Not sure what the purpose/advantage is but here is a discussion about these hammers, there are some nice pictures too.
Cockeyed King Hammer
Bubba done fixed this one...
- Thread starter Gunsquirrel
- Start date
Not sure what the purpose/advantage is but here is a discussion about these hammers, there are some nice pictures too.
Cockeyed King Hammer
I sent Gunsquirrel a 1917 hammer complete with DA fly. He tried it and informed me that it would not fit on the hammer stud, which was kind of surprising as the hammer I sent was one that used the same early hammer block system that is mounted in the side plate.
Anyway he sold it to me at a very reasonable price. Upon receiving it I took the side plate off and removed the hammer. Interestingly the main spring had a extra piece of flat spring in front of it and the strain screw was not tight. Some kind of odd main spring mod, that I will not be using.
Anyway, I used my small set of pin gauges to determine the Bubba hammer had a .126 hole and all the 1917 era hammers I have, had .121 to .122 holes. The threaded in hammer stud looks stock, but who knows. Anyway a 1/8" (.125) chucking reamer and a bit of careful polishing with a small round extra fine diamond file and the 1917 hammer went on the stud.
Next was the fact that the King hammer had no DA fly making the gun a SA only. I tried several DA flies on the 1917 hammer before finding one that was close. A tiny bit of work on the tip and the top ledge that adjust how far out it goes and it worked fine when the trigger completely reset, which it didn't do consistently. The reason for that was the rebound spring had been shorted considerably. In fact, when I removed the slide, the spring only came flush with the end of the slide. I installed one that was a couple coils longer and away it went. The trigger resetting and the DA working every time. SA pull is decent. There is still a real small hitch about 1/2 way through the DA pull, which tells me the fly is binding a bit as it completes its hand off to the trigger. A tiny pit of polishing on the DA fly surface should fix that.
Then it will be off to the range to see what the story on the main spring is. I will take screw driver and a couple factory main springs along.
I think that after a bunch of tinkering I now have a nice pretty nice Outdoorsman. My first S&W with the early 2 screw adjustable sights
Anyway he sold it to me at a very reasonable price. Upon receiving it I took the side plate off and removed the hammer. Interestingly the main spring had a extra piece of flat spring in front of it and the strain screw was not tight. Some kind of odd main spring mod, that I will not be using.
Anyway, I used my small set of pin gauges to determine the Bubba hammer had a .126 hole and all the 1917 era hammers I have, had .121 to .122 holes. The threaded in hammer stud looks stock, but who knows. Anyway a 1/8" (.125) chucking reamer and a bit of careful polishing with a small round extra fine diamond file and the 1917 hammer went on the stud.
Next was the fact that the King hammer had no DA fly making the gun a SA only. I tried several DA flies on the 1917 hammer before finding one that was close. A tiny bit of work on the tip and the top ledge that adjust how far out it goes and it worked fine when the trigger completely reset, which it didn't do consistently. The reason for that was the rebound spring had been shorted considerably. In fact, when I removed the slide, the spring only came flush with the end of the slide. I installed one that was a couple coils longer and away it went. The trigger resetting and the DA working every time. SA pull is decent. There is still a real small hitch about 1/2 way through the DA pull, which tells me the fly is binding a bit as it completes its hand off to the trigger. A tiny pit of polishing on the DA fly surface should fix that.
Then it will be off to the range to see what the story on the main spring is. I will take screw driver and a couple factory main springs along.
I think that after a bunch of tinkering I now have a nice pretty nice Outdoorsman. My first S&W with the early 2 screw adjustable sights
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StrawHat
SWCA Member
So, when are you going to convert it to 45?
Kevin
Kevin
LMAO
To nice for that, but stay tuned I am doing a deal for a second model 455 with issues.
To nice for that, but stay tuned I am doing a deal for a second model 455 with issues.
Alk8944
US Veteran
I don't understand what everyone is complaining about! It looks to me whoever, bubba or someone else, had a gun with a broken hammer spur, a not uncommon occurrence unfortunately. Whoever did a solid, functional job of welding the broken spur, or a replacement from source, back onto the King hammer. It looks to me he did a very good job of restoring the hammer to working condition. The workman simply had an extremely poor sense of aesthetics/style when re-shaping and finishing the weld. Give him credit for having the skill to do a respectable job of repairing the hammer to being functional, even if it doesn't look very nice.
It's not likely that the person started with the hammer in perfect condition and, wanting a larger spur, cut the original off and welded on another from wherever. At least highly unlikely! Give him credit for that!
It's not likely that the person started with the hammer in perfect condition and, wanting a larger spur, cut the original off and welded on another from wherever. At least highly unlikely! Give him credit for that!
Your definition of "very good job" and mine are a bit different.
I am not a super aesthetics guy and will give him credit for a terrible weld that was full of porosity, where he arc marked the body of the hammer "pretty good" a couple times. Cutting the rebound slide spring way to short and adding in completely unnecessary main spring modification
Yes, the spur was back on the hammer, but Ray Charles could have made a better weld. If you tried to clean it up it would probably revel he never beveled the parts and the original break line is still inside there. Yes, to fire SA only you don't need the DA fly, but you do need enough trigger return for a full reset in order for the hand to drop below the next ratchet tooth. You never need to add a a spring doubler to a main spring
Bubba, Bubba, Bubba
If you like the trigger I will send it to you and even pay postage
I am not a super aesthetics guy and will give him credit for a terrible weld that was full of porosity, where he arc marked the body of the hammer "pretty good" a couple times. Cutting the rebound slide spring way to short and adding in completely unnecessary main spring modification
Yes, the spur was back on the hammer, but Ray Charles could have made a better weld. If you tried to clean it up it would probably revel he never beveled the parts and the original break line is still inside there. Yes, to fire SA only you don't need the DA fly, but you do need enough trigger return for a full reset in order for the hand to drop below the next ratchet tooth. You never need to add a a spring doubler to a main spring
Bubba, Bubba, Bubba
If you like the trigger I will send it to you and even pay postage
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After some more thought I believe I will add fixing the king hammer to my list of projects. Grinding off Bubba's weld and doing it right won't be that difficult. Fixing the arc spots he put on the body of it so it looks good will be more of a problem. But I have always wanted to take a stab at color case hardening
Here the blue arrow point to a bad arc mark and damage to the arc of the hammer
Here the blue circle show the weld porosity which severely weakens the weld. The blue arrow points to more arc marking
Here the blue circle show how ugly the arc marks really are and the blue arrow show an spot were the weld was poorly fused (refereed to as bad tie in)
Here the blue arrow point to a bad arc mark and damage to the arc of the hammer
Here the blue circle show the weld porosity which severely weakens the weld. The blue arrow points to more arc marking
Here the blue circle show how ugly the arc marks really are and the blue arrow show an spot were the weld was poorly fused (refereed to as bad tie in)
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