Ruger P's: manual, decock only, DAO - the differences?

[Ranald]

Ruger describes its P series actions as Manual, Decock-Only and Double Action Only.  Their web site is not terribly illuminating.

DAO is self explanatory, as in no single action trigger, no external safety.  How do Manual and Decock work with single action?  Can someone help me on this?

I.E. - Will either allow Condition One carry?

Thanks,

Ran

[Duffy]

Personaly I prefer the DC or decocker models.
You can manualy cock the pistol and fire,(SA) just pull the trigger (DA) and when you want to drop the hammer from the fully cocked position you point it in a safe direction and swing the decocker lever down with your thumb. It blocks the firing pin and drops the hammer. To fire again you simply pull the trigger or cock the hammer.
On the manual model it works similar except you have to manually move the lever off of safety before the gun will DA or SA. While on safety the trigger overrides the hammer and nothing will happen. It also acts as a decocker when the gun is cocked. It will drop the hammer when put back on to safety.  They are both very safe when carried hammer down because the firing pin is blocked and it won't fire unless the trigger is all the way back. The DC models are just a bit quicker to put into action, just draw and squeeze. Forgot to mention that on the Manual and DC models after you fire the first shot double action they go into SA mode where as the DAO is double action for every shot you fire.
Hope this helps.

Ryan

[Ranald]

That clears it up for this newbie. I can now make sense of Ruger's descriptions.  

So if I follow you, the DC and Manual are TDA's - starting DA followed by SA, or starting from cock and fire.  I can see why you prefer DC, that makes sense too.

I'm new to handguns, and don't yet know much about them.  I've owned and borrowed various species of rifles - bolt, lever, semis ... now I'm looking to learn handguns.

Thanks for the post!

Ran

[texaseyes]

I have the P944 Manual and like it alot. Haven't had experience with the DC so all I know is what I have.
I was deciding which gun to buy either a Glock or the Ruger and decided on the Ruger. I live on the basis of the Murphy Law. If it can happen, it will happen. I need all the help I can get and the Ruger has this safety factor that helped me make my decision. It seems like a very safe handgun. As far as I have read, I really can't see much difference, from a practical application, from the DC and the Manual. They both pretty well perform the same function.
This is my first semi-auto so what do I know?