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Thread: TDA vs. DAO

  1. #1
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    Sep 2017
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    South Louisiana

    TDA vs. DAO

    I've got an unmatched pair of full-size Beretta PX4s - an F version that I bought new, and a D version that I bought used. The slides for both were sent to Langdon Tactical for identical Ameriglo sights, plus the F was converted to decock-only. I've installed a 12-lb. hammer spring in each and the DA pulls feel identical though I haven't measured them. I can't distinguish an accuracy difference between them; bullet holes appear right on top of the front sight with either. I've got about 4k rounds total through both guns, mostly my hardball reloads with some factory hardball and a few hundred 124-grain +P HSTs and I'm still waiting for the first bobble from either.

    I'm trying to figure out which I shoot better so I can concentrate on that one and also buy a backup/training copy. I'm comfortable with DAO since I shot an S&W K frame in IDPA for several years and I'm also comfortable with the DA/SA transition from my previous CZ-75B carry guns.

    Today was my first try. I was a bit hurried so I used the 5 Yard Round Up, running it twice with each gun. Results were inconclusive. Scores and splits were close, with a slight advantage to the D version in the support-hand-only strings. Not enough data yet.

    I'm going to try again using the Hackathorn test, and maybe the Super Test if time allows. Recommendations for other methods will be gratefully accepted.

  2. #2
    Hammertime
    Join Date
    Apr 2016
    Location
    Desert Southwest
    This is interesting. Keep posting your results please.

  3. #3
    Member
    Join Date
    Mar 2013
    Location
    south TX
    As a fan of DAO, I am interested as well.
    "It's surprising how often you start wondering just how featureless a desert some people's inner landscapes must be."
    -Maple Syrup Actual

  4. #4
    My choice I'd go DAO, as I'm a fan of consistent triggers and not having to decock. Sounds like you're shooting the same with both.

  5. #5
    I have a 92D and several M9/92F variants, and I genuinely prefer shooting the 92D to all of them. It’s like a 16 shot K-frame and if you don’t like that...well I just can’t help you.

  6. #6
    Member Gadfly's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2011
    Location
    Texas
    I HATED the thought of DAO. The, I got hired by an agency that issued DAO, and the choice was, “learn it”, or “seek employment elsewhere”.

    Once I was forced to drink the kook aid, I liked the taste. Sure I am faster with a striker. Much faster. But I never felt unsafe carrying that DAO or later the DAK. Put in the time, and they become easy to shoot.


    Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
    “A gun is a tool, Marian; no better or no worse than any other tool: an axe, a shovel or anything. A gun is as good or as bad as the man using it. Remember that.” - Shane

  7. #7
    As fantastic as the DA is in my B92 w/ Langdon TJIB, I am still more easily accurate in SA. DA takes a little longer and more concentration.

  8. #8
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    South Louisiana
    Quote Originally Posted by caleb View Post
    I have a 92D and several M9/92F variants, and I genuinely prefer shooting the 92D to all of them. It’s like a 16 shot K-frame and if you don’t like that...well I just can’t help you.
    Elsewhere on this forum, I've described my PX4 D as my "18-shot 4" K frame", so we've got a similar perspective.

    I went to the range again today and shot both guns back-to-back, again using the 5-yard round up because the heat index was somewhere over 100 and my antediluvian ass doesn't do as well with heat as it once did, so the shorter walks to the target were beneficial. My scores increased and times and splits decreased as one would expect with more practice, but once more it was a coin toss as to which one shot better for me.

    I remember reading one time about 10-15 years ago that Ernest Langdon @LangdonTactical tried the same thing with 92s and found that for him, at the level he was shooting, the D yielded slower splits. I chalk that up to the huge difference in our skill levels.

    I ain't finished with this thing yet.
    Last edited by revchuck38; 07-19-2018 at 05:17 PM.

  9. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by revchuck38 View Post
    Elsewhere on this forum, I've described my PX4 D as my "18-shot 4" K frame", so we've got a similar perspective.

    I went to the range again today and shot both guns back-to-back, again using the 5-yard round up because the heat index was somewhere over 100 and my antediluvian ass doesn't do as well with heat as it once did, so the shorter walks to the target were beneficial. My scores increased and times and splits decreased as one would expect with more practice, but once more it was a coin toss as to which one shot better for me.

    I remember reading one time about 10-15 years ago that Ernest Langdon @LangdonTactical tried the same thing with 92s and found that for him, at the level he was shooting, the D yielded slower splits. I chalk that up to the huge difference in our skill levels.

    I ain't finished with this thing yet.
    I will always shoot slower splits with a “D” gun than I can with a F/G gun. The thing about a D is that there is a certain amount of required trigger travel that has to happen in order to make the loud noises again, and that takes time.

  10. #10
    I have a police trade in 229 .40 in DAO (not DAK) that has really grown on me. I have nothing objective about it to add beyond that, but there's something to it. I put in a lighter Wolf mainspring and greased all the bearing surfaces in the trigger linkage and it is very pleasing to shoot. The auto k frame comparison is a good one.

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