Originally Posted by
Archie Bunker
That's your opinion. Personally, I don't want to be screwing around with a thumb safety when I need my weapon in a life and death situation. As for the trigger pull, sure the single action is nice.....but how do you like that 10 pound double action pull? I'll tell you, it sucks because it's totally different than the single action trigger pull.
This makes no sense. How is the LEM almost a DA/SA? The trigger pull on a LEM is approximately 7 pounds every time on a properly loaded weapon. How are you ever going to have a 11-12 pound trigger pull with a weapon that is properly loaded? The only way you could get the heavy trigger pull on the LEM is if you pull the trigger on an empty weapon, after you have dropped the hammer once on that empty weapon.
1) Everyone is different, I carry the DA/SA version of the USPC.. if you have ever used it the thumb safety is natural to pull down in one sweeping motion and the trigger pull is perfect each time (much like a 1911- that's how it was designed) The DA pull is heavy yes, but not heavier than the DA pull of the LEM. Not everyone likes manual safeties... the Glock was designed with this im mind, however the glock safety is more for peace of mind than application as you have to pull the trigger to fire the weapon anyway.
2) If you read exactly what I said before you'll see that I was refering to the "second trigger on an empty weapon"... FTF (failure to fire) is much like an empty weapon (which is its true DAO, the Glock is a SAO and does not have this feature). I'm not sure if you know exactly how the LEM works but here it is step by step:
The LEM light action system uses a two-piece hammer arrangement such that when a round is chambered (by racking the slide) the lower, unseen part of the hammer is brought to full **** position and the hammer spring compressed. The hammer “spur”, follows the slide forward and the pistol appears to be “decocked” but the pistol is still in a 90% cocked condition.
When you shoot, as you pull the trigger the hammer will come back to the full **** position. As you reach the release pull weight, the trigger will release the hammer and the pistol will fire. If you hold the trigger fully to the rear as the pistol cycles the next round, you only have to let off the trigger .3 inch to reset the trigger. At that point the same amount of trigger pull weight, except for the long take up, will fire the pistol again. You will notice that after the pistol fires the hammer will be in the full **** position if you did not release the trigger, but as you release the trigger to reset the trigger, the hammer goes forward about 1/3 the way. After reset, as you pull the trigger again the hammer comes back again to full ****. If you release the trigger all the way then the hammer will go all the way forward into the “decocked” position, but remember, the hammer spring is still fully compressed and ready to fire and will do so with a light, but long pull of the trigger. The hammer spring cannot be decompressed without pulling the trigger so if you wish to do this, there had better not be a round in the chamber!
The LEM also has repeat strike capability. If for some reason the pistol does not fire, and you wish to try to ignite the round again, you do not need to rack the slide to pre-load the hammer spring. You only need to pull the trigger again which will fully compress the hammer spring and release the hammer. However, starting from the fully uncompressed hammer spring condition the pull weight will be between 11 and 13 pounds, similar to the DA pull on the non LEM USP/C. After the round fires or you rack the slide (which pre-loads the hammer spring), you will again have the light LEM pull.
The intent of the design is basically a pre-loaded DAO, which uses an longer initial pull as a "safety"... this is of course an almost cocked DA/SA...since when the round is cycled it compresses the hammer spring just like a SA.