How aggressively can the sides of a hammer/trigger be polished

[adweisbe]

I just purchased a k-frame that I thought was unmodified (did not ask seller directly doh!), but turns out to have been extensively worked on.

It was refinished by bead blasting and many of the edges are rounded including things like the outside edge of the barrel forcing cone (outside meaning not a part the bullet interacts with) and serial number area (why wasn't it bead blasted with the yoke in place?). The sides of the hammer and trigger have been polished enough that they are much lighter in tone then anything I have seen before which makes me suspect the case hardening has been worn through. Single action doesn't have any push off and doesn't feel like it has been modified since it has a decent amount of creep. The gun also doesn't carry up on at least two chambers.

The slow carry up can be fixed, but how much polishing can the sides of the trigger and hammer tolerate?

 

[dfariswheel]

Quite a bit since the sides are not exposed to any wear like the operating surfaces are, so polishing through the case hardening on the sides is not a problem.

As long as you don't thin the parts so much that you get excessive side play, there's no real limit.

 

[adweisbe]

Thanks dfariswheel. That puts my mind at ease. Having had time to inspect it, it looks like its a keeper. The cylinder notches are a bit peened which is odd, maybe related to the lack of carry up and recoil?

 

[WR Moore]

If your gun is stainless, I'm not entirely sure the hammer/trigger were case hardened.

Peened bolt stop notches can effect carryup, I'd try a new bolt stop & spring first.

 

[tomcatt51]

Stop notch peening is very common on stainless guns that have been shot (or dry fired) fast DA alot. The wear/peening pattern on those notches look like the stop doesn't come up as far as it should or has a weak spring.

 

[murphydog]

If you have a stainless gun, most of the hammers and triggers were "flash chromed" to match the silver color of the rest of the gun. Agree that the non-bearing sections of these parts can be polished quite a bit without ill effects on their function.