Tanfoglio TA 90 9mm

[Mossberg]

Hey Guys,

I need some help please. My wife recently got a Tanfoglio TA 90 from her father who bought it in 1987. It is still in "like new" condition and she would like to use it in IDPA. What I can't figure out is if it would be possible to shoot ESP as it has a de-cocker/safety on the slide. It seems to me that you will only be able to shoot SSP ( hammer down ).

Is my assessment correct or am I missing something?

[pdh]

If you can drop the hammer and fire DA on the first shot, followed by SA, you can shoot it in SSP.

If you can run it cocked and locked (SA first shot followed by SA for remaining shots) then you can run it in ESP.

[Mossberg]

Thanks pdh, but it seems that you can't start "cocked & locked" because the safety has to be on. When you engadge the safety, the hammer drops. There doesn't seem to be a way to have it cocked and safety engadged. This is the first handgun that i have handled with a de-cocker so I might be doing something wrong or just plain stupid :-)

[pdh]

I have no experience with this gun but you could be pushing the safety too far and the it acts as a decocker. Try an see if you can just put the safety on and not get the decocker to engage. Something like the CZ P07 uses either a decocker or safety and not both.

If you can only start hammer down I suggest you shoot SSP. And you can always change your division, its not set in stone when you start

[Lian]

if the hammer is down, and you can pull the trigger to raise the hammer.... it's good for SSP.

[Mossberg]

Thank pdh. My wife and I have been shooting IDPA for the past 5 years in both SSP and ESP using the CZ75, but this de-cocker\safety on the slide is boggling me. There are 3 settings, but it seems to be Fire, de-cock, safety. I will go and try it out on the range tomorrow to see what is what.

[Mossberg]

if the hammer is down, and you can pull the trigger to raise the hammer.... it's good for SSP.

Hey Lian. Yip it's good for SSP.

[BigT]

Theres nothing to stop you running it in ESP with a double action first shot. Just wouldnt be logical if it didnt have other things that knocked it out of SSP?

[Hein R]

I know that most FA with the decocker system has different settings. For instance some Z88's and Taurus. When you have chambered your round and hammer is cocked you could 1) push the safety to the first setting, which is Safety only and hammer stays cocked, 2) push the safety past first setting all the way and this will decock your hammer. When you push it to this setting and watch the firing pin as the hammer drops or just before it drops, you will actually see a guard/barrier come up between the hammer and firing pin. This is what stops the hammer from striking the firing pin when it decocks. Once decocked you should be able to set it back to safety only. If I remember correct you won't be able to cock the hammer by thumb with the decocker setting on, as the hammer won't stay cocked. It will keep on dropping back to decock position, and therefore you should first disengage or change the setting back to only safety on/off. Hope this helps.

[Mossberg]

Thanks guys. All good advice.