Some questions about my new SA/DA pistol

[Jim Watson]

If you are going to manually cycle a gun a lot, you need dummy rounds weighted to match ammunition, not snap caps which are mostly plastic or aluminum.

 

[Hunter2011]

And now for some bad advise. Taurus does not include a decocker on the 709, however there is a way to carry the 709 where your first pull is double action instead of a cocked single action.

First always have the pistol pointed in a safe direction and have a backstop such as a clearing bucket with five gallons of sand in it. Second rack the slide and chamber a live round. Third while pointed in a safe direction, hold grip in right hand with your FINGER OFF THE TRIGGER, with your left hand pull the slide back like you are doing a press check. Keep the slide back about half an inch to where the barrel has dropped slightly below the axis. Fourth with the slide back slightly the striker cannot engage the primer, now pull the trigger. Fifth take your FINGER OFF THE TRIGGER and ease the slide forward again. You now have a live round in the chamber and your first trigger pull will be double action.

Ok, I have tried this. Even looked at a video to do it right. I however did it without a live round to prevent an accident.
It seems that if the slide is pulled back, no matter how slightly, the trigger can't be pulled, at least on my PT709. So I don't think it is possible on this pistol.

 

[Bovice]

No doubt, I think I heard the stray round whiz by my head from the AD when i read that.

No kidding!

I don't see how that's even possible. The extractor is going to hold onto the groove of the case, which puts it within reachable distance of the striker.

If you try this, the gun is going off and it's partially out of battery. Very bad.

 

[Hunter2011]

I'm so glad then that I tried it with a empty chamber

 

[Vodoun da Vinci]

If you are going to manually cycle a gun a lot, you need dummy rounds weighted to match ammunition, not snap caps which are mostly plastic or aluminum.

Agreed...snap caps are for dry firing. Dummy ammo is for reliability and function/feeding testing and familiarization. Not trying to get off topic or dilute this excellent thread...

I always build dummy rounds in various calibers...a brass case with a filled flash hole ( I soft solder the primer pockets over...) and a resized, once fired case with a seated bullet that is plated or FMJ to reduce lead exposure.

Be aware that even if crimped hard you will sometimes get some setback after multiple feeding tests. Building test/dummy rounds is the first thing I do with a new gun or unknown design but then again I reload so I already have the stuff...

Just FYI.

VooDoo

 

[Cee Zee]

Just for the record Taurus sells different operating pistols and calls them SA/DA. Even within the same line sometimes they sell different systems and give them the same name. You really need to do more research into how exactly your pistol operates. The people at the Taurus board might be able to give you more information. I just know that there were several generations of the Taurus PT-145 Millennium Pro and they had different ways of doing things in those generations. For example their idea of a DA pistol is sometimes a pistol that will strike a round a second time if it fails to fire on the first strike. When doing this the second pull must cock the action before it fires because the slide hasn't been pulled back which is how it normally gets cocked. So the second pull is longer and harder than the first, SA pull. They also sell SA/DA pistols that work the same way that Sigs work. The first round is fired by a DA pull and subsequent rounds are then SA. Or you can manually cock the hammer on those pistols and the first round will also be SA.

There are several designs of pistols that are known as SA/DA and they vary from gun maker to gun maker. But with Taurus it can vary within generations of the same pistol. So if I were you I'd want to be sure I knew how the gun operates before ever putting live rounds in it. The manual that came with the gun should be the best source for that info but it's possible that could be wrong too I suppose. Not likely but possible.

It's just important to know how a gun operates before loading live rounds in it. And doing initial testing inside your house isn't really a good idea either IMO. The gun could be faulty (Taurus does make some clunkers) in some way. I have a Taurus that I absolutely love but I don't trust any gun until I've checked it out and fired it a few times. I've been known to hold a gun on the opposite side of a tree to fire it the first time in fact but that was with used guns that were in questionable condition.

 

[SwampWolf]

I've never seen a manual for a modern gun other than a rim fire actually say not to dry fire the gun.

The manual for my (modern) Taurus revolver, chambered in .41 Magnum, specifically warns against dry-firing it.

 

[Hunter2011]

I've never seen a manual for a modern gun other than a rim fire actually say not to dry fire the gun. That is really weird that it says that. Well, you better get some snap caps then, hey?

On page 7 of this manual it is stated to not dry fire.
I see on their website: http://www.taurususa.com/faq-results.cfm?faqID=24
They clearly say you may dry fire all their pistols, except rimfires. Its a bit of a contradiction... Otherwise they must just update their answer to say what else should not be dry fired and why not.

Do anyone know what specifically will wear out on this pistol when you do dry fire it?

 

[GLOOB]

And now for some bad advise. Taurus does not include a decocker on the 709, however there is a way to carry the 709 where your first pull is double action instead of a cocked single action.

Yeah, that's bad advice. Firstly, the disconnector on your gun is out of spec, if you can do this at all. That is a gun that could fire out of battery. Secondly, as has been said, you are gambling that the striker is going to miss the primer by a fraction of an inch based on feel. Thirdly, even if you can do this safely 100% of the time, the gun is not designed to be carried this way. For all you know, the firing pin safety is bypassed in this condition, so the gun may no longer be dropsafe. I don't know how the gun works for sure, so I can't say. But that would be my guess.

 

[basicblur]

I've never seen a manual for a modern gun other than a rim fire actually say not to dry fire the gun.

Out of all the various makes and models I have, only one owner manual says do not dry fire - that would be for my 2nd Generation Taurus PT145 Millennium Pro. I was (not pleasantly) surprised when I read that...

Whether there is some mechanical reason not to do so, it's lawyers at work, an abundance of caution, or ? who can say?

Rather than trying to be too clever by half, I just use snap caps in all my guns when practicing.