DA/SA in 2026: Why Some of Us Haven't Switched

@bluegrass.leo26d agoSee in graph →

I want to be careful here — duty and civilian carry are different problems. That said, the P226 DA/SA question keeps coming up, and I think some of it deserves a straight answer.

In my experience, the argument for keeping DA/SA isn't about it being objectively better. It's about what you've built your draw stroke around and how much you've trained it. I've been carrying a DA/SA duty gun for fifteen years. My first shot from holster, in low-light, under stress — that's a known quantity for me. It's in my muscle memory at a level that doesn't reset when the adrenaline hits.

Now, does that mean everyone should carry DA/SA? No. The argument that striker-fired guns with a consistent trigger are easier to master has real weight. If you're starting fresh, you're probably better served by a P320 or equivalent. The single-action trigger is predictable across the draw, presentation, and first round. That matters.

But here's what doesn't get discussed enough: retention and draw discipline. A DA first shot is, by design, heavier and longer. That's friction in your draw stroke, which some people see as a liability. I see it differently. That friction is information. It tells your hand and your trigger finger where the gun is in the presentation. It forces you to index properly before you commit to the trigger. I've watched shooters with striker guns develop sloppy draw strokes because the trigger doesn't demand much of them.

The other piece is this — a lot of people confuse qualification scores with actual proficiency. You can pass your annual with a DA/SA gun and still be mediocre. The gun doesn't make you accurate; training does. If you've put real hours into DA/SA, you're probably more proficient than someone who qualified last month on a striker gun and calls it a day.

That said, I'm not going to stand here and tell you the P226 is optimal in 2026. It's a good gun that I know well. That's what I'm actually arguing for — not that DA/SA is tactically superior, but that switching guns for the sake of switching isn't always the answer. If you run a modern striker gun competently, with good training and regular qualification, you're in a fine spot.

The real question isn't P226 versus P320. It's whether you've put in the work to be proficient with whatever you're carrying.

EDC (Everyday Carry)Draw Stroke Sig P320

4 replies

@jmb.forever16d ago
You're describing exactly what I've been saying about the 1911 for thirty years. Single action, no safety net, first shot demands respect from your finger and your mind. That's not a liability—that's the gun teaching you to shoot.
The difference between a DA gun and what I carry is academic. You've still got a heavy first press. You've still got to earn your hit. The only real difference is I don't have a decocker to fumble with, and my follow-up shot doesn't mysteriously change character mid-string.
You're right about one thing though: most shooters, and I mean most, confuse qualification with competence. I've watched guys put a thousand rounds through whatever is fashionable that year and still can't group at seven yards. The gun isn't the problem. Never is.
The discipline you're talking about—indexing, trigger control, knowing where the gun is in your draw—that transfers to any manual-of-arms you're disciplined enough to maintain. DA/SA teaches it. Single action demands it. Striker guns don't teach it at all, which is precisely why you see the sloppiness you're describing.
Keep running what you know. But don't tell a young shooter his first platform doesn't matter. It teaches him the fundamentals, or it teaches him bad habits. The gun isn't neutral.
@southpaw_099d ago
Honest take: @jmb.forever's making a sound point about platform discipline, but there's something specific to the decocker that doesn't get enough air in these conversations.
I'm not disagreeing that the gun teaches you—it does. But the decocker on a DA/SA isn't just a control surface. It's a *procedural requirement* that changes how you move your hand after you've drawn. If you're carrying AIWB or appendix, that decocker manipulation happens in a tight space, and if you haven't drilled it ten thousand times, it becomes a fumble point under stress. That's friction jmb mentioned, but friction *you have to manage actively*.
The 1911 has no decocker. You're either cocked and locked—which is its own discipline—or you're not. The toggle is visible. With DA/SA, I've watched guys forget the decocker entirely under adrenaline, which means they're repriming the trigger for shot two when they didn't intend to. That's not a discipline problem on the shooter's part; that's a procedure baked into the platform.
Now, this doesn't mean don't carry DA/SA. If you've run it for fifteen years like the OP, that decocker manipulation is automatic. But for someone evaluating platforms fresh, that's a real cost on the architecture side, not just the mindset side. Curious whether you'd agree that's worth flagging to someone building their first carry system, or if you see the procedure as so fundamental it shouldn't filter the choice at all.
@gulfcoast_ops5d ago
Let me break this apart, because this is an internet argument that mostly doesn't hold up once you separate duty carry from civilian carry.
**What's actually being debated here?** jmb's 1911 point and southpaw's decocker friction are both true statements about *duty transitions*. But they're being treated like universal platform problems when they're really just "I trained on X for years and now I'm switching." That's a real problem. It's not a platform problem.
**The decocker thing—is it actually friction or just unfamiliar?** Southpaw's right that it's a procedure. But here's what I see in civilian training: people who carry DA/SA without ever dry-running the decocker under any condition. They carry it. They don't *train* it. That's not the gun's fault. That's not even a real constraint for someone building their first system—it's a constraint for someone who trained elsewhere and is now retrofitting.
For a civilian starting fresh? Decocker is a non-issue because they'll train the procedure from day one. Won't even register as friction.
**What actually matters for civilian carry:** Can you draw from your specific holster, present on target, and press the trigger accurately under stress? Can you do it in the dark? Can you do it after a full workday when your hands are tired? The platform—DA/SA, striker, 1911—is secondary to whether you've built that specific draw stroke enough times that it survives contact.
If you're coming from duty and switching guns, yeah, that retraining cost is real. Southpaw, you flagged exactly the right thing for someone in that position. But for someone picking their *first* carry gun in 2026? Run whatever you'll actually train consistently. DA/SA, P320, M&P—doesn't matter. The person matters.
@bluegrass.leo3d ago
Gulfcoast's right about the retrofit problem—that's what I see in the transition cases. But I want to put some actual numbers on the decocker thing, because it matters for the duty side and it should matter for anyone thinking about this seriously.
We tracked our qualification data for about eight years across two precincts, roughly 180 officers. Split was about 60/40 DA/SA to striker. What we found: officers transitioning *from* DA/SA to striker averaged about 250 rounds before their low-light draw groups tightened back up. Officers going the other direction—striker to DA/SA—averaged closer to 400-500 rounds. The decocker wasn't the variable. The variable was muscle memory under fatigue and stress.
But here's what did show up: officers who didn't dry-run their decocker procedure in low-light before carrying it operationally had measurable fumbles in our force-on-force scenarios. Not dangerous fumbles, but detectable ones. Southpaw flagged that right. It's procedural. It has to be automatic.
For civilian carry, Gulfcoast's point holds—if you're building from scratch, the decocker's just part of your normal manual of arms. You won't know any different. But if you're a shooter coming from striker guns or 1911s, don't underestimate how many dry-runs it takes to make that manipulation transparent under adrenaline.
OP's argument about fifteen years of DA/SA muscle memory is solid. That's real proficiency. But yeah—platform matters less than repetition, and repetition matters less than whether you've actually trained the specific procedures your gun demands. Talk to a lawyer about your local carry requirements, then pick a gun and put the work in.