Striker Fired ?

C

ConRich

New member
Would someone please explain what this term means. I have been playing with firearms of all types for over 60 years now, but have to admit that I have failed to keep up with the new weapons that have surfaced in recent years.

TIA,
Rich:confused:
 
It means the firing pin, or striker, is driven forward to fire the chambered round by a spring that is compressed by the firing pin itself.

Imagine a typical bolt-action rifle, with the firing pin running down the middle of the bolt, surrounded by a coil spring. When you rack the bolt, the spring is compressed, and pulling the trigger releases the firing pin.

Contrast that with a gun with an external hammer, in which the loaded spring is acting on the hammer which then strikes a blow to the firing pin, sending it forward to fire the chambered round.
 
One interesting part is it isn't new technology. The Borchardt pistol was striker fired. Some people forget this aspect.

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Would someone please explain what this term means. I have been playing with firearms of all types for over 60 years now, but have to admit that I have failed to keep up with the new weapons that have surfaced in recent years.
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New technology? Bolt action rifles have been using strikers for around a century and a half, and as mentioned, there have been striker-fired pistols for well over a century.
 
The Borchardt pistol was striker fired. Some people forget this aspect.
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Indeed, 1893 for the Borchardt. For those who don't know that gun, it was a striker fired, toggle action pistol. More than a bit "wonky" in terms of design and ergonomics, but was the pistol that Georg Luger redesigned into the world famous Pistole Parabellum.

Luger kept the striker fired, toggle action concept and changed almost everything else into something more user friendly, and the rest is history...

Today, when you see someone use the term "striker fired" in forum discussions, what they are usually talking about is the modern style, usually polymer framed pistols, GLock being the best known. The confusion comes from the way that they talk about "striker fired" (Glocks & similar) as if there was nothing else in the striker fired group.
 
The only two striker-fired guns I've ever owned are a Luger and a Colt .25, both about 100 years old.
It's true that "striker-fired" has become shorthand for plastic-framed pistol designed in the last 30 years.
 
no hammer.

Look at pretty much any modern bolt action rifle and you will see an approximately correct explanation of how the striker fired handgun works. Turning the bolt is how you retract and lock the pin of most rifles. Working the slide forward on a pistol usually sets the pin on a handgun. Some have no actual set for the trigger and they are cocked and fired by a long single pull of the trigger.

The long ,heavy, spring loaded firing pin is linked to a sear, usually, pulling the trigger trips the sear and the striker (pin) is driven forward by the spring and punches the primer.

The designs can be complicated, but the principle is really simple.
 
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I really like my Mauser 1914. It, too, is striker fired. It also has the best action of the slide that I know of. Insertion of the magazine releases the slide, rather than the "pulling back of the slide" to release it. I don't know about the Borchardt as I've never seen one.
willr
 
The great majority of striker-fired pistols these days have the striker partially and often nearly completely pre-tensioned by slide reciprocation. So if the striker is released and the slide does not cycle or is not racked, as for with a light primer strike, for example, the trigger will be dead. Therefore unlike most hammer-fired pistols, the majority of striker-fired pistols do not have second strike capability.

Be aware that there are some modern pistols that resemble striker-fired pistols because they have no visible hammer, but utilize an internal hammer to strike the firing pin, as in the SCCY pistols.
 
Be aware that there are some modern pistols that resemble striker-fired pistols because they have no visible hammer, but utilize an internal hammer to strike the firing pin, as in the SCCY pistols.
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The new S&W 380 EZ and the Ruger security 9 have internal hammers as well
 
Thank you all

Thank you for clearing that up for me.

I seem to have been mislead by the ads and reviews about the new breed of conceal carry pistols that are "striker fired", like it was some new, better, safer way to carry.

Thanks,
Rich
 
To me, strikers are one cheap item. A little stamped sheet metal and molded plastic. Two or three small machined items. How many of them have decent rails?
Do you not know when you have been taken? Do you pay close to a thousand dollars for a plastic fire arm? :D
 
What pblanc says is right. However, even an interior hammer weapon is not always capable of double action for second strike.
willr
 
To me, strikers are one cheap item. A little stamped sheet metal and molded plastic. Two or three small machined items. How many of them have decent rails?
Do you not know when you have been taken? Do you pay close to a thousand dollars for a plastic fire arm?
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I'll take one of those light "cheap" plastic Glocks or SIGS over an all steel boat anchor any day!:p
 
The P-08 Luger is striker fired. Striker is held back by the sear until released. I don’t think anyone here will call a Luger cheap. The C-96 Broomhandle is firing pin fired. Like RickB said, an external hammer drives the firing pin forward.
 
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