DAO And The Badge

Guns Magazine, Oct, 2001 by Massad Ayoos

The double action only semiautomatic pistol, DAO for short, did not find favor with many traditional handgunners. The uniform short trigger stroke of a single action auto, and the option of such an operational mode on the traditional double action pistols, was seen as an advantage to the shooter, particularly under stress. It was bad enough, 1911 fans felt, that they had to fire the critical first shot with a long and heavy pull on the autoloaders that were then prevalent in law enforcement, without handicapping the shooter for every single shot. Col. Jeff Cooper, the high priest of the 1911, was so outraged by the very concept that he forbade DAO autos on his range. Despite this initial resistance, the sheer simplicity of this action type has endeared it to many.

The guns have been with us now for over a decade in police service, and they have become very popular in that venue, The Border Patrol issues a .40 caliber DAO, the Beretta 96D, to its agents. The RCMP issues DAO Smith & Wesson 9mms, the full size 16-shot Model 5946 (primarily for uniformed wear) and the compact single-stack 3953 (primarily for plainclothes personnel). Chicago PD, the second largest police department in the nation, allows only DAOs on the street -- SIG, Smith, Beretta or Ruger -- in 9mm or 45 ACP.

NYPD, America's single largest department, has primarily three brands of 9mm autos in the field. They consider the Glock a DAO, which Chicago apparently does not and the Glock 19 is far and away the most popular duty weapon in the Big Apple, followed by the S&W 5946 and the SIG P-226 DAO in that order. Their Glocks are fitted with the heavy "New York Plus" trigger module, which brings pull weight up to roughly 12 lbs. per shot.