First DQ - manually decocking hammer

[Skookum]

Is decocking to the half-cock position not allowed?

[motosapiens]

Is decocking to the half-cock position not allowed?

It's allowed in uspsa and idpa *if* you have a decocker-equipped gun. if you have a non-decocker gun, the start position for production and ssp is all the way down.

[Skookum]

Is decocking to the half-cock position not allowed?

It's allowed in uspsa and idpa *if* you have a decocker-equipped gun. if you have a non-decocker gun, the start position for production and ssp is all the way down.

Seems awfully unfair.  Manually decocking to the half-cock is easy.  Decocking all the way is asking for trouble.

[theaccountant]

I'm afraid to actually say this out loud or through my keyboard, but it's not a big deal decocking all the way down (I'm the one that started this thread after dq-ing.)  It truly was just a matter of the way I was decocking not working with a heavier hammer spring.  I've since decocked the hammer 1,000 times with no issue.  It certainly is one more thing to worry about and I got rattled to where it affected my shooting for weeks (felt like someone that had just been in a car accident - like where everyone seems to be aiming their bumper at you for a few weeks,) but now I feel back to normal and the further away I get from the dq the less it becomes something that takes up space in my head.  Will it happen again?  Maybe...certainly more of a chance of it happening than with a striker fired gun.  But at the same time, with the gun pointed in a safe direction I don't *think* it's any more of a safety issue than a round fired after the beep (that hits the berm.) 

[mitchg233]

IMHO the ONLY safe way to lower the hammer on a CZ DA/SA gun is to place your thumb bewteen the frame and hammer.  Pull the trigger letting the hammer drop on your thumb.  Slowly roll your thumb out ot th way and the hammer quietly comes to its final resting point.  I have seen several IPSC DQ's doing it your way.  Guys insist on doing it your way by pinching the hammer with your thumb and finger and eventually you get an unexpected bang. Keep doing the way you are doing it your way and you will be in line for another DQ.  It will be just a matter of time.

Take Care

Bob

Only safe way, I agree. Also the motion is identical to the overhand rack except for where the thumb goes.

[theaccountant]

I struggle getting my thumb rolled out of the way smoothly doing that method...

I think the way I do it now is safe - I pinch the hammer with the thumb and index finger of my left hand (left hand is over top of the gun, not behind it.)  I squeeze it tight, and when I do that, the pads of my thumb and index actually get squeezed into the hole in the hammer...then I pull the trigger and resist it on it's way down.  Doing it this way the hammer is never in free fall and it can't slip - it'd have to rip the pads of my thumb and index fingers off in order to get away from me.

A GM near me just uses the thumb of his shooting hand - he positions it so that his thumb is blocking the hammer from getting to the firing pin until the very end of the decocking procedures.