marine6680 said:
A hammer fired action has the energy of the spring that is eventually transfered through the action into the primer... First acts upon another part that is not the firing pin. The spring provides power to a part, which then impacts the firing pin, forcing it into the primer.
How the spring is tensioned is not important to define if it is a hammer fired action.
They terms you using are valid descriptions of how particular weapons tension the springs powering the striker or hammer (be they a Luger or Glock, or a semi-auto such as a S&W 3rd Gen or Kel-Tec Semi-auto). But that process has little to do with the standard definitions of single or double or DA/SA weapons.
The standard definitions have always addressed the function of the trigger and not springs powering the hammer or striker.
You could argue that the traditional definitions are no longer valid, and I'd agree. That's why some folks are now calling the Glock-like actions Modified Double Action -- but that term is not widely accepted.
The following (inserted below) is from Wikipedia (although you'll find similar explanations and descriptions elsewhere and there is no mention of how the springs are charged or tensioned. The fulll topic is here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trigger_%28firearms%29 The "action" descriptions address the action performed by the trigger.[/U] The
underlining and
bolding below are mine.
Single-action
A single-action (SA) trigger performs the single action of releasing the hammer or striker to discharge the firearm each time the trigger is pulled. [/U] Almost all rifles and shotguns use this type of trigger. Single-action revolvers such as the Colt Dragoon Revolver require the hammer to be cocked by hand every time the weapon is fired. Single-action semi-automatic pistols, such as the M1911, Springfield Armory XD and the Browning Hi-Power, require that the hammer or striker be cocked before the first round can be fired, although most designs cock the hammer or striker as part of the loading process (e.g., the act of inserting the magazine and operating the slide mechanism to chamber the first round also cocks the hammer or striker into the ready-to-fire position). Once the first round is fired, the automatic movement (recoil) of the slide cocks the hammer or striker for each subsequent shot. The pistol, once cocked, can be fired by pulling the trigger once for each shot until the magazine is empty.
Double-action only
A double-action, also known as double-action only (DAO) to prevent confusion with DA/SA designs, is similar to a DA revolver trigger mechanism. The trigger both cocks and releases the hammer or striker. However, there is no single-action function. A good example of this action is the SIG Sauer DAK trigger, or the DAO action of the Sig P250. For semi-automatic pistols with a traditional hammer (that employ only the double-action function of the trigger), the hammer will return to its decocked position after each shot. Subsequent shots require the double-action trigger firing sequence. For striker-fired pistols such as the Taurus 24/7, the striker will remain in the rest position through the entire reloading cycle. This term applies mostly to semi-automatic handguns; however, the term can also apply to some revolvers such as the Smith & Wesson Centennial, the Type 26 Revolver, and the Enfield No. 2 Mk I revolvers, in which there is no external hammer spur.
In both descriptions, the "action" addressed is the
TRIGGER's action. The Glock, M&P and other similar striker-fired guns, if you use the definitions above, aren't truly single-action nor double-action, but a hybrid of both. If you dry-fire a Glock, you can only pull that trigger once until the slide is moved a bit. That's not a double-action trigger.
Some striker-fired guns are single action, some are double-action only, and a few or that new, not-properly-defined hybrid.
I'd argue that most of the striker-fired guns are functionally much closer to being SINGLE ACTION weapons than DOUBLE ACTION (
if only because they cannot and do not act as true DAO weapons), but SA seems to be a scary term for some folks, and the gun maker want to sell guns using terms that are less intimidating.
.
