Just acquired a Brazilian 1917. Appeared to be generally sound on cursory examination. However, taking it to the garage for some wax bullet shooting, I find about 1 failure to ignite for each 6 rounds.

Primers are getting well dented, but I noticed that the hammer nose was very loose. My old Victory shows a little play in the hammer nose, but the '17 is much greater.

Is there any objective measure of 'correct' looseness? The hammer isn't scraping anything, nor are there any visible strikes on the frame.

On neither revolver is the nose bushing/rivet visible, although its obvious that the part ain't falling out.

I searched this forum and found 2 references to the 'toothpick trick' regarding FTI and hammers. Can anyone tell me what this is?

Thanks all.

If you see no sign of the firing pin striking the frame or elongating the bushing in the breech face, it's not likely the pin is too loose. However, it's not a real difficult piece to replace should you desire to do so.

A more likely cause is trying to finese the trigger stroke and having the hammer slightly touch the rebound slide during its fall. This will rob enough energy to cause misfires.

You also need to be aware that the Brazilian 1917s came with an unusual hammer block operated by a cam on the hand. If you have good strikes on the primers, this probably isn't an issue.....but I've seen some wierd things done to compensate for a lack of proper replacement parts (hands with the cam surface). If the firing pin is visible through the breech face with the hammer down, your weapon needs professional attention.

Thanks WR:

No, the pin stays out of site from the breech face side. Tried again with fired cases in the chambers--I had some mystery sticking on some pulls which did not recurr.

I know I should/shall have the piece looked and worked over by a good 'smith (Jardine? Ten-ring? Maraviov?) but I haven't decided whether to just bring it up to working order, or, recognizing its lack of collector value, to go for further modifications (e.g. bobbed hammer, DA only, shorter barrel etc.)

Thanks again, will explore my trigger-pull some more.