Going to bob a hammer for the first time--any last minute advice?

[morglan]

I've decided to bob the hammer on my 2" Model 10-8. I am comfortable working with my hands, and working on firearms. I have all the proper tools and space to do it, and I've watched the videos on youtube about bobbing Smith hammers.

Does anybody have any first hand tips or problems that they've run into that I can learn from? I only want to do this once--the right way.

Thanks!

 

[chief38]

Buy a replacement hammer and bob that one so when you decide you don't like the bobbed hammer anymore you can simply re-install the original. Well,........... you asked.

If you do decide to operate on the original make sure you remove it from the gun first otherwise you'll be refinishing the frame too. Tools have a habit of slipping. Other than that, just take your time and proceed slowly.

 

[Krell1]

IMHO I hate to see bobbed hammers. Everyone needs another gun anyway, go out and buy one with a concealed hammer.

 

[M29since14]

To quote Bob Hope's famous advice to the graduating class at Stanford, year unknown: "DON'T"

(If you need a "hammerless" revolver, buy a Centennial. JMHO. )

 

[tomcatt51]

I've decided to bob the hammer on my 2" Model 10-8.... Does anybody have any first hand tips...

Yes. GO SLOWLY. You can't put metal back on. Spend some time polishing before cold blueing. Heat the part (100+F) before cold blueing.

Most of my revolvers have traditionally bobbed or more radically lightened hammers. It's your gun and in spite of how some feel most of these guns aren't "collectalbes".

My 3" HB 10-8 has a hammer I did a pretty traditional bob on but I did it on a 10-9 hammer not the original. Not because the original hammer had any great value but because I prefer the 10-9s' spring loaded hammer nose.

 

[morglan]

Well, I've done quite a bit of thinking about this.

I used to have a Model 60 (.38), but I never felt that there was enough of a difference in size between the j and k frame to sacrifice shoitability and the extra round by carrying the j.

I've been carrying the 10 in my front pocket for a couple weeks now, and love it, except for trying to get it out without the hammer snagging. I put quite a few rounds through it DAO last week just to be sure that bobbing was what I wanted to do.

I have weighed all the pros and cons, and I am going to bob it. As far as picking up another hammer, since it will need to be fitted anyway, I plan to pick one up afterward if I ever decide I don't like the bobbed hammer. (I think my stock M19 2 1/2" will fill that niche though.)

 

[morglan]

Forgot to mention that I was mistaken--it's a 10-7, not -8 (not that it makes any difference.)

 

[hotrod150]

Don't listen to these nay-sayers-- go for it. If a bobbed hammer speaks to you, why not? It would definitely improve the gn for pocket carry IMHO. I own five Chief Specials and four of them have bobbed hammers, three of which I bobbed myself. I would suggest using a dremel with a cutoff wheel and cutting well short of your desired finish line. Then sanding it down slowly & carefully. Do remove the hammer from the gun.
Heating before cold-blueing does seem to help- I warm both the part and the cold blue (I use oxpho creme) by putting them in a cardboard box with a little space heater blowing into the box.

 

[hangnoose]

DIY BUBBA JOBS

If nobody can talk you out of it. learn & make your first mistakes on a less expensive gun. realize you are taking mass away from the hammer & may have to change springs to avoid light hammer strikes. I'm with many others and say just get a shrouded or totally enclosed hammer type. Wanna know how I know?

 

[tomcatt51]

realize you are taking mass away from the hammer & may have to change springs to avoid light hammer strikes.

Absolute nonsense.

 

[alwslate]

I've bobbed a few on my guns and there's no reason to make a
difficult job out of it. You don't have to remove the hammer, just cover
the lower part of the hammer and the receiver with a couple layers of
masking tape. You can use a fine tooth hacksaw blade, go slow and
use the Dremel or a file to even up the cut surface, polish a little and
cold blue. Just make sure your gun is well protected with tape and
secured so you can work carefully with both hands. The key is that you
say you are comfortable working with your hands and with tools. Some
people should not own tools.

 

[AZretired]

I agree with Hotrod. Go for it, just work slowly. I have done this to several K and J frames. I never shoot a 2 or 4 inch revolver single action so a hammer spur is just useless.

Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk

 

[Moonman]

Just try to find an old NEW YORK CITY POLICE REVOLVER (DAO)

 

[ImprovedModel56Fan]

One generally does NOT have to fit a new hammer. Just use the original DA sear in the new hammer. This almost always is all the fitting needed. I recommend that you get the new hammer now, and bob that (after checking for function with one sear or the other - often the new hammer will work even without using the old DA sear). I recommend this not because I think you will dislike the mod (I never have), but just because you may want to sell the gun some day, and finding hammers will likely get harder, not easier.

I have NEVER had trouble popping primers. Even non-factory springs don't always give trouble, but bobbing a hammer? NYPD did an extensive test with J-frame revolvers, and had ZERO problems from bobbing hammers.

 

[Rick_A]

If you are confident in you abilities, go ahead.

I had a 625 that I did a bob job and single action sear-ectomy. It looked great and worked great. I would personally remove the hammer from the gun. It makes the job easier.

I'm of the opinion that hammers are not necessary and in fact a liability on a defensive/carry gun.

 

[tomcatt51]

I would personally remove the hammer from the gun. It makes the job easier.

+1 Bobbing the hammer while it's still in the gun just seems like asking for it. Much, much easier to work on the hammer with it out of the gun.

 

[hangnoose]

UTTER NONSENSE?

Although not S&W's both my Ruger redhawk & sp101 suffered from light hammer strike issues after the hammers were bobbed by a pro, Jack Weigand, now guns and ammo's gunsmithing editor. But I suppose you know more than him. Go ahead and Bubba at your own risk. If they were intended to be used with smaller/lighter bobbed hammers they would have been engineered & manufactured that way. when so many are made with shrouded or totally concealed hammers, why risk it? I'm sure there are several that have done it successfully and more that have not.

 

[ImprovedModel56Fan]

Although not S&W's both my Ruger redhawk & sp101 suffered from light hammer strike issues after the hammers were bobbed by a pro, Jack Weigand, now guns and ammo's gunsmithing editor. But I suppose you know more than him. Go ahead and Bubba at your own risk. If they were intended to be used with smaller/lighter bobbed hammers they would have been engineered & manufactured that way. when so many are made with shrouded or totally concealed hammers, why risk it? I'm sure there are several that have done it successfully and more that have not.

First you say Jack Weigand screwed up your Rugers, then you say sarcastically that someone else knows more than he does. I don't understand the sarcasm - YOU are the one trying to say that Jack made your Rugers unreliable. I don't know whether that is true or not, but I know quite well that he didn't do it by bobbing a hammer. More likely someone put a light mainspring in.

Your "would have been engineered & manufactured that way" doesn't impress me very much, either. Aside from NYPD's tests, there is the NY-1 Model 60 debacle that attests to the infallibility of manufacturers' engineers. I suggest that you go back and read about it.

 

[tomcatt51]

Although not S&W's both my Ruger redhawk & sp101 suffered from light hammer strike issues after the hammers were bobbed by a pro...

And since you didn't do the work do you know what else was done? We routinely lighten hammers to allow lighter springs for lighter DA pulls. My lightened N frame hammers are literally 1/2 their original weight, far lighter than the usual "bobbed" weight reduction. We still hear the "lighter is bad" occaisionally from the un-informed or mis-informed who don't actually do this type of work. It's well established that hammer velocity (not hammer weight which is detrimental to velocity) is what's important with CF primers. And yes, absolute or utter nonsense is correct.

 

[hangnoose]

BACK IT UP 520

Don't go telling me what I said, when it is right there for all to read! I NEVER SAID that a bad job was done! He did a great job! It's just that these guns were made to race gun standards, not for self defense. Lighter hammer strikes occurred as a result and only with handloads using cci primers, never an issue with factory ammo that did not use cci primers, or handloads with any other primer either.