Loose metal piece inside a Safety Hammerless

[DCWilson]

I picked up a Safety Hammerless/Fourth Model yesterday and found that it would occasionally jam half-way through a trigger pull. When I took the sideplate off to clean it, I found this piece of metal underneath the hand and in front of the hammer. Given the geometry of the interior components, I don't think there is any chance it worked its way there from any other part of the gun. (But maybe my powers of visualization have deserted me.)



The piece is about half an inch long. It appears to be broken both on the angled face of the wide part and at the opposite end. The wide part is 1/8" across at its widest. I have no idea if the bend is accidental or part of the original design.

I did not see any part in an exploded diagram of a Safety Hammerless that looked like this in whole or in part. Can anyone tell me if this is a broken part of the gun that I need to replace? Or is it just foreign scrap that got inside somehow?

While we are on the subject, how does one remove the trigger guard from a fourth model? I saw instructions for doing it on a third model, but this trigger guard refuses to flex or even budge under pressure on the rear bow.

[Tango 106]

Pardon my ignorence, but what is a "fourth model"? If it is possible, especially if it is a revolver, some photo's of it with the sideplate removed might help. Right now, it looks like a piece of scrap metal to me. But, it of course does resemble a messed up top half of a hammer safety block. A REAL messed up bar if it is.

[jbouwens]

Check out the Numrich gun parts website. Numrich Gun Parts Corp. - The World's Largest Supplier of Firearms Parts and Accessories


Maybe you can match up you mystery piece with the drawing. Good luck.

[DCWilson]

Originally Posted by Tango 106

Pardon my ignorence, but what is a "fourth model"? If it is possible, especially if it is a revolver, some photo's of it with the sideplate removed might help. Right now, it looks like a piece of scrap metal to me. But, it of course does resemble a messed up top half of a hammer safety block. A REAL messed up bar if it is.

Sorry, should have cross-linked:

A Shootable .38 Safety/Fourth

There were five different models of the Safety Hammerless, or "Lemon Squeezer."

Since this gun has no external hammer, there is nothing to be accidentally struck that would drive the firing pin forward, and a hammer safety block is not needed.

I neglected to take a picture of the gun with its side plate off. I'll try to get a snap the next time I have my photo stage set up.

[DCWilson]

Originally Posted by jbouwens

Check out the Numrich gun parts website. Numrich Gun Parts Corp. - The World's Largest Supplier of Firearms Parts and Accessories


Maybe you can match up you mystery piece with the drawing. Good luck.

Thanks for the reference, but I just don't see anything there that looks like the piece I found inside the gun. I also looked at the breakdown illustration on David Chicoine's website, as well as the exploded drawing in one of his gunsmithing books. That's three different illustrations, and not one of them shows a piece in a view that makes me think it could be the source for the scrap I found.

[Hunt200]

Part number 37 looks like it might be it to me???

[DCWilson]

Originally Posted by Hunt200

Part number 37 looks like it might be it to me???

There's a resemblance, to be sure, but I think the orientation of the wide part is different. I don't understand what a "split spring" is and what it does. It seems to be mounted on a pin on the arm that contains the cylinder stop, but I don't see what it tensions.

On my gun the cylinder stop functions properly, showing retraction and return to locking position consistently as the trigger is pulled.

I am going to have to take my gun apart to a greater extent than I did before and see if I have an intact or broken split spring in it.

Thanks to all for your comments.

[DCWilson]

No doubt now: this "mystery" piece is the broken and bent end of a safety hammerless split spring. When I worked up enough courage to take the gun completely apart, I found that the gun had an intact split spring properly positioned with the cylinder stop bar. I would guess that in a previous repair the broken piece was simply overlooked when the new split spring was installed.

Broken piece on top (slightly flattened to better show the resemblance), my gun's cylinder stop bar with an intact split spring on the bottom.



This question got some discussion in the gun's thread in the Antiques form, so I posted this picture there as well.

[Hunt200]

David, I think it's cool it was only a left over piece versus a broken piece. Does make you wonder what the person who repaired the first time was thinking......

[Andy Griffith]

This just goes to show, if this gun was sent in to the factory repair department for the repair- even those people back then made mistakes.

It's what makes us human.

[649 Bodyguard]

I`m glad it worked out good for you.