I purchased a Investarms Kentuckian percussion pistol from an online auction based only on the pictures I could see in the ad. It was complete in the box with flask, nipple wrench, brush and mold for ball and bullet. It is .44 cal. Being in NJ I had to wait a month for my pistol purchase permit to come through before I could even touch it. I picked it up the other day and I can see it has never been fired. All the stuff in the box is new. But in the process of going over it I noticed the hammer is pretty far out of alignment towards the outside. I have shimmed the hammer on one of my rifles and that solved that problem but this has to go in. not out. so I took the hammer assy. off and right away I could see the poor workmanship behind these guns! I see there is a block that is part of the hammer housing casting and that is the problem, it is bearing on the barrel. I assume it is supposed to bear on the barrel for stability but it needs to be in further. I can take care of this by lightly grinding a little off of that block but before I do I wanted to ask if this is an appropriate thing to do. You can see in the pics what I have installed with it installed, partially apart to show the interference part and the two pics of it apart and you can see that little dot on the casting and the mark it made on the barrel. That is the area I need to grind down.
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Hammer alignment, Is this acceptable?
- Thread starter Rickf1985
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Hard to tell by your pictures.
If the hammer has to move inward more, what if you shave off some wood to move the lock.
If the hammer has to move inward more, what if you shave off some wood to move the lock.
The first pic looks ok. It appears just slightly off. See if it’ll set caps off. If so it should be fine.
Stony Broke
32 Cal.
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It should fire just fine as is, from what I can see....but if it were me, I think I would do a little grinding to start with. I would like to see a little better alinement, even if it would work without it....
I wouldn’t tweak it till I try it. Might be fine.
Phil Coffins
69 Cal.
See that little bump on the lock and the corresponding spot on the barrel. Grind just that bump and that will allow the lock to lay up to the barrel a bit better.
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that doesn't look like any investarms i have ever seen. but that said, i have one percussion with the hammer off like that. shoots fine.
Tom Compton
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First, as mentioned already, if the hammer cup cleared the cap/nipple there’s no need to do anything.
Second, is the lock plate already flush with the barrel all along whe length? If it is, then removing wood from the lock mortise will not do any good and can leave the lock unsupported.
Thanks for clearing that up, Tom.
Tom Compton
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No problem.
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good Lord! i need therapy! i completely missed the Pistol part of the op. i think glasses might help too.!
Just to give you an idea of how far off it really is when the hammer comes down it actually hits on the ramp on the cup in the hammer. It is VERY close to hitting the side of the cup. That is why I want to move it over. The wood is not the issue, If I pull the screws in it will pull both ends of the hammer plate in around that metal block which is contacting the barrel. I figure I would use a Dremel and a drum sanding block and very slowly take a little at a time until the hammer cup hits flush on the nipple. I can see where the mainspring was ground to clear the barrel and man, what a sloppy job! That is also barely touching so I will need to clean that up and blend it smooth. For what I paid for it I guess I can't complain if it shoots. I paid 100.00 for the kit. Here is the kit, And it is an Interarms, Not a Investarms as I said before. I will correct that in the OP if I can. Cannot edit original post, Oh well, Interarms Kentuckian, NOT Investarms.
You need a pistol permit for a black powder muzzleloader?
Nice looking set though. I really got a soft place in my heart for fitted gun cases with accoutrements.
NJ is one of those states where you need a pistol permit to buy any kind of pistol even a air pistol. At one time you could buy a BP pistol in NJ without this permit. I think it was around the early 70's but that all changed when the biker gangs where shooting each other with the BP pistols. The law was changed and now you need a permit to buy one. I use to travel to Dixon's to buy my BP pistols when I lived in NJ.
In NJ you need a permit to take a crap! You need a permit to buy a BB pistol and you need a firearms id card to buy and own a BB gun or even a paintball gun. And we will not even talk about all of the gun restrictions.
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Rickf1985, This is the best reply I have seen posted so far! If I am following your original post, you are talking the same language.
Larry
@toot's right here. If your pistol is firing the caps, there is little to be gained by trying to adjust the hammer. The adjustments may be more trouble than improvement.
If the caps are not getting struck properly, then adjustment is in order. Have you, @Rickf1985, tried any of the adjustments? Did the adjustment improve the firing?
A common adjustment is the bending of the hammer to center the hammer nose over the nipple. This involves removing the hammer, a torch to heat the hammer in a padded vise, and a box wrench to twist the hammer to a new position.
If the caps are not getting struck properly, then adjustment is in order. Have you, @Rickf1985, tried any of the adjustments? Did the adjustment improve the firing?
A common adjustment is the bending of the hammer to center the hammer nose over the nipple. This involves removing the hammer, a torch to heat the hammer in a padded vise, and a box wrench to twist the hammer to a new position.
