How to go about bending a hammer

[finaddict]

I have a Crockett .32cal percussion rifle and found that the hammer just needs a slight bending to hit square with the nipple. I have read a few posts that explain how to heat or bend cold.

My question is do I remove the hammer to bend it?
If so will anything go wrong with the inner workings of the lock if I just remove the screw that holds the hammer on (it seems that the main spring has quite a bit of tension)?
Also will heating the hammer while it is still mounted on the lock damage the lock?

I know these questions may sound a bit "stupid", but I don't want to damage a perfectly good lock. I'm just still new and haven't dealt much with lock mechanisms. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[rich pierce]

Yes, you need to remove it and bend it after heating it to orange. Leaving it in place and bending would transmit too much heat to the tumbler and other parts and soften them. I'd wrap a wire around the neck for ease of holding it, heat it to orange, clamp in the vise, then bend it by tapping with a hammer or using tongs. Then check the fit after it cools. repeat as necessary.

 

[Zonie]

IMO, you really do not want to try to bend the hammer while it is still attached to the lock.
If you do, and you try bending it "cold", you stand a good chanch of breaking the square drive end which engages the hammer off of the tumbler.
If you try heating the hammer to a red heat, you stand a good chanch of overtempering the tumbler and removing it's hardness.

To remove the hammer from the square drive on the tumbler you will have to disassemble the lock.

I say this because the method that almost always screws up the hammer, the lockplate and often the tumbler is to remove the screw and to try to pry the hammer off of the lock. This can break the tumbler, gouge the face of the lock plate and enlarge the square drive hole in the hammer.
To add insult to injury, it sometimes still won't remove the hammer.

There are threads about disassembling a sidelock on the Forum, and you should do a search for them to get all the information you can.
You will need several good screwdrivers. One to fit the hammer screw, and one to fit the locks internal screws.

Assuming you have a lock with a flat mainspring, you should use a mainspring vise.
Some people have used Vise Grips to compress the locks mainspring (including me), and some people have ended up with broken mainsprings (including me). A mainspring vise made especially for this task is highly recommended. They are available from TOTW, Dixie and many other places and will set you back about $20.
Whether you buy one or not, the idea behind removing the mainspring is the tool (vise or Vise-Grips) doesn't compress the spring. It just holds it in it's compressed position.
To do this, cock the hammer to the full cock position, apply the vise and then release the hammer with the sear. When the hammer falls, the spring will be left high, dry and restrained and will easily be pulled out of the lockplate.

After the mainspring is removed, remove the screws that hold the sear spring, the sear and the bridle (the bridge over the tumbler axel) if it has one.
Do not loose the little "fly" which is on the tumbler. Put it somewhere safe. It is very small and easily lost.
Support the lockplate on the back side with two blocks of wood, or on an opened bench vise so the tumbler is hanging in space.
Use a soft drift punch which is just a little smaller than the square drive, or use a nail which is smaller than the hammer threads and lightly tap the tumbler out of the hammer square drive hole.

If your lock uses a link between the mainspring and the tumbler, make a good sketch of how it fits into the lock before removing the mainspring. If you put it in backwards, it will not work.

Reassemble the lock in the reverse order, but remember you need to gently tap the hammer back onto the tumbler until it seats.

Don't forget to do a Search and some reading before you tackle this.

 

[Nightwind]

Unless I'm missing something, I don't see why you couldn't just pull back the hammer till it locks in the safety position. Remove the hammer, do your thing, and just put it back on? The safety position should hold everything in place while the hammer is removed?

 

[Zonie]

Nightwind: That will work if the hammer is poorly (loosely) fitted to the square drive on the tumbler.
Most of the better locks have the hammer pressed onto the tumbler. Often, this press fit is heavy enough that the lock could work without the hammer screw even being there.

If the press is veeeeeerrrrrrryyyy light, a person could "Pry it off with a screwdriver", but except for a very few locks, that may mess things up as I mentioned before.

I would not use the half cock notch though.
First off, it is not that strong. If a heavy force were to try to rotate the hammer, it could break off the sear nose or break the notch in the tumbler.
Second, if the hammer rotated towards the full cock position and the fly got in the way of the sear (like it is supposed to do), the lock could snap to the hammer down position and crush a finger or two.

Most caplocks come to a rest before the nose of the hammer actually hits the lockplate, so the hammer down position would be the best to use.

Lightly prying the hammer off is worth a try, but the person is advised to try ever so gently. If it doesn't move, then resort to the more drastic (and proper) method I suggested.

 

[CrackStock]

Zonie is right in that most hammers are pressed on with a vise or machine press for a very snug fit. I like to remove mine often to clean, so I have filed the opening until I can remove without too much trouble, but still keep a snug fit.

L&R lock sells a handy hammer remover that is a set of opposing claws in a frame that drive toward each other as you turn a crank. Pops a hammer off easily with no damage. At about $38, I think that I will stick to my old method of using two opposing screw drivers which I tap alternately until the hammer drops.

Iwould not be while the hammer is on the lock.

As to bending after removal:

First step is to check on the availability of a replacement for the possibility of breakage. (Yup -- I have always been an optimist, but also careful)

Second step is to snug the lower portion of the hammer into a padded vise.

Third is to find a box end wrench that fit over the hammer spur and gives a good hold

Fourth is to pad this wrench so that you do not damage you hammer.

Fifth is to try to get an objective measure with a protractor and/or compass for the amount of bend that you need.

Sixth is to smoothly bend once to that point.

Hopefully this will work for you.

YMHS,
CrackStock

 

[mule ear]

Really good info!! FYI - I have had success with a
Crescent wrench to hold the hammer to bend it. For the short distance this hammer needs to go, I might GENTLY try it cold to avoid ruining the finish. If unsuccessful, then I would heat.

 

[CrackStock]

Thank you for your kind words, Mule Ear -- one does what one can.

YMHS,
CrackStock

 

[finaddict]

Thank you all for your input. I did what was suggested and was able to take apart the lock as described all except the hammer. I tried everything I could and the hammer still wouldn't come off.:curse: So I was able to clamp just part of the hammer in the vice and cold bend it to level out and line up a bit better. A day at the range will tell if my efforts pay off. If not I will have to take another try at removing the hammer. A task that may be more than what I bargained (sp?) for. Oh the fun of learning.

Again thanks and I'll keep you all posted. eace:

 

[rich pierce]

To remove the hammer after removing the lock internals: back out the hammer screw 2 turns and smack the screw head squarely and hard with a plastic mallet or wooden mallet. This drives the tumbler back off the hammer every time.

 

[Blacksmith]

Thanks for the excellent comments on this issue. I like to remove the hammer(s) on my guns during cleaning. We are dealing here with used guns and have had no problem getting the hammers off. This may be better in a new thread but here goes; I sometimes have problems (have had from the onset on one gun) with misfires of caps. Caps don't seem to be the problem. Sometimes the caps stick (in a TC Hawken I'm speaking specifically of here). I have removed the hammer on this gun and have notched it to release the popped cap better (they still stick sometimes). Hammer alignment here is not an issue of chafing (binding) on the lock plate or other area of the gun. Have NOT considered bending the hammer. Have considered re-dressing the place where the hammer strikes the cap. Excellent advise on checking for replacement parts availability, thanks. I will comment that the hammer on this specific gun does fit the male it slips onto. When the screw is lightly tight, it has no play and when snugged, it is properly tight. I bow to Zonie for advising about the press fit. Somewhere in this is the spot that the alignment is proper to fire the cap and the cap breaks and easily removes itself (with a tight and properly indexed hammer). Heat treat of the hammer is apparently not an issue due to the fact that you advise heating to bend and then the resulting air temper does not affect hardness. Would definitely not whack on a hammer when it was attached to the spildle. Bearing on the spindle would lose and the internal workings of the lock would too. I'm fairly new to this smoke pole thing but have a fairly good working knowledge of things mechanical and things of metal. Thanks again (long post, sorry).