Is a double action revolver effectively semi-automatic? if not, why not?

Question

you don't have to ready a firing mechanism between each shot do you?

Answer 1

By "effectively" you mean basically but not really. You are correct. It would be unusual to call a revolver semiautomatic because the term is not applied to revolvers but to weapons that could be full automatic and hence the need to differentiate between the two. Any semi auto with a few design tweaks could continue to fire with the holding of the trigger in the rearward position. But a revolver most certainly could not.

Answer 2

Not at all. It is double action because pulling the trigger effectively moves the cylinder to the next-fire-position. This is not done automatically, nor even semi-automatically; it is done manually by the action of your finger pulling the trigger.

A semi-automatic pistol 'self-loads' after the fired cartridge is expelled. Pulling the trigger does not manually feed the next bullet into the chamber. This is done automatically as the slide returns to close the chamber; it 'catches' the next bullet automatically being 'pushed up' by the loaded magazine. This is also what makes a semi-automatic pistol able to fire rounds more rapidly than a double-action revolver.

Best.

H

Answer 3

A Double-Action Revolver has a cylinder that is loaded with the appropriate number of cartridges. To fire it, you must squeeze the trigger for every shot you wish to fire. The cylinder turns in a clockwise or counter clock-wise direction each time the revolver trigger is squeezed and the cylinder turns to align the next cartridge to be hit with the hammer. I squeeze=1 round fired and the next live round is aligned to fire....You can fire a Revolver fast or slow depending on your ability to squeeze the trigger for each subsequent shot, and how fast you pull the trigger.

A semi-automatic requires a loaded magazine, and a rearward pull on the slide portion to chamber the initial round. Once loaded ,with a single cocking of the hammer, you can pull the trigger and fire, and the gas created from the first shot cycles the slide rearward "automatically" and puts a new cartridge in the chamber ready to fire in seconds. The only action required then is to simply pull the trigger and continue to fire, the remaining cartridges will load until the magazine contains no more cartridges, and is empty...

Answer 4

Let me be clear on how these work, A single action revolver uses a loading gate that you open by pulling the hammer halfway back, and loading each cartridge one at a time in the cylinder making sure the cartidges are in alignment with the barrel. In order to fire a single action revolver, you have to pull the hammer all the way back and depress the trigger to fire the weapon. Then to unload a single action revolver, you open the loading gate by pulling the hammer back halfway and push the cartridges out of the cylinder one at a time with the extractor underneath the barrel.
Double Action Revolvers are a lot easier to load and use. You push a button usually on the left side of the gun that opens the cylinder and the extractor and you load the cartridges into the cylinder and push the cylinder back into the gun. To fire a double action revolver, you can usually pull the hammer back and fire single action or you can just pull the trigger. In order to unload a double action revolver, you open the cylinder, tip the gun back, and push the extractor to eject the cartridges. To answer your original question, you usually have the option to ready the fire mechanism, which would be single action or you can just pull the trigger, which would be double action. There are some types of revolvers though that are double action only and you have to pull the trigger all the way to the back because they have an internal hammer.
Semi-Automatics are a single breach weapon that use the recoil or gas pressure to push the cartridge out of the breach, and then come forward pushing the next cartridge into the breach for firing. Semi-Automatics use a clip for the ammunition that push one cartridge at a time into the firing chamber for each time the weapon is fired. There are two types of semi-automatic pistols; single action in which you load the clip into the gun, and then you have to chamber a round to fire it. Then there is double action which means you can put the clip into the gun and just pull the trigger to fire the first round, or with most types, you can chamber a round and fire it single action. There are double action only semi-automatics where you have to pull the trigger all the way back with every shot because the hammer is inside the gun. And to unload a semi-automatic pistol, you take the clip out of the gun by pushing the button usually on the left side of the trigger and pulling the slide to the rear and locking the slide at the rear, making sure that there are no cartridges in the breach of the gun.

Answer 5

No, it's not semi-automatic. It's not just "action" but "loading".

You are actually readying the firing mechanism, that the first of the actions in the double action.

Do not confuse the "Single/Double" Action terms between revolvers and autoloaders....they are very different.

Answer 6

no its not semi-automatic

> semi automatic refers to the gas from an automic weapon being used to load the next round
>a double action revolver doesnt technically load "automatically", it is a stronger force from your finger that cocks the firing pin, turns the chamber and fires the round
> i see what your point is here but, i think the unique difference here is AUTOMATIC/MANUAL. yes an automatic and a double action revolver both fire a round every trigger pull, however the revolver needs manual power to turn the chamber, cock the trigger and fire. the automatic uses gas to cock the trigger, eject the spent shell, and ready a new cartridge.
>(in other words when u pull the trigger on a semi-auto, the only force you apply is releasing the fireing pin.)

manual/automatic

Answer 7

I've seen a couple of old boys shoot revolvers so fast you'd think they were full automatic, but revolvers ARE NOT auto. Actions are altogether different as other folks have pointed out.

Doc

Answer 8

No, but there was a single action, semi-automatic revolver called the Webley-Fosberry automatic revolver. See this article:
http://www.freewebtown.com/futru/downloads/Fosberry.htm

Answer 9

I understand what you are saying, but technically the autoloading pistol does a couple more things with each trigger pull, ejecting the fired cartrige and loading a new one, -while a D/A revolver retains the fired cartriges in the cylinder.
This is a bit confusing.
I guess you could say a D/A revolver is semi-semi-automatic..

Answer 10

When you are done pulling the trigger on a revolver, the hammer isn't reset. You have to pull the trigger (which cocks the hammer) or manually set the hammer to fire again..

After firing the semi-auto, the hammer is reset "automatically" (except for the Glock)