Hammer Bobbing...opinions, please.

[rkrcpa]

I have a couple with bobbed hammers, never had any issues with either one.

 

[-BTM-]

Energy is mass times velocity squared, but energy is not the important factor. Energy is expended in many ways, noise, friction heat, etcetera. The important thing in force transfer from the hammer to the primer is momentum, mass times velocity. Momentum is also the critical factor in wound ballistics. Energy is always a much flashier number because of that squaring of the velocity but total kinetic energy dissipates in many ways

What's your vector, victor? It's a rotating mass, the math is beyond me. I'm not getting how you distinguish energy from momentum, which is….energy.

 

[diyj98]

I installed a spare hammer on my 360J and bobbed it because the stock hammer would sometimes snag on my pockets or pocket holster. Everything went bang and that's the only modification I made to it.

 

[Bald1]

I have bobbed model 64 and 10. Both with Wolf Spring kits. Never a FTF and can't outrun it.

 

[Goodnews]

I'm interest in this also. I will be bobbing the hammer on my Fitz build..

I would just buy a bobbed replacement hammer. Keep the original hammer.

 

[Dave Workman]

AAAAARRRRGH! I bow to the late Elmer Keith on this one. He counseled against bobbed hammers. He was a wheelgun man extraordinaire. It was sorta like him intimating, 'If God wanted bobbed hammers, He'd have made it so,' or something like that . I've got a bunch of D/A revolvers, and I would never, EVER bob the hammer on any of them.

Whew...now that I've got THAT out of my system...... I concur with the folks ahead of me who simply counseled getting a 442 or Model 38, with the shrouded hammer...best of both worlds.

 

[reno]

I have done that before. It has been a while. Probably 50 years. Choices were not what they are today. I was always careful to leave enough weight to fire. But got rid of the hammer so it would not hang on a pocket of pants or coat.
I did it a couple of times. Wasn't that big of a deal really. I took a Dremel and rounded off the cut.

 

[quinn]

Bobbing goes waaaay back. I have a 1910 shipped Triple Lock with a bobbed hammer though it didn't ship that way from the factory. Nickel and carved pearl handles with gold peso inserts.

 

[ammodave]

I wanted a bobbed hammer on my SP101 so I found a used hammer and bobbed it. No problems with ignition and I can switch back to the oem hammer in 5 minutes.

 

[coffeync3]

I am in the camp of why cut the hammer down, when you can buy a 42 series with no hammer for about what it will cost for the gunsmithing involved.

Now if you have a cosmetically challenged snubby then it may be a canidate for bobbing and whatever. I have a 31-1 that is so challenged. I reamed the 32 S&W chambers to .32 H&R Magnum. Do I feel bad for doing so? No, since it was not a collector piece as it sat. I bought it in this condition just to try the conversion. I am pleased with it.

Bottom line is it is your piece, so do whatever you want.

Hmmm. Got me to thinking. I have a pre model 30 hand ejector in 32 S&W long. Thought about doing the same. It sounds as if yours held up ok. Any problems or concerns you would share ?

 

[Redhawk Hunter]

I bobbed the hammer on a model 60 years ago along with an action job. Eventually I traded it to another gunsmith who trusted his wife's life to it. They fired a lot of ammo through it with no problems.

 

[rockquarry]

I bobbed the hammer on a model 60 years ago along with an action job. Eventually I traded it to another gunsmith who trusted his wife's life to it. They fired a lot of ammo through it with no problems.

I had an M60, purchased new in 1980, It had a bobbed hammer for many years only because I dropped the gun and part of the hammer spur broke off, so I had what was left bobbed. It always functioned fine, but the bobbed hammer served no real purpose. I eventually had a gunsmith install a new hammer.

 

[old tanker]

I believe the number of people interested in bobbed hammers is directly proportional to the people unable to find a replacement hammers with an unbroken spur.

 

[OutAtTheEdge]

I bought this 36 used and pre-bobbed about 20 years ago, and immediately discovered that it did indeed have an occasional tendency to misfire. Dropped in a slightly heavier Wolff mainspring and problem solved.

 

[Heinz]

What's your vector, victor? It's a rotating mass, the math is beyond me. I'm not getting how you distinguish energy from momentum, which is….energy.

BTM; momentum is not energy. Rotating masses have angular momentum, you will need some understanding of that if you want to evaluate revolver hammer/tumbler behavior

 

[rockquarry]

BTM; momentum is not energy. Rotating masses have angular momentum, you will need some understanding of that if you want to evaluate revolver hammer/tumbler behavior

Makes no difference to most as long as the revolver fires with 100% reliability.

 

[w.r.gun]

Look at an n frame hammer ,look at a j frame hammer . Big difference Same primer. Find a mod. 38 hammer .no spur same mass as std 36/60

 

[Protocall_Design]

Given the same mainspring tension, a bobbed hammer will hit harder than a same kind of spur hammer, due to the increased speed.

 

[Pat the Gunsmith]

I'm curious... I'm considering having a full action job done on a Model 60, including having the hammer bobbed. It's been my understanding for many years that the weight (mass) of the hammer in its original configuration adds to the successful ignition of the primer. Seems to me (intellectualizing here) that having the action job accomplished AND having the hammer bobbed may be counterproductive to successful ignition. Whaddaya think? Anybody have any real experience in this regard?

Having been a gunsmith in NYC at the time NYPD authorized the Model 60 with a DA only bobbed hammer, I have VERY direct experience with the topic. The answer is, DON"T. Your reasoning is correct. To compensate for the reduced mass of the hammer, S&W increased the hammer spring pressure and subsequently had hammer pin failures. If you want a DA only, snag free J frame, get a 640 or a 649. (personally, I have the 649.)

 

[Valmet]

I have a 1989 vintage 37-1 Airweight with a bobbed hammer (unsure who did the work) and it's always worked fine for me with factory stuff and handloads.