Bye-bye DAO

[Trevor]

In the past, I have made some favorable remarks on the double-action only (DAO) Beretta pistols I own. Well, no more. After much fiddling with them, I decided that they are too difficult to shoot consisently well, so I sold them and ordered a H&K USP, which can be carried cocked and locked.

If you want a Beretta, buy the DA/SA version. The DAO mechanism is for people who like to miss.

 

[JJR]

DAO autos have their purposes but speed and precision accuracy are not among them.

I have 14 Beretta 92 variants.. two of them are DAO. Though they are not my carry guns, they fill certain niches nicely. Just a matter of perspective I suppose.

Incidentally, I am much more consistent with my DAO models. I don't shoot great groups with them, but I shoot consistent groups. No good days or bad days at the range. My skills with a single action trigger vary with how I'm feeling at the given moment. My DAO's shoot the same every time.

Enjoy your USP... it's a great gun as well.

 

[pete80]

Damn, 14 variations of Beretta 92! That's pretty cool! You must be seriously rich or seriously in debt.

 

[amalgam]

JJR,

which niches were you referring to ?

and do you think dao gives faster fist shots?

 

[SHORTFUSE]

Trevor , I agree 100%. That is why I am getting rid of my Kahr K40 DAO. Long long trigger pull , maybe an inch long. The factory said $100.00 & 2 months to install a shorter elite trigger. The hell with that , for $100.00 I should have my pistol back in 1 week or they can forget it. So its bye-bye K40! Even during dryfiring there is muzzle movement due to the never ending trigger pull. The most accurate pistol I've fired is the Kimber SA 1911. Short trigger pull equals accuracy in my book. Right now I am thinking hard about buying a Colt SA Mustang .380 for good concealment & pinpoint accuracy because of the SA. The Colt Ponys as the Kahrs have a never ending trigger pull which really affect accuracy. My friends S & W 3913 in SA mode has a ton of slack to pull to actually release the hammer. Glocks have a reasonable trigger distance , very accurate. The Glocks are so chubby that they are not practical unless you want to feel uncomfortable carrying a Glock IWB. One day I may get the courage to buy a Kimber Ultra Carry 1911 and put a
www.clipdraw.com on it!

Great topic to discuss SA versus DAO.

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I got a short temper so watch it!

 

[JJR]

amalgam,

I like DAO autos in situations where safety, ease of use and liability are concerned (the same reasons many police depts. issue them). For example, my wife and I have a DAO 92 Centurion as our bedside/night table gun. My wife's firearm skills are somewhat limited but she is very comfortable with her double action revolvers. I (obviously) am most comfortable with a Beretta. The DAO is a nice compromise... a gun we can both use with confidence. Basically it's a 16 shot Beretta revolver.

It's also a good gun for sleepy people . No safeties, decockers or awkward trigger changes to deal with at 3:00 am. Each shot is an intentional pull of the trigger. No special actions are necessary for my wife to render the weapon "safe" if (god forbid) she needed to use it.

We have a second DAO Beretta in a hidden lock-box in the kitchen. Same reason... it's a gun we both can use.

I have a custom built DA/SA 92 as my primary personal weapon, but I find the DAO models fill a nice "niche" as multi-user home defense weapons.

To answer you second question, I don't think DAO autos have any advantage as far as faster first shots. I do, however, think they can give faster (and safer) follow-up shots for less experienced users.

Just a matter of personal preference I suppose, but I think every type of firearm has it's place somewhere.

 

[4V50 Gary]

There's a very old thread on why police agencies went to DAO.

To recap, DAO was developed at the behest of LE trainers. Recall that back in the '70s and '80s, most agencies issued revolvers and officers were trained to fire DAO. It was believed that manually cocking a firearm would either lead to unintentional discharges or would get the officer killed (DA is faster). Now, fast forward to the '90s when everybody is going to pistols. The first batch of pistols were either single action 1911s or Browning HP; neither of which were really accepted by agencies because of their single action only feature. The second batch heralded the era of the Wondernines (S&W, Sig, Beretta, etc) which featured a DA/SA trigger.

Well, a lot of cops couldn't handle the transition from DA first shot to SA single shot. Training time and budgets would permit proper training and some cops just couldn't adapt. As a resolution, may instructors asked the manufacturers to build a DAO pistol which would make it easier for revovler trained cops to transition to a pistol. It worked. Scores actually increased.

Civilians don't need DAO because, being civilians, generally will take greater time and interest to master their guns than the average cop (who sees it as a tool of the trade). Not to knock cops and there are some great shots out there (Pride, Cirillo, etc) but this is my observation from years of being in the trade (yes, I'm revolver trained).

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