Originally Posted by
farscott
My limited understanding behind the interest of and adoption of the DAO pistol was the logic went like this.
1) LE was used to DA and DAO revolvers. That trigger pull was well understood and accepted. The LE revolvers had no safeties or controls other than the trigger and the cylinder release latch.
2) There was a desire to go to semi-auto so as to get more capacity as LE was "outgunned".
3) SAO pistols were not desirable due to the optics of cocked/locked carry and the trigger pull was much shorter and took less effort compared to the DA and DAO revolver. AD/ND were concerns with the SAO pistol as the safety would not be used. Or the safety was an issue because it was not flipped off before firing.
4) DA/SA was not desirable because of the difference in the first and subsequent shots. Plus people like Colonel Cooper who recommended, jokingly or not, firing the first round into the dirt to get to the SA trigger. DA/SA was also an issue because officers would fail to decock/safe the pistol before holstering. Or fail to flip off the safety when needed before firing.
5) Glock action was close (no safety to manipulate and one trigger pull), but too easy to pull the trigger compared to the DA revolver. Glock came up with the NYPD triggers to solve this issue. Of course, we later learned it was not the pull weight but the additional pull travel distance that added the safety factor.
6) DAO from an action standpoint is just like a DA revolver, only with more rounds. So none of the issues above and transition training is a snap because every trigger pull is the same like a DA revolver. Plus the added benefit of not being able to cock the hammer for a SA shot. Plus the brass like it because it worked like a DA revolver.
I believe that was the logic of the times. Having experience with both the S&W and Beretta DAO pistols, DAO is a fine trigger if one practices. It is not easy to shoot with small hands, especially compared to the SAO 1911. But neither is a S&W N-frame.
Both the S&W and Beretta DAO pistols were tough. The original S&W DAO pre-cocked the hammer with the slide travel and had no second-strike capability. It did make for a smooth pull, much like the later LEM. The later S&W DAO was pure DAO with second-strike capability albeit with a heavier pull weight.