Somewhere the sun is shining,
Somewhere the children shout,
But there is no joy in Mudville,
For Short & Sweet can't push the bullets out
Short & Sweet made a range trip today in it's new configuration along with two other projects that you haven't met yet: A Little Harry and The Postwar Dream. These other two were on their initial evaluation range trip. More to come on both of them.
The shaping, smoothing, and polishing on the Short & Sweet's trigger was the big win of the day. Vast improvement.
The double action trigger pull was wonderful compared to the other two....Little Harry has perhaps the worst trigger I have ever felt in a Smith.
The problem today was light primer strikes. Federal primers would give a light strike 1 or 2 times per cylinder, Winchester primers were over 50% failure on the first hit. Every light strike had a small dimple in the primer and would fire on the second strike.
Short & Sweet has been running a Wilson Combat mainspring since it's first range trip and everything worked 100% with the standard .265 spurred hammer in both single and double action. The bobbed DAO hammer was the "big change" on this trip.
This DAO hammer is the one that was originally in Bullshooter, but Bullshooter was never tested in that configuration. I replaced the bobbed hammer with a semi-target hammer when Bullshooter was assembled and the bobbed hammer eventually made its' way into Short & Sweet.
The ammo I was using is from the same reload lots that I've been using all along, so I don't think that's the problem.
I see 3 possibilities:
- The firing pin/hammer nose in the DAO hammer may be damaged or otherwise too short.
- The reduced mass of the DAO hammer combined with the Wilson Combat mainspring may not be generating enough force to reliably ignite the primer. That whole Mass X Velocity thing...
- It was colder than my mother-in-law's heart at the range today and my habit of greasing the inside of the gun like a wheel bearing may have caught up with me. (Hi Steelslaver!)
Here's my plan:
Set up the measuring tools and quantify the amount of firing pin protrusion from the breech face on the DAO hammer, the "known good" standard hammer, and on several other guns that I know do not have a light strike problem.
After my "measures more than 5 pounds" trigger scale arrives, perform Steelslavers lubricant test and post the results.
Using the winning lubrication method, continue the test by measuring the hammer tension with the stock mainspring, the Wilson Combat mainspring, and a Wolff mainspring.
Make a range trip with 2 hammers, 3 springs, a toolbox, the patented anti-Zing! device, and a pile of ammo. This wouldn't be the first time that I've done "hot testing" by swapping parts at the range and I'm sure it won't be the last. (And yes, I will take a tarp, a magnet picker-upper tool, and duplicates of the small parts. I figure if I take a couple of rebound springs and a few sideplate screws that guarantees that I won't need them.)
Stay tuned, we're about to get nerdy!
I know I could look up the minimum hammer tensions needed for various weights of hammers (or I could just call Nelson - he has them memorized), but for me it "sticks better" if I do the work to figure it out.
I also find this kind of stuff very relaxing. (At least it's relaxing when I'm not working on Eleanor!) My regular job is quite mentally taxing and being able to completely focus on something else for a short time helps me reset.
All that rust bluing stuff that is sitting in the corner will just have to wait until we get the mechanicals straightened out.
Last edited by Shotguncoach; 01-07-2024 at 01:54 AM.
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