Something that bothers me a bit about these discussions when they come up is that everyone focuses sooo hard at the action type, often neglecting the fact that action type is one of many different things that can be a factor in the usability, particularly the safe, reliable, and effective usability of a firearm.
I know that some people will probably disagree with me here, but I think people dismiss pistol ergonomics a little bit too readily on some of these discussions as just a "training issue." Sure, you can train to get around any number of issues, but that doesn't mean they don't matter. On the whole, I think I'd prefer the gun that I have more confidence in being able to have total, complete control over with the least amount of effort. In the end, the more proficient I can become with a given pistol, the better off I am. Obviously the trigger type, action, firing mechanism, and all of that plays into this, but there are so many different things that can and do go wrong when handling a gun, I'd prefer to focus on a holistic measure of overall controllability than just a single factor.
There are some pistols that I've tried out that I wouldn't feel nearly as comfortable holding in a gunfight simply because I wouldn't be able to retain nearly the degree of positive control on the pistol versus others. Even if they had one of the safest actions out there, if the gun is much harder for me to retain personal control over it, then I'm at risk of losing that firearm in a scuffle. Now, how much more or less likely is that than having an ND? I don't know that anyone can provide an accurate number that works for everyone there, but it's at least something that I think needs to be considered. Otherwise we're in danger of localized optimization. That could also take the form of "I want the most shootable gun I can find" which ends up with people optimizing their carry gun like some shooters optimize their race guns. It's a very shootable gun, but people sometimes might miss the big picture that way. Likewise, a DAO spurless gun might provide the absolute best in ND resistance on some level, but maybe it's not a great choice when other factors are taken into consideration (maybe it is?).
It just seems like we can't lose sight of the total picture of the gun as a specific instance and all of the considerations that come along with that from reliability, ergonomics, control, durability, maintenance, and so forth that come along with that pistol.
Sorry for the rant. I'll stop myself now.
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Originally Posted by Les Pepperoni
