Hammerli Free Pistol model 100

[Jebus35745]

Been wanting one for a while and finally bought one. It was test fired 12-23-1953, the test target shown was at 50 meters. Its actually a large group, most test targets are one ragged hole. It was unfired till 2 weeks ago. There was a slight problem firing it. Had to soak the set trigger assy and lube it with a needle oiler for watches and use a Swiss watch oil. Thanks to 6string (Jim) for helping me.

Shot it again yesterday and its doing great so far. Will try to buy some more European ammo at the gun show on Saturday. The set trigger weight of pull is measured in grams, wow is it light. The extension of wood on the right side helps, only the tip of the finger moves to fire the gun.

I like the Martini Cadet rifles and this is a small Martini action. The martini has one of the fastest lock times out there. The grip fits me nicely, only need a little wood removed in the thumb area.

Shooting a single shot slows the ammo consumption and puts you back to the basics of sight alignment and trigger control. Its good to re-develop a follow through after it fires. Larry

 

[6string]

Hi Larry,

Very nice! Glad you have it up and running. The group sizes are more a function of the ammo. Feed it what it likes best and you'll be amazed at how accurate it is!
The old cardboard boxes are very rare. People keep the fancy wood cases, but usually lose or toss the box!

Here's my Hämmerli Luxus Model, in very rare left hand configuration (even the frame is reverse!) and carved grip & forend.

Best regards,
Jim

 

[Cyrano]

Here's mine. Its wood isn't as nice as yours. I thought it was a Model 104, because of the octagon barrel, but perhaps not. Don't know when mine was made, but it is marked like yours: London 1948, Helsinki 1952, so I presume it was made between '52 and the next Olympics in '56. I had a lot of trouble with ammo for it; most brands, CCI Green Tag, for example, won't chamber completely. I finally found Remington/Eley Club Extra, and it chambers with no problem. Don't know how accurate it is since I've never benched it. I think to be good with one of these, you have to shoot nothing else; a session with a 45 will ruin your trigger pull for the Hammerli.

 

[6string]

Hi Cyrano,

Nice! That's a model 100, the original!
The low serial number (they began at 1001) suggests it's probably a 1955-56 production.
The chambers are not just tight, but designed to engrave the forward band of the bullet into the rifling. Most American brands of 22 are simply too big, and/or have too heavy a lubricant. You'd be best off with some Euro ammo, like Eley, RWS, Lapua, etc. Sure, it's more expensive, but it's not like you can burn through the stuff loading and shooting one at a time.
By the way, I suggest you make a "cartridge pusher"... a short length of dowel and an improvised handle so that you can push a cartridge into the chamber via the hole drilled under the rear sight (intended to facilitate insertion of a cleaning rod). You'll save wear and tear on the camming surfaces between the loading lever and the falling block, preserving your headspacing and firing pin-to-primer alignment.

What's up with the 2nd and 5th pictures? They don't quite match! The 2nd pic shows the set trigger lever serverely bent, while the 5th picture shows a lever that's in new condition. Did you replace it?

Nice early example of the classic Hämmerli!

 

[6string]

Hi Cyrano,

Just re-read your last comment. It's tough but not impossible to mix bullseye and free pistol technique. Check out the attached article from American Rifleman march 1960 to see what the champions were shooting. Top 2700 shooters, including service guys shooting hardball in their 45s, made the Hämmerli their first choice in free pistol.
American Rifleman March 1960
Attached is a pic of Joe Huelet Benner shooting his Hämmerli back when things were a bit less formal in the Olympics!

Cheers,
Jim

 

[Bullet Bob]

Love those guns, always wanted one. Of course now my right elbow doesn't straighten out, so I would have to find a set of grips for my left hand.

Color me jealous!

 

[Jebus35745]

Want to thank Jim (6string) for all the help over the last month. He helped me get this gun up and running. Searching this model his name came up a lot and he was helping others with their problems if they had any or just sharing knowledge. He is one of the good guys and belongs here with all the good people that share what they know.

Jim, that is one nice gun you have. The wood is gorgeous, a fitting piece for someone that collected the Hammerli free pistols. Glad you showed it to us.

Cyrano, I remember you bought yours years ago and saw the thread while searching the Hammerli free pistols. It was a while ago and I posted that I will have one some day. Finally after abt 7 years.

I'll post a couple more pics after my grandson wakes up, he's sleeping in the computer room. This is a fun to shoot gun so far. Larry

 

[4barrel]

6string- That was good info on the March 1960 A.R. Thanks.

 

[6string]

Hi Bullet Bob,

Hämmerli used to offer as an option grips fitted so as to allow shooting with a bent elbow. This is an earlier technique for precision shooting (see my little avatar picture!).
In fact, the Hämmerli 100 was never intended as a stock model. Each was ordered one at a time with a list of options and specs for the customer. Sending them a hand tracing, for example, was the norm when you placed an order.

Best Regards,
Jim

 

[THREEDFLYER]

Welcome to the Free Pistol Club Larry!
Congrats on a nice find!!

 

[Cyrano]

6string: I found my pistol at a Dallas gun show in 2014; paid about $1000 for it and have had at least that much fun with it. It had a trigger problem, I don't remember exactly what, and I sent it to Larry's Guns in Gray ME. It came back fixed and with a new trigger set lever. I've only put about 200 rounds down it, most of it trying to find out which ammo will fit and which won't. Most of what I had won't. I now have an ample supply of Rem/Eley Club Extra. The combination shoots a lot better than I can hold or see even from a rest. I want to order another rear sight leaf from Larry's with a slightly wider and deeper notch, but haven't got around to it yet.

Thanks for the idea of a bullet pusher. I have a couple of ideas I'm thinking about now, although the Rem/Eley chambers easily.

'Way back about 1954, I was in ROTC and had the opportunity to spend a few days as a cadet at West Point. For PT I went down to the pistol range and shot with the West Point pistol team. Their coach and instructor was Huelet Benner.

I also have a Hammerli-Walther Olympia, although there isn't an Olympic rapid fire range within about 400 miles. It's great fun rolling beer cans with it as fast as I can, though

 

[Tony C.]

Always want a Hammerli free pistol, never managed to get my hands on one, got a Vostok MC 55 some years ago, shot a couple of matches with it, haven't done much with it for awhile, shoulder and elbow not what it used to be.

 

[Jebus35745]

Just saw on my email that this thread is one of the featured ones this week.

One of the other single shot pistol I shoot is a Drulov model 75. It's a sturdy, simple made, well fit and accurate shooter. It's popular in Europe and made by CZ. CZ makes some great products. It may be for sale soon.

Had a T/C Contender for years and made it into an indoor shooter. Have a 10" octagon 38 special barrel, a 6 1/2" 32 mag bbl and a .22 bbl. It's fun to slow life down with single shots. Shooting is at 50 ft.

Been dry firing the Hammerli with a fired case in the chamber to loosen it up a little. It's functioning great. Seeing that Eley is 8.00 a box, I want to get as much use out of the ammo as I can. Larry

Tony, that is a nice gun.

 

[AreB]

Great pistol. Single shot will bring you back to fundamentals. I started shooting in the kids NRA program, single-shot bolt action Anshutz (sp?) rifles.

 

[adams484]

I was one month old when they test fire that gun. Thanks for sharing!

 

[sniper007]

I saw this thread in the email notice... fascinating stuff -- many thanks to the op for sharing!

I had to google Hammerli, and came up with this article from March 2016 on an airgun forum. For those who are new to these guns it might fill in some of the blanks so to speak. At least I found it worth reading:

Hammerli 100 free pistol: Part 1 | Air gun blog - Pyramyd Air Report

No Hammerli for me, but I do have an Ithaca M-49, lever-action single shot rifle in 22 magnum that has a falling block. Single-shot guns force you to learn a form of discipline that other guns simply can't.

Harold

 

[Will in Montana]

My wife found mine!

My wife, who doesn't really know a Triple Lock from a Taurus, bought my Hammerli (mine is serial number 186X) at a small gun shop in Tucker, GA, back in 1996. The owner of the shop knew me, and he knew I didn't have one. I've enjoyed shooting mine--even with long CB caps--and ever since I've been looking for an otherwise "wrecked" one that I could build into a small rifle. I have a couple of larger "Martini" actions built into .357 Magnum caliber rifles (one of them is built on a Greener "Harpoon Gun" action), and they do make dandy little sporting rifles. I also have a couple of .22 Long Rifle long guns, and I enjoy shooting our Montana "gophers" (Columbian and Richardson's ground squirrels) with them. When you get tired of using semi-autos, the old designs will warm your heart.
Good shooting,
Will

 

[deadin]

Here's my Hammerli 162 electronic trigger (recently sold...)

And a Walther Olympia Schnellfurer .22 Short rapid fire pistol from the 1930's

Finally, to balance thing out, a Walther CP2 CO2 Target...

I still have the Walthers....

 

[HKSmith]

Hi Cyrano,

Just re-read your last comment. It's tough but not impossible to mix bullseye and free pistol technique. Check out the attached article from American Rifleman march 1960 to see what the champions were shooting. Top 2700 shooters, including service guys shooting hardball in their 45s, made the Hämmerli their first choice in free pistol.
American Rifleman March 1960
Attached is a pic of Joe Huelet Benner shooting his Hämmerli back when things were a bit less formal in the Olympics!

Cheers,
Jim

That picture of Joe Benner shooting in the 1952 Olympics brought back a lot of good memories. I had the pleasure of meeting him when I was on the Yale Pistol Team in the 1960's. A salesman from High Standard (their factory was just outside of New Haven, in Hamden) brought him to the range one night to demo their guns and give us some tips. He had his 1952 Olympic Gold Medal with him and effortlessly shot a bunch of ragged hole 10-shot groups at 50 feet. The NRA 50-foot bullseye targets must have seemed easy to him compared to the Olympic 50-meter targets! This would have been around 1966-1968. We ended up with 6 High Standard pistols for our team, although I mostly shot a S&W 18-2 that I bought new in 1965 and still shoot (2-handed now and not in competition).

 

[Cyrano]

HKSmith: I shot on the Harvard pistol team in the early 1950s. I shot a Hi Standard Supermatic, S-101, like the one pictured. I couldn't manage both weights and usually shot it with just the heavy weight about half way down the barrel.