Wiktionary
a. (context firearms English) Without a visible hammer; said of a gun having a cock or striker concealed from sight, and out of the way of an accidental touch.
Wikipedia
A hammerless firearm is a firearm that lacks an exposed hammer or hammer spur. Although it may not literally lack a hammer, it lacks a hammer that the user can pull.
In rifles, using a striker rather than a hammer is a substantial improvement because the time from trigger pull to firing can be less. This makes the rifle more accurate, because the rifleman's muscular tremors have less time to move the rifle off-aim.
One of the disadvantages of an exposed hammer spur is the tendency to get caught on items such as clothing; covering (shrouding, bobbing) the hammer by removing the spur reduces this tendency.
Usage examples of "hammerless".
Very respectfully, WAXING POETIC OVER FIRST LOVE November 24, 1925 Ithaca Gun Company Ithica, New York Gentlemen, I am sending you by parcel post the barrels of an Ithica hammerless shot gun, No.
Cakes, chicken, ballpoint pens, packs of cards, butter - the jetsam of the air-lines, Inside this one was a hammerless Smith and Wesson, safety catch built into grip, six chambers crowded with bullets.
Christopher had been shown what was in it, a 9 millimeter Walther P99 hammerless semiautomatic pistol.
It was a twelve-gauge Parker hammerless side-by-side with double triggers, the barrels taken off at eighteen inches.
He got up slowly, without effort, and as he moved a hammerless revolver appeared magically, almost, in his right hand.
In one of the drawers of this desk he found an ivory-handled revolver, a toy-like thirty-two caliber hammerless, of English make.
The gun was a beautiful twelve-gage hammerless, of late design and American manufacture, bored for trap shooting.
Centennial, a snub-nosed hammerless revolver with a grip safety-catch.
Gees and Cotton waited in silence until he returned, carrying a pair of hammerless breech loading shot guns.
Hanging from the saddle horn by a lanyard was a twelve-gauge Parker hammerless side-by-side, the barrels cut down to eighteen inches, the shotshells loaded with .
Hanging from the saddle horn by a lanyard was a twelve-gauge Parker hammerless side-by-side, the barrels cut down to eighteen inches, the shotshells loaded with .