Long story short....I've got a 4046 that had a broken drawbar and I've been trying to fix it. I replaced the drawbar and the new one broke too, I determined that the hammer was slipping off of the drawbar and causing something to bind up which resulted in the breaks. Ok so I just put in another new drawbar and a new hammer assembly (4006). I tested it out with the slide off and it seemed to function fine (DAO) but when I put the slide on and tried to test it out the hammer wouldn't engage with the drawbar unless I cocked it manually with my thumb after racking the slide (That would mean after every shot the hammer would have to be manually engaged). My solution... I removed the disconnector to prevent it from pushing down the drawbar. Now the gun functions perfectly with the slide on (DA and SA), even eliminated the magazine disconnect. The downside though is that this gun doesn't have a thumb safety or decocker, so anytime a round is loaded into the chamber it's gonna have a SA trigger pull with no safety and the only way around that is to manually drop the hammer on a live round (not very safe). Also I can see potential for out of battery ignition since that was part of the disconnectors function, to keep the drawbar disengaged until the slide fully returned to the front position.

Since this gun is only used for range plinking I'm not too concerned with it always being SA with no safety, but I would like to resolve the possible out of battery ignitons. Does anyone have any recommendations for what I can do to make this 4006 hammer work in this 4046 pistol with the disconnector installed? I thought about modifying the disconnector but I'm not real sure that would have any positive effect.

Welcome to the forum bigchief247.

I'm not entirely sure what you're trying to accomplish here. It kind of sounds like you are trying to convert a 4046 to some form of TDA. Now that conversion can be done easily on a 4046TSW but it takes a few more parts than just a hammer swap and there is some fitting plus critical adjustments that must be done to insure safe operation.

If we are talking about a standard model 4046 and not the later TSW variant, I don't believe the DAO hammer is interchangeable with the TDA hammer. There's no way to fit a decock function to that model. Hopefully member fastbolt or others with more experience than I with the DOA guns will chime in.

I will caution you about removing the disconnector though. To pull that component in order to troubleshoot or diagnose a problem at the bench is fine but, to load and fire without the disconnector installed is extraordinarily dangerous. Especially so when you are swapping/testing fire control components. You have nothing to prevent a hammer fall with the breech unlocked. Just don't!

Cheers
Bill

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Because they don't make a .46

Hi, bigchief247!

As the drawbar is the same between the 4006 and 4046, and the trigger and hammer are what is different, why not just replace the 4006 hammer that you just installed with a replacement 4046 hammer and put it back together the way it was?

John?

Also the DOA sear is unique to the 4046. Part of the DAO hammer/sear kit... S&W pn: 191870000

Cheers
Bill

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Because they don't make a .46

That is correct, Bill.

He should still have the original in usable condition unless it is also damaged and the OP has not identified it as such.

John

I would just send it back to S&W and pay them to make it right again.....

They still make 5946's and possibly 4046's so they should have parts.

That's what I was hoping to do, but the reason I ended up using the 4006 is because I couldn't locate one for a 4046.

Yea I know, I ordered it at a local shop and I told the guy to get me a hammer/ sear kit but all I ended up with was the hammer assembly.

Hi bigchief247

Brownells has your hammer/sear kit in stock
http://www.brownells.com/handgun-par...prod14626.aspx

The DAO trigger is in stock also
http://www.brownells.com/handgun-par...prod14945.aspx

Assuming you still have a good drawbar there, this stuff ought to get you back in business

Cheers
Bill

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Because they don't make a .46

Sounds like a mess.

Used 4046? You the original owner? If not, no way to know whether the previous owner(s) fiddled with things that are now causing problems.

If it were me, I'd immediately stop trying to shoot the gun until it's been examined by a gunsmith, repair tech or a S&W trained armorer and can be restored to proper, normal (original DAO) working condition.

Where were drawbars breaking? Just curious. Old style drawbars had some sharper angles in a couple spots where stress risers could sometimes eventually cause breakage. (Typically at either rear corner, or in the middle, behind the disconnector tab.)

Having 2 drawbars break in the same gun is ... unusual ... which is why the gun needs to be examined and diagnosed by someone familiar with working on them.

Now, some basic thoughts ....

The old style DAO guns used different hammers, sears and triggers than the TDA guns. (Same drawbars.) They were machined parts, and the engagement angles are different than (and incompatible with) new style MIM DAO parts. The original DAO parts (machined) and the new style DAO (MIM) parts cannot be mixed and used in the same gun.

The new MIM sear, however, can be used with both new style MIM DAO parts and TDA parts. It was being called the "Super Sear" in-house when I first saw them in an armorer class. (We were told the molds were supposedly ordered made before the engineers discovered they could be used in both DAO & TDA in new guns, though, and it was too late to order them with new lettering listing different model application.)

Trying to mix TDA parts with DAO parts shouldn't be done. Things just aren't going to line up properly when you cobble together parts from DAO & TDA guns in the same gun.

There's even a difference in the DAO (pre-TSW) frames where the firing pin safety lever is located, and this difference in the original DAO frames determines whether or not a small spring is located under the FP safety lever.

Removing the disconnector is a very bad idea.

Got a gunsmith who is familiar with S&W DAO pistols? The gun needs to be checked by someone who knows what to look for, and how to assemble the right parts for normal DAO function.

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Ret LE Firearms inst & armorer

That. Precisely.

It would be worth the wait to have S&W fix it properly.
And worth the money. But there may be another way.

Attempt to register it with S&W on their website.
About 2/3rds of people Never register their warranties.
If its already been put in the system, it will tell you.
At that point, all repairs are now yours to pay for.

https://secure2.prodregister.com/smithwesson/sw.aspx

If it hasn't, register it.
Wait a few weeks, then call warranty & tell them that you had it repaired locally,
& you are now having the current issue...and ask what to do next.
Note that Warranty Work typically takes Longer than Paid work.
Just the nature of the beast...
Still, free repair is worth the wait

Good Luck

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Marlin & Calico Specialist

You're right, I do remember finding that too. That's what I told the guy to order (from brownells) but he had to get the drawbar from numrich and I think he went by their generic schematic and thought he was ordering the right hammer for a 4046 but it actually wasn't. If I can't get it to work the way I want, I'll just get him to send this back and order that one from brownell's.

Actually this isn't my gun. It belongs to a friend of mine, he bought it from his brother, and I have no clue where it came from before that. My friend has put a couple thousand rounds through it in the time he's owned it and it seemed to work fine. The first drawbar broke on the back left corner and the second one broke right dead in the middle of the back, where the disconnector pushes down.

I haven't figured out exactly what caused it but both times I could tell that when I pulled the trigger, something was losing its grip and the trigger would slip to about the halfway position and bind up. I think when the actual break occured was when we removed the slide, both times it took considerable force to get the slide to come forward and I'm pretty sure that's because the disconnector was resting on top of the drawbar while it was binded up and couldn't go down. Even when I tried to take the slide off with these new parts, it didn't want to come off. This time I popped the grip off and removed the guts, rather than force it.

I went out and tried to shoot the gun today...the slide on the 4046 must not be cut out as much as the 4006 because the hammer was hitting the back of the slide before it could reach the firing pin. I don't mean the face of the hammer, just the front of the spur, just looking at it you would think it was all the way forward. So either the hammer would need to be bobbed or the slide filed on to make that work. I ended up doing some filing on the grooves of the original hammer and miraculously got it to where it properly engages with the drawbar. Gonna have to go test it tomorrow and make sure everything works fine though.

I see now that the trigger needs to be pulled and released before the slide comes off, correct?? I think that's what caused the drawbar to break because the trigger was in a bind and could not be pulled properly. Can anyone explain to me what's keeping the slide from coming forward before you pull the trigger?