ but DAO guns exist in their own category and striker fired pistols are different.

Kahr makes an extremely smooth and nice DAO system but the shape of the inside of the trigger guard smacks the hell out of my trigger finger in a very strange way that I don't like at all so as much as I like the Kahr design, I don't care to shoot them.

 

[mckenney99]

When our agency transitioned from DA/SA revolvers to semi-autos the decision was made to go to DAO only pistols. Our first was the Beretta 96D and at least mine had a very smooth and fairly light, but long trigger pull. With my younger eyes, even with the DAO, it was no real challenge to ace the 25 yard, 1/2 half silhouette (hostage taker target) phase of our qualification course.

Due to some issues with some of the Beretta's and a loss of confidence in the guns a very extensive testing protocol was instituted to find the next generation issue weapon and the Sig P226 DAO (not DAK) won out by a huge margin. The Sig's trigger pull was shorter but felt heavier than my previous Beretta but I still had no problems with the 25 yard portion of our qualifications.

To me, having the same trigger pull for every shot made a lot of sense for LE and the DAO helped guard against unintended discharges while handling and putting hands on suspects after critical incident situations. There was no need to "decock" after firing and prior to holstering or getting into close proximity of suspects. If the DAO is set up properly and you put in sufficient proper practice, they can be very effective for personal defense.

I typically would not use a hammer fired DAO system for one of the Action Shooting sports, but that is not what they are designed for.

 

[haywood]

I prefer DAO

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

My father-in-law was adamant about shooting revolvers DAO! His personal backup is a first Day model 60, with a factory spur-less hammer! A feature that was years ahead of public availability.

My EDC is a 49 no dash. I DAO all shots except for the occasional 35 yard must shoot the skunk in the face shot!

Ivan

 

[SnidelyWhiplash]

I was issued a S&W 4046 when a LEO. I referred to it as the “Boat Anchor Model” and wasn’t the only officer to feel that way…many others did.

 

[otis24]

I was issued a S&W 4046 when a LEO. I referred to it as the “Boat Anchor Model” and wasn’t the only officer to feel that way…many others did.

I’m guessing that their full size models could be quite heavy. My affinity is for the compact models.

 

[SmithNut]

I was issued a S&W 4046 when a LEO. I referred to it as the “Boat Anchor Model” and wasn’t the only officer to feel that way…many others did.

That would be true for the TDA models as well.....

 

[ImprovedModel56Fan]

Does anyone else prefer a Double Action Only pistol for concealed carry? I’m wondering why more law enforcement agencies didn’t require a DAO pistol for safety reasons.

I do, but I prefer pistols with a revolving cluster of five or six chambers. In the last dying days of revolvers in LE use, quite a few departments DID require DAO for safety reasons. Not sure what the percentage was, but I suppose if it wasn't 100%, you could always ask why not more.

 

[robvious]

I grew up shooting my father's S&W revolvers & SAO Colts and BHP.. so when DAO came around it was just like revolvers to me... so I have Kahr & Sig DAO.. the SIG P250 is my square revolver...

 

[otis24]

I do, but I prefer pistols with a revolving cluster of five or six chambers. In the last dying days of revolvers in LE use, quite a few departments DID require DAO for safety reasons. Not sure what the percentage was, but I suppose if it wasn't 100%, you could always ask why not more.

It would seem that for law enforcement agencies transitioning from revolver to auto, or those that required a revolver to be DAO, a DAO pistol would be a no brainer. You get the safety of double action with the increased capacity of a magazine fed auto.

 

[4MUL8R]

Prefer HK LEM trigger system as a DAO equivalent.

 

[malph]

Prefer HK LEM trigger system as a DAO equivalent.

I can see that. Especially with the lite PHLEM implementation.

The Smith DAO system predates HK's system by many years though.

 

[sodacan]

I shoot revolvers almost exclusively in DA mode, but I really like DA/SA semi-auto pistols with hammers because the single action is really easy to master. I don't own any striker-fired or plastic DA only pistols. Just not my taste. The one interesting pistol I have is a Browning BDM which will fire in DA only mode or as a traditional DA/SA pistol by turning a switch. In the left side photo, notice the round switch in front of the slide serrations. The "P" denotes the pistol mode, and the "R" denotes the revolver mode. I rarely shoot it DAO, and while the concept is interesting, it never made any sense to me. Even the FBI rejected it.

 

[SnidelyWhiplash]

It would seem that for law enforcement agencies transitioning from revolver to auto, or those that required a revolver to be DAO, a DAO pistol would be a no brainer. You get the safety of double action with the increased capacity of a magazine fed auto.

My last training session at FLETC a group of us asked the agency instructor assigned there why they adopted the 4046 since no one really liked it. He said he was tired of hearing the complaints but admitted the pistol was chosen because it was felt there was less chance of an AD with the DAO pistol. My reply was that if was more difficult to have an accidental discharge it was just as hard to have an intentional discharge.

To be honest…I preferred my issued revolver over the DAO.

 

[Ranger514]

Like many others, I enjoy the entire spectrum. My defensive revolver experience was DAO based LE training dating back into the '80s. In the '90s, my agency transitioned to DA/SA semiauto Sigs with few issues. Nowadays, I often carry a mod. 60 or SP101, but I also carry several different Sig P series semiautos, including 1911 models.

 

[URIT]

My primary carry gun is a S&W Model 3953. It is a retired Newark PD firearm #188. I bought it from a member who bought it from a member.

I didn't buy a semi-automatic until long after I retired. I liked revolvers and carried a model 15 for 9 years; then, a model 19 for over 24 years.

I like the DAO trigger on the 3953 and on my 4053. These single stack pistols fit my medium sized hands better than most of the TDA options I have in my gun safe. Both models are tack drivers for me.

I carry them IWB just in front of my hip bone in a Don Hume H715-M. The guns just seems to disappear even when wearing a t-shirt and cargo shorts.