Hair Trigger 1860 Army

[madcratebuilder]

Hard to tell from photos but it appears that the sear has hit the half cock notch and may be damages. Changing the contact angle to a negative angle, it should be 1 or 2 degrees positive.

If the sear and hammer notch engagement angles are correct the trigger return spring has nothing to do with hammer push off. The hammer spring pressure and a positive angle is what keeps these two parts engaged.

 

[DOUBLEDEUCE 1]

I would suggest you stone any surface instead of using emery paper. It would be easier to keep the angles straight by stoning. If you get carried away with the emery paper, you might slightly round the surfaces again. Use a magnifying glass to check your work. Go slowly. :hmm:
Good luck.

 

[Norinco]

Your sear and your sear notch are both rounded. this is probably the result of improper hardening. Either replace them with new parts or stone the old ones to establish 90 degree contact points between the two mating parts and reharden. I would do the latter because I know how and I am cheap to boot. Read that as frugal.

That would change the hammer fall distance, so when you cock the hammer, it may be possible to place the hammer on full cock without fully rotating the cylinder.

The miniscule amount of metal removed is a non-issue. If the hammer is brought back to full cock the way the pistols were designed to be operated the cylinder will rotate fully. There is no sneaky way to cock a traditional single action.

I've seen one that has that problem. It was possible to bring the hammer to full cock and not even realize the cylinder wasn't even fully rotated yet.

 

[denster]

Pay attention to what madcratebuilder said. You can fool with the trigger return spring all day long and you will not correct the problem.
Reshaping the sear nose and rehardening is best left to someone with a bit of experience.
If that is a Pietta, and I suspect it is, you can get a spare parts kit from Cabela's (Part 1A-214052) for $30 that will give you a new hammer, trigger, hand&spring, bolt/trigger spring & bolt. The extra parts you'll probably need in the future and the price of the kit is less than paying a gunsmith to reshape the trigger sear and harden. In any case the half cock notch lip needs to be lowered so the tip of the sear doesn't bang into it and that is not a hard job check my previous post for how to.

 

[napolean]

Keep in mind that it takes VERY good small stones to work on sears and notches to keep them square and flat. As I said in my first post, Not a job for a novice. The suggestion on the parts kit for $30.00 may be the way to go, however, some new parts also require final hand fitting.
Jon D

 

[denster]

Agreed it does take the right type and quality of stones and a jig also is helpful when working on the sear and full cock notches. What I was refering to was lowering the height of the half cock notch lip which doesn't require a great deal of precision as you are just getting the offending extra metal out of the way.

 

[napolean]

Right Dennis, even a bit of a champher on the leading edge would do no harm there. I still think your $30.00 parts fix suggestion is in order. If you don't already have the tools, stones, reharding material, your lookin' at more than that. Also,IMO, the gun should be "Parked" until fixed. An accident or further damage could result.
Jon D

 

[madcratebuilder]

The parts kit is an excellent suggestion. It's about the cost of one quality smithing stone and you well have the parts needed for a complete repair. I would swap out the entire parts kit.

 

[Mulebrain]

The parts kit is an excellent suggestion. It's about the cost of one quality smithing stone and you well have the parts needed for a complete repair. I would swap out the entire parts kit.

BINGO

It is much easier, than picking and choosing.