broken hammer pivot replacement, improved I-frame

[teletech]

Circa 1951-1952 based on features and serial number.
Broke the hammer pivot pin today, sheared off at the base.
I gather there are several types of hammer pivot used over the years, with some screwing in and others being pressed-in. I'm not sure which I have on my hands here.
I don't see any serrations on the flange and there aren't and recesses for a spanner, so I'm guessing this is a pressed-in stud but I want to know that if possible before attempting to press it out.
Extra annoying since I just placed a Numrich order this morning. :-(

 

[Hondo44]

How did you place the order? Maybe it's not too late to call and change the order.

If it's a pressed in fit which I'm almost sure it is, it'll be obvious when you tap it with a flat punch and small hammer from the outside left side of frame towards the interior of the frame.

 

[teletech]

Interestingly, I pressed a broken one out of a newer cut J-frame I'd bought for parts and found it to be nicely braised-in. The pre-model I'm working on shows no signs of copper in the joint, so I think it was just pressed-in, but it is interesting to note the change in fabrication over the years.
Sadly, I wasn't able to get the old one pressed out cleanly and have had to resort to drilling/milling it out of the frame. I expect that to leave a slightly oversized hole, so I'm going to just go ahead and turn the new part from raw stock and press it in.

 

[Hondo44]

I know of no hammer pins being brazed in place by S&W. Likely that was an old repair.

Did the pre model pin have a domed surface or finished flush the frame surface? Domed pins are threaded in and flush pins are pressed in.

 

[teletech]

I know of no hammer pins being brazed in place by S&W. Likely that was an old repair.

Did the pre model pin have a domed surface or finished flush the frame surface? Domed pins are threaded in and flush pins are pressed in.

Whoever did the work did a great job then, I had to use a powerful magnifying glass to locate the seam.
Both were flush pins in post-threaded frames. I considered tapping the frame for a threaded pin but couldn't find any I/J threaded pins for sale and if I'm making a pin anyway, it's a bit easier to make it press-in.

 

[Alk8944]

I know ofs no hammer pins being brazed in place by S&W. Likely that was an old repair.

Did the pre model pin have a domed surface or finished flush the frame surface? Domed pins are threaded in and flush pins are pressed in.

Actually the various studs in the frame of S&W revolvers have historically been installed by screwing them in until, as I recall, somewhere around WWII. The next method was by induction brazing until sometime in the 1960s. Since that time they have been simply pressed in. It may be possible, sometimes, to see the ring of brazing around the hammer studs with a magnifier. The brazed in studs were polished flat just like the later pressed in studs.

Actually there was a fourth method for a time also. The studs had a flange around their base, and then they were staked around this flange. Think of how a hammer nose bushing is staked. This probably fell between the screwed in and brazed in methods. The only studs with a domed exterior end were the earliest ones that were screwed into the frame. It is easy to tell the screwed in and staked in studs by looking at them from the interior of the frame.

I don't guarantee any of the dates mentioned, they are estimates and from memory/experience, so don't criticize me on that point