Done properly it will make the lock work as it should. Like anything else, if done improperly it could make it dangerous, or non-functional.
Hammer gets stuck on the half cock: diagnosis?
- Thread starter CS
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No I am not the half cock notch was very deep to start with. Many of the cheaper early guns had no half cock notch. As it is now I can put the gun in half cock and hang the weight of the gun off my finger and it will not move. This is a common safety check for reanactors. As a master machinist and a tool maker when I reduce the depth of something I am talking about thousands of an inch at a time
Thinking as @flconch53 is planning on taking a little bit of metal off the tumbler at the half cock notch to reduce the circumference of the tumbler thus reducing the depth of the half cock notch. With a small reduction of the tumbler at the half cock notch, a seat if it is riding on the tumbler will clear the half cock notch as the tumbler rotates through the firing cycle.
Another consideration is the pressure the sear spring is applying to the sear. You only want enough pressure to gently hold the sear against the tumbler as the hammer is brought to full cock. On release of a single trigger, the mainspring should have the energy to rotate the tumbler past the half cock notch while the finger is lifting the trigger lever that is holding the sear away from the circumference of the tumbler. If the trigger is gently pulled and the sear spring is strong, the sear spring will hold the nose of sear against the circumference of the tumble and push the nose of the sear into the half cock notch. Properly balanced springs will allow the nose of the sear to be above the circumference of the tumbler as the tumbler rotates through the firing cycle. No need for the fly to lift the nose of the sear away from the entry of the notch. One does need a single trigger pull greater than 2 pounds for best operation.
