L-frame hammer nose

[tdan]

The tip of the hammer nose on my 696 no dash broke off in the middle of a recent local club match. Amazingly, the gun would still shoot, as the tip was captured inside the frame bushing. I am the original owner, and my question is this: Did this model L-frame come with a hammer nose spring? All of my N-frames have the spring in the hammer nose. My Brownell's catalog lists part # 0729660000 as the proper part for this spring. My gun was not assembled with one, like my older K-frames. I do not have any other hammer nose version L-frames(686-4, etc.) to compare with. Anyone out there have a 696 no dash similar to mine that does not have this spring? How about 686's of the same vintage?

By the way............a call to S&W this past Monday resulted in a new hammer nose plus the spring arriving today. As usual..........terrific customer service from Smith and Wesson. Sadly, the rivet has been discontinued by Smith, and Brownell's is temporarily out of stock of the rivets that they get from an aftermarket supplier.

 

[bgrafsr]

You can re-use the rivet, if you don't bang it up too much when you remove it. Just use a good fitting punch to remove the rivet from the hammer and you should be okay.

 

[chief38]

The above poster ^^^^^^ has the answer; you CAN re-use the existing rivet if taken out carefully. I have done this a few times and have been successful. New rivets seem to be getting scarce these days! Oh, and when you remove the rivet make sure you use a support or bench block with just enough clearance for the rivet to come out the other side. You do not need to do damage to the hammer itself.

Chief38

 

[Drail]

I also own a 696 no dash. It does have a spring under the firing pin. The rivets have gotten hard to find since S&W stopped using them. I have reused the rivets once a few times if you can get it out gently enough to not damage it.

 

[cerberus65]

I have a 586-3 and it has a hammer nose spring.

 

[tdan]

I was able to carefully drift out the old rivet and re-use it. The original hammer nose spring was shorter than the new spring, and was basically non-functional. Wrong part????...........Who knows. I did have a chance to examine a friend's 686-4. His gun definitely has a sprung hammer nose. My 696 is now up and running again!