I was a recent guest on the “That Weems Guy” podcast discussing the problems I’ve observed students have with traditional double action handguns. Ernest Langdon was the other guest, covering the advantages from his perspective. The full podcast episode is here

Langdon has put together a great set of instructional online programs addressing different common questions related to gun ownership and concealed carry. He mentions them in the podcast. They are available at this site https://lttdiscover.com

For those that read faster than they can listen and prefer blog posts to podcasts, here’s a summary with some background information and extended discussion.

How Does a Traditional Double Action Pistol Work?

Advocates of this design refer to it as “traditional double action” (TDA). Many also use the term Double Action/Single Action (DA/SA). The gun was designed to be carried with a round chambered, with the hammer lowered using a decocking lever that makes the gun safe to carry (or have ready for home defense). That means that the trigger pull for the first shot will perform two actions: cocking the hammer and releasing it. For follow up shots, the cycling of the slide cocks the hammer for the user, so those rounds are fired in single action mode.

Typical factory double action trigger pulls can be 10-12 pounds, but action work or installation of modified parts can lower it to 6 pounds. Some duty/carry trigger modifications lower the single action trigger to 3-4 pounds. Many TDA guns used in competition have the single action trigger lowered below 3 pounds. Generally, people shoot shorter, lighter trigger pulls better than long, heavy triggers.

I’ve been teaching the Texas License to Carry course since 1995.

https://www.krtraining.com/KRTraining/TexasCHL/CHLtest.html

The shooting qualification test has 23 separate strings, each starting from a ready position. The way this course of fire is supposed to be run is that shooters using TDA guns should decock each time the gun returns to a ready position. That means people shooting the test will have 23 double-action trigger pulls.

Informal polling of students that come to our non-LTC courses, bringing TDA guns indicates that very few trainers offering the Texas LTC course actually require TDA pistol users to decock for each string, allowing them to fire all shots using the gun in single action mode. While this undoubtedly helps those students get better scores on the test, it violates the policies our state police academy set for instructors for conduct of the class, and worse, it misleads TDA users into thinking that it is acceptable to ignore the decocker and the double action first shot design. Many of my complaints about TDA pistols originate with the users and their inability or refusal to operate this type of firearm the way it was designed.

Cons (Disadvantages)

The biggest problem is ergonomics: those with shorter fingers and less hand strength will have a difficult time reaching and pulling the longer, heavier double action trigger on most traditional double action designs. This picture shows the problem. I’m holding the M9 airsoft gun (same size as actual M9) with the frame and barrel properly aligned with my hand and arm, but the best I can do is get the side of my finger to the trigger, and my entire trigger finger is mashed up hard against the frame.

My trigger finger is 2.9″ or 74mm, which is below average for male index finger length according to this chart. The ‘average’ index finger length, from this data, would be 3.11″. To have a trigger finger long enough to get the crease even with the trigger, and make the right angle turn to get the pad of the trigger finger to the trigger face would require a finger that was probably 0.5″ longer, or 3.4″ (88 mm).

So the basic design of the M9 and most other TDA guns places the face of the double action trigger out of comfortable reach for those with average finger lengths.

Nicholls, Mike & Orr, Catherine & Yates, Mark & Loftus, Andrea. (2008). A new means of measuring index/ring finger (2D:4D) ratio and its association with gender and hand preference. Laterality. 13. 71-91. 10.1080/13576500701751287.

If you have to twist the gun in your hand so it’s recoiling into the thumb knuckle, or lay your trigger finger against the frame just to get the tip of the finger on the trigger in double action mode…the gun is too big for your hand and there are no “workarounds” for this other than getting a gun with a smaller frame and shorter trigger reach. Being able to point the pistol like an extension of your index finger is an important part of pistol shooting, particularly for those using slide mounted optics for aiming. Similarly, if you can’t press the trigger straight to the rear, parallel to the barrel, and have to press it from the side (or push the whole gun to the side because your trigger finger is pushing against the frame, it’s going to affect your ability to keep the gun aligned with the target as you fire.

My observation is that the vast majority of people who are fans of TDA guns base all their assessment on how the gun fits them in single action mode, and gun fit problems related to double action are ignored, excused or dismissed. “It’s only for one shot, and self defense shootings all happen at close range, so if my first hit is bad I can just follow up with a good 2nd shot. I can just thumb cock the gun for my first shot. I will twist the gun for that first shot and let the recoil readjust my grip. I would rather suffer with that first shot to get to that awesome single action trigger than shoot a striker fired gun that has a medium-difficult trigger for every shot. I carry on an empty chamber and will rack the slide, so I won’t have to shoot the gun double action at all.” – just to share a few of the common responses TDA shooters give when confronted with the cold reality of their TDA gun not fitting their hand in double action mode.

The folks at “A Girl and a Gun” have a good explanation of gun fit.

How To Fit Your Hand To Your Pistol

Lucky Gunner also has an excellent article about gun fit.

https://www.luckygunner.com/lounge/how-to-grip-a-handgun/

Most people don’t practice (live or dry) enough to really learn how to master one trigger pull (striker or single action). They overaim and then pounce on the trigger trying to make the gun fire at the magic “NOW!!!” moment, only to discover that violently slamming the trigger to the rear as hard and fast as they can causes the gun to move and their shot to miss the spot they aimed at.

Adding the complexity of learning how to manipulate the trigger properly for two different trigger pulls makes the job of learning the pistol more difficult. Additionally, developing the skill to decock the pistol each time the gun returns to the ready position, between drills, requires diligent attention as well.

By comparison, all a striker fired pistol user needs to learn is how to work the trigger the same way for every shot, and all their concentration can be on muzzle direction and taking finger off the trigger each time the gun is off target, back to ready or heading back to the holster. Adding the two extra TDA specific tasks to their workload just adds more mental overload. (Similarly, remembering to put the manual safety back on, when using a 1911/2011 style pistol or any pistol with a manual safety, adds another task that striker-fired gun users don’t have to perform.)

For years I have written about the gap between the 99% of basic gun owners & carry permit holders and the 1%. The 1% are those that attend training beyond state minimums, typically taking 15-30 hours specific to defensive handgun skills working from the holster. Their standards for baseline performance are higher, and they pay more attention to running whatever gun they have chosen correctly. The largest gap is the failure to train to automaticity. Tasks that are automated occur without conscious thought about each step in the task. Drawing the pistol is not 3, 4 or more discreet steps. It’s a smooth continuous one, where each step occurs at the right time (muzzle to target, hands joining, safety switched to fire, finger to trigger, sights to eye target line). Without training all those steps to the automatic level, under stress, steps will be forgotten or done at the wrong time, potentially leading to an unintended discharge, a missed shot or even a failure to fire if switching the manual safety to “fire” is forgotten.

The 99% are often uncomfortable with the idea of keeping a round chambered in a defensive firearm. This concern motivates many to leave the gun unchambered, planning on racking the slide when the gun is picked up from a nightstand or drawn from a holster. This adds yet another task (and time) to the job of getting the gun into the fight as quickly as possible. The decision to have the gun unchambered does allow them to avoid the double action trigger and the decocking lever, since the gun goes into single action mode when the slide is racked. In this case, two wrongs don’t make a right.

If the goal is to rack the slide each time the gun is picked up or drawn, each drill in dry or live practice should start with, and include, the task of racking the gun, so that the task is not forgotten under stress. If they choose a TDA gun to provide heavy-trigger pull “insurance” against their poor trigger finger discipline, and lack of motivation to train to that higher standard, it’s very likely that they will also fail to put in the work to master the double action first shot trigger pull.

Go to any public shooting range and observe a TDA pistol owner as they practice. A 99%er will arrive at the range with their gun unloaded in a box or a bag. They will insert a magazine, rack the gun, to put it in single action mode, and empty the magazine in some form of untimed, unstructured practice. At no point during the firing of all the rounds in the magazine is the gun brought back to ready and decocked to start a new string. If there is a break in the firing and the muzzle is lowered, at best the gun is laid on the bench, hammer back. At worst the gun stays in the hand, muzzle lowered, finger on trigger and hammer back. When the magazine runs dry, the user will insert a new magazine, rack the slide, once again putting the gun in single action only mode, and continue avoiding and ignoring the decocking lever. Many years ago I allowed another trainer to rent my range to run a class. I observed the trainer’s assistant holstering their TDA pistol without decocking it, and brought this to the assistant’s attention. It was clear from that person’s response that they didn’t understand how a TDA gun was to be run.

In a competitive market for the Texas LTC course, most students are seeking the shortest, cheapest course, and have no interest in doing more on the range than the state minimum. Our approach has been to include a 50 round training block before we shoot the test, with dry and live fire drills correcting the most common shooting errors. As part of that 50 round block, we require TDA users to decock (and 1911/2011 users to put their manual safety on). In both cases, it’s common for users of those guns to require constant reminders to perform those tasks, because they have never included them in their own practice — and in some cases did not understand that their TDA gun could not be carried or stored hammer back on a loaded chamber in single action mode. They confused 1911/2011 “cocked and locked”, which is mechanically safe with single action TDA use.

My experience as a trainer mostly dealing with the 99%, trying to motivate them to join the 1%, has been that most, even when informed about the additional complexity of their TDA gun, have no intention of putting in the work to master the extra tasks associated with that design. Worst of all, most of the factors that Ernest identified as benefits of the TDA design don’t exist if the TDA user never takes advantage of chambered, decocked, hammer down carry.

Pros

In the podcast, Ernest correctly noted that “trigger checking” is a problem when shooters, including very trained ones, are in high stress situations. Force Science Institute published this article about that issue. You should read it.

Can You Really Prevent Unintentional Discharges?

If a highly trained person with much more life experience in lethal force incidents is still prone to putting finger on trigger when it should not be there, the likelihood that an untrained person will make this error is even higher. For those with large enough hands, running a tuned (non factory) TDA gun with a 6 lb double action trigger, the effort required to fire the gun is only slightly more (due to trigger pull length) than a striker fired gun with a factory trigger. It is possible that the longer pull, or heavier pull on an unmodified gun, might prevent some unintended discharges in those situations. Similarly, for the armed homeowner, the longer heavier trigger pull might provide similar protection against the unintended discharge under stress.

The benefits only apply to those that can get fast-enough acceptable hits using the double action trigger, which takes practice (dry and live) to learn. Without that effort, double action shots are likely to be slow and farther off target than a single action or striker fired shot would be. How do I know this? 30 years of watching 99%er carry permit students make those errors. 50 rounds of pre-test practice is not enough to do more than show them how to practice to get better after class is over, and increasing the length of the state-mandated class to include more rounds and more time is not only not viable in a market where cheap & short is the primary customer desire, but also limited by state regulations setting the maximum course hours.

Why are TDA guns popular in competition?

Within the past decade, TDA guns have had a surge in popularity in USPSA competition. This occurred because within the specific divisions that exclude 1911/2011 style pistols, the options are polymer framed striker fired guns, and metal framed TDA guns. USPSA stages tend to have high round counts (15-30), and each paper target is engaged twice, making shot to shot recoil recovery important. Additionally, USPSA does not require TDA users to decock each time they move, as might be required in a real world defensive pistol course. A heavy metal framed TDA gun, outfitted with a competition trigger upgrade, would have a 6 pound, not a 10-12 pound, DA trigger, and a sub 3 lb single action trigger. That provides the user with faster split times (shot to shot on a single target), and a shorter lighter trigger pull for all but the first round fired on a stage. For a highly motivated competitor, learning the 6 lb double action first shot trigger on their gamer gun, assuming they can reach the trigger, is not a significant obstacle, and the benefits of the heavy metal frame and improved single action trigger provide competitive advantage.

General purpose defensive handgun buyers should not be misled by this situation. Real world defensive incidents are short duration, often low round count events by comparison to USPSA field courses. A less motivated, less skilled shooter’s ability to hit accurately and quickly with a factory double action trigger is going to be much less than that of the M/GM level competitors touting the virtues of the TDA guns on youTube “influencer” videos.

I Shoot Good Enough – This Doesn’t Apply To Me

If your “good enough” standard is hitting anywhere on a B-27 target at 3 yards in untimed practice, then you are correct. It probably doesn’t apply you – but the problem is your standards of “good enough” are unrealistic. If you can shoot 90% or better on the Texas carry permit test, this is better but still not “good” from a realistic analysis. State qualification tests, include those for law enforcement, typically use target scoring areas that are much too large, relative to their utility in stopping a lethal attack. The common standard within the 1%er defensive pistol training community is that hits outside a 6″, or maybe an 8″ circle should be considered “unacceptable”. Performance under stress is always going to be worse than performance on a comfortable day of practice. Real testing should be based on “cold drill” performance (the first shots fired during a practice session). There are no warm up shots, no pre-fight dryfire time to re-remember how to run the trigger properly.

If you insist that your shooting is “good enough”, start your next practice session with the simple 5×5 drill: 5 shots, 5 seconds, into a 5″ circle (NRA B-8 target 9-10-X ring center), at 5 yards. If you run a TDA gun, that means starting with the gun loaded and decocked, so shot #1 is fired double action. Start from the ready or holstered (ready is allowed at more ranges and gives you more time to get the shots). Pay attention to where that first shot hits.

Try five 1-shot drills starting with the gun in single action mode, then repeat with each shot in double action mode. Compare your speed and accuracy.

If you choose a TDA gun for personal protection, understand that the first shot is likely going to be the most important one you fire in a defensive encounter, and put the work in to learn how to run the gun the way it was designed, to realistic standards. That might mean upgrading the factory trigger (Langdon Tactical does great work on Beretta M9/92 and PX4 guns), or comparing your performance with a non TDA gun, which might lead to changing your choice of your primary defensive pistol. Whatever action type you choose, learn how to use it the way it was designed to be run, choose a gun that fits your hand and trigger reach, and make your practice relevant to the task for which you purchased the gun.