my 22/32 hft #238639 has the same hammer modification. while i was shopping for it i saw several others like it. i posted a question here quite some time ago if anyone knew if this was a fad thing or whether the hammer might be hanging up on the flour sack when they went to "yank it". can anyone with an original hammer offer an opinion as to whether the hammer might have been able to pinch down on hand meat while being fired? other than the hammer and a chip in the grip mine is like new with only the barest of turn ring (well you can see it better now). this makes me think it was something done either at s&w or at least prior to starting its life as a tool.