# NOOB DA/SA question



## DirtyLiberal (Jan 3, 2013)

Hi, sorry to ask a bit of a dumb question! I recently purchased an SP-01 Shadow from CZ custom and I absolutely love it. My confusion is - when is my pistol ever DA? Racking the slide cocks the hammer, so my first shot has the light SA pull, and each subsequent shot obviously shares said light pull... when is the DA pull ever used?

Thanks in advance.


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## denner (Jun 3, 2011)

Nice pistol, I don't have one but I would speculate that once you use the safety/decocker to drop the hammer the first pull will be DA and the rest SA, until you drop the hammer again. If the hammer is to the rear it will always be SA, if the hammer is down the first pull will always be DA.


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## goNYG (Apr 4, 2012)

DirtyLiberal said:


> Hi, sorry to ask a bit of a dumb question! I recently purchased an SP-01 Shadow from CZ custom and I absolutely love it. My confusion is - when is my pistol ever DA? Racking the slide cocks the hammer, so my first shot has the light SA pull, and each subsequent shot obviously shares said light pull... when is the DA pull ever used?
> 
> Thanks in advance.


If you manually decock the hammer on a loaded chamber, you are now set for DA. Probably going to be a rare occasion for anyone without a decocker.


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## DirtyLiberal (Jan 3, 2013)

Thanks denner, that would be my thought as well. Interestingly, it lacks a decocker, and the safety prevents full trigger actuation and hammer movement, so it appears the only way to decock the gun (and thus the only way to get a DA pull) is to pull the trigger while the safety is off while manually, gently lowering the hammer with the other hand. Yikes. Good thing I hate DA pulls anyway!

EDIT: ah yes, thx goNYG. I think I'd only ever do it for IPSC production division shooting, which requires starting in DA.


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## denner (Jun 3, 2011)

DirtyLiberal said:


> Thanks denner, that would be my thought as well. Interestingly, it lacks a decocker, and the safety prevents full trigger actuation and hammer movement, so it appears the only way to decock the gun (and thus the only way to get a DA pull) is to pull the trigger while the safety is off while manually, gently lowering the hammer with the other hand. Yikes. Good thing I hate DA pulls anyway!
> 
> EDIT: ah yes, thx goNYG. I think I'd only ever do it for IPSC production division shooting, which requires starting in DA.


Yep, I think you got it, the model you have is both a 1911 type format (cocked and locked) w/ the option of DA/SA w/o a decocker.


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## kg333 (May 19, 2008)

DirtyLiberal said:


> Thanks denner, that would be my thought as well. Interestingly, it lacks a decocker, and the safety prevents full trigger actuation and hammer movement, so it appears the only way to decock the gun (and thus the only way to get a DA pull) is to pull the trigger while the safety is off while manually, gently lowering the hammer with the other hand. Yikes. Good thing I hate DA pulls anyway!


That's typical for most CZ pistols. Per the owner's manual, that is the procedure for decocking, although described with one hand, firmly placing your thumb in front of the hammer. I don't believe they recommend carrying cocked with safety on, due to risk of the safety being disengaged.

KG


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## Steve M1911A1 (Feb 6, 2008)

*DirtyLiberal*, I gotta ask:
1. If you push down on the safety, it goes "off." But if you push the safety lever even further down, does it drop the hammer while staying "safe"?
2. Or, if the safety is up and "on," can you drop the hammer by pressing the trigger?

There are three basic kinds of semi-auto-pistol trigger actions:
1. Single-action (SA), in which the moving slide cocks the hammer during recoil, and which has a non-hammer-dropping safety lever,
2. Traditional-double-action (TDA), in which the first shot is always taken using a double-action (DA) trigger which both cocks and drops the hammer, subsequent shots are taken single-action (SA), and actuating the safety lever usually drops the hammer into DA mode safely, and
3. Double-action-only (DAO), in which all shots are always taken with a double-action (DA) trigger, and which usually has no user-actuated safety lever at all.

I have seen CZ pistols with TDA actions, but which also may be carried "cocked-and-locked," like SA pistols. My understanding was that pushing further downward on their safety levers would safely drop their hammers into DA mode.
Since I am not completely familiar with these guns, however, I am led to ask the questions at the top of this post.

Can you help me?


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## denner (Jun 3, 2011)

I believe they have 2 configurations for this pistol. 1st is the one stated above, a DA/SA that you can carry cocked and locked like a 1911 or drop the hammer and carry DA/SA with no decocker. 2nd is a DA/SA w/ a decocker that cannot be carried cocked and locked like a 1911. There's a few out there like H&KUSP that have the best of all three worlds, can be carried cocked and locked, is also a DA/SA, and also has a decocker. Anyone can correct me if I'm wrong, never owned CZ or H&K. From what I've read and gathered the SP-01 Shadow from CZ custom is a target pistol with exceptional accurracy, a match grade trigger(3-4 pounds SA) and derived by the suggestions of many LEO's throughout Europe. Steve to answer your question, the model referred to above has a 1911 style format, when the safety is on the trigger is locked until you disengage the safety, when you disengage the safety the trigger stays put and you must pull the trigger to drop the hammer(no decocker)just like a 1911, except this pistol has the option of being a DA/SA as well.


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## Steve M1911A1 (Feb 6, 2008)

Thanks, *denner*.


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