Im in the process of buying a gun. Whats the difference in a DAO, decocker only, or manual safety?
This question needs a little expansion to properly address the issue. First, handguns have three kinds of actions (methods for firing): single action (SA), Double Action (DA) and Double Action Only (DAO). Single action handguns are made ready to fire by cocking the hammer or striker manually. This action must be repeated for every shot. The cowboy guns of the Old West were single action. SA handguns tend to require much less force to pull the trigger. Double Action handguns can be made ready to fire either by manually cocking the hammer or by pulling the trigger if the hammer is down. DA handguns require much more force to pull the trigger if the hammer is down since the trigger is connected to the hammer in some way and must raise it before it will fire. Double Action Only refers to a handgun whose hammer or striker is cocked only when the trigger is pulled. There is no other way for the user to cock the weapon. Triggers are the same as a DA handgun when the hammer is down. DAO has be
