Hammer Wobble

[centershot]

Hello Guys,

I was able to con, ahh, err, I mean con-vince an old friend to sell me his flintlock after he quit hunting deer last year. Nothing fancy mind you, it's an old TC .50 Caliber Renegade, much the same rifle that I owned forty years ago. He had grown weary of the "sometimes yes-sometimes no" ignition and retired the rifle years ago. I recognized the symptoms he described and. thanks to this forum, I knew that all was not lost. I told him what was needed (New frizzen and hammer from Ox-Yoke and some real flints, not those sawn agates that TC markets). He didn't want anything to do with it and agreed to sell me the rifle (Yay!).

I bought the parts and picked up some large black English flints from Track and set to work. The first thing I did was stone the bottom of the frizzen where it contacted the spring, pretty ragged edge there. Then installed the frizzen and tried moving it fore and aft, nice and smooth but with authority on the "open" stroke. OK. The hanner was next. Once I placed the new hammer on the shaft, I discovered that it was a loose fit, even with the screw tightened all the way down. It wobled a little side to side and fore and aft, about 1/8". I removed the hammer and mikied the hole and also the original, .004" difference. EEK! For those that have done this, what did you use to shim that up?

 

[Larry (Omaha)]

Hello Guys,

I was able to con, ahh, err, I mean con-vince an old friend to sell me his flintlock after he quit hunting deer last year. Nothing fancy mind you, it's an old TC .50 Caliber Renegade, much the same rifle that I owned forty years ago. He had grown weary of the "sometimes yes-sometimes no" ignition and retired the rifle years ago. I recognized the symptoms he described and. thanks to this forum, I knew that all was not lost. I told him what was needed (New frizzen and hammer from Ox-Yoke and some real flints, not those sawn agates that TC markets). He didn't want anything to do with it and agreed to sell me the rifle (Yay!).

I bought the parts and picked up some large black English flints from Track and set to work. The first thing I did was stone the bottom of the frizzen where it contacted the spring, pretty ragged edge there. Then installed the frizzen and tried moving it fore and aft, nice and smooth but with authority on the "open" stroke. OK. The hanner was next. Once I placed the new hammer on the shaft, I discovered that it was a loose fit, even with the screw tightened all the way down. It wobled a little side to side and fore and aft, about 1/8". I removed the hammer and mikied the hole and also the original, .004" difference. EEK! For those that have done this, what did you use to shim that up?

That .004 slop will for sure make it wobble. Shims will help, but getting them in is the trick. What I have done to help some of the issue, is to anneal the hammer bottom only. Then place the hammer on a good vice or anvil and peen the hole, folding the square sides inward. Be carful not to go wider than the screw will cover. It is ugly, and something some guys would not do, but, If ya can't see it and it works, that is the way I vote.
Good luck.
Larry

 

[wiscoaster]

Hello Guys,

.... The hanner was next. Once I placed the new hammer on the shaft, I discovered that it was a loose fit, even with the screw tightened all the way down. It wobled a little side to side and fore and aft, about 1/8". I removed the hammer and mikied the hole and also the original, .004" difference. EEK! For those that have done this, what did you use to shim that up?

Sorry, but I think you need to do a little more studying up on what makes a flint lock work and its proper disassembly and reassembly. First of all, it's not a "hammer". Second of all, it's not held in place by the screw. The cock is held in place by friction fit to the tumbler shaft to which it's attached. If the shaft isn't seated all the way into the cock there will be a wobble of the cock. I had a similar problem of cock wobble on my Sea Service pistol and I had to put the lock in a vise to completely seat the cock onto the tumbler shaft using some very considerable pressure to "squeeze" it into place. If the tumbler shaft isn't even with the outside of the cock then it isn't properly seated.

 

[rich pierce]

As mentioned above peening can help. It’s probably good for a couple hundred shots.

For a longer lasting solution I run braze into the square axle hole in the cock. After it has run but still molten I pick it up and tap it against a brick to make most of the melted braze fly out. Then file to get a snug fit with the tumbler axle as needed.

Much more work is to braze in a square, tight-fitting piece of mild steel. Then re-cut the whole square hole a little undersized. The braze line is your guide. This is a “like new” fix.

 

[The Crisco Kid]

That .004 slop will for sure make it wobble. Shims will help, but getting them in is the trick. What I have done to help some of the issue, is to anneal the hammer bottom only. Then place the hammer on a good vice or anvil and peen the hole, folding the square sides inward. Be carful not to go wider than the screw will cover. It is ugly, and something some guys would not do, but, If ya can't see it and it works, that is the way I vote.
Good luck.
Larry

Check the hammer with a file to see if it's hard or soft. Do this on the back of the hammer where it won't show. You can tell by the feel if it's hard or soft. It it's soft you won't need to anneal it. Then do like Larry says. Use a flat faced punch 3/16" or so. If you're careful on the outside like he says the punch marks will be covered by the hammer screw and the marks on the inside won't show.

I've also done as Rich mentioned above when fitting a new hammer to an old lock, mainly to get it to index right. If I drive in the square plug from the inside with some flux on it I can run some soft solder into the joint. I haven't had one come loose yet. I taper the hole so it's larger on the inside on both the plug and the new square hole in the hammer so the hammer screw won't pull the plug out.