I have a Highway Patrolman that I inherited that has hammer push off. It was due to improper trigger and hammer face geometry. It is way out of square. I squared all the surfaces up with my surface grinder and got rid of the hammer push off and it smoothed up the pull. I was woundering if anyone knows what metal the triggers and hammers were made out of. Were the triggers heat treated then case hardened, or just case hardened.
Last edited by diesel_fireman2001; 06-27-2017 at 01:01 PM.
If you look on Ebay, you can find hammers and triggers that will fit your handgun. Take them to a gunsmith that knows enough not to take power tools to the gun and he/she will fit them properly. Doesn't take much to eat through case hardening.
I was planning on re heat treating/case hardening the trigger. I am a tool and die machinist and have a whole machine shop to my disposal. I am just trying to figure out if the triggers and hammers were just a cheap mild steel that was case hardened, or something like 4140. I actually ordered a replacement hammer and trigger from Numrich just in case I screw up.
They are probably in the 4140 spec range. But, I don't think running it through a HT oven will achieve that high of hardness with only .40 carbon plus, no good way to temper the rest of the trigger and keep highest hardness on the sear surfaces. Doing another case hardening should work well. Good luck. If you have the tools and experience experimenting and learning is a good thing. Its only a trigger. Not like it was a frame. The rest of the gun is just a bunch of parts unless it is some kind of collectable and then some of the parts are numbered to the frame.
For most people power tools and gun parts don't work out well. I take a mill and a lathe to parts all the time. I wish I had a surface grinder, but not for much in the way of gun work. It would really make me more willing to make folding knives.
Last edited by steelslaver; 06-27-2017 at 04:53 PM.
Thanks for the help, ended up case hardening the trigger, and it came out great. Lost the factory "case hardening" look, but functions 100%. Also did some stoning, polishing, and shimming of the trigger and hammer and everything is super smooth and has a nice light pull. Didn't get pics of trigger before I put it back in. Next time I am salt bluing something, I will do the trigger too.
Last edited by diesel_fireman2001; 06-28-2017 at 06:35 PM.