Purplehood wrote:With the exception of my Micro Desert Eagle (.380), I stick to .40 S&W without a hammer. I am sure that there is a name for that type of pistol, but I have very little knowledge of what the terms single-action and double-action really mean.
Single-action and double-action refer to the effect of operating the trigger on the gun.
If the trigger performs two actions, notably (1) pulling the hammer or striker back ("cocking") and (2) releasing the cocked hammer or striker, then it is "double-action". If the trigger only releases the hammer or striker, which is cocked through some other action (such as the cycling of the slide or manually cocking), then it is single-action. If the trigger can cock the striker or hammer back, OR it can be manually cocked, then the pistol is DA/SA.
And on this note, some pistols have a hammer that hits a firing pin or other mechanism to hit the primer, and some just have a "striker" which is like a heavy firing pin with an integral spring. The "striker" is cocked back against the striker spring just like a hammer would be cocked back, and then released to hit the primer. The advantage of striker-fired pistols is that there is no exposed hammer and fewer moving parts.
Now, pragmatically speaking, there are very few Single Action Only (SAO) (requires manual cocking, or cocking by virtue of recoil cycling of the slide) pistols. There are a number of DAO pistols that actually operate with double-action ONLY such as a S&W Sigma or a shrouded hammer revolver. Many of the so-called "DAO" striker-fired pistols actually partially cock the striker on recoil and the trigger only pulls it back part of the way (Glock, Kahr, etc.). This is in order to reduce trigger effort and/or length.
To get back on topic, I would LIKE to standardize as much as possible or practical. I prefer 9mm DAO pistols. However, if the benefits of a different pistol outweigh the downside of deviating from my standard, then I might go for it, such as my LCP. I think there is a big benefit to having one cache of pistol ammo that can work in any of my guns, and a big advantage to having that ammo be the cheapest, and (formerly) most commonly available.
By the same token, I intend to standardize on rifle calibers as well. I have a .22LR rifle and my future rifle purchases will be limited to .223, 7.62x39 and .308, for the same reasons as my choice of 9mm for pistols: ubiquity and cost of ammo. Planning for the zombie apocalypse includes ammo stockpiles, which will be very difficult to acquire at $1+/round for .243 or .270WSM.
I have honestly considered the "bug out" options, and if we have to bug out, I don't want to have a mishmash of ammo to have to carry with me. Taking a few hundred or so rounds of 9mm and three or four guns that all use the same ammo sounds like a better plan. Also the size and weight of 100 rounds of pistol ammo affects both storage of a quantity of it, as well as impacting how easily it can be carried off in a bug-out scenario. Same goes for the rifle ammo above.