New underhammer receiver and stock arrived

[wizard71]

I received the underhammer receiver and stock I ordered from blue grouse blackpowder. But, I think I have a problem. It's will not hold at full cock. It'll stay for a second but if I breath on it the hammer releases, Is there any way I can fix this, short of sending it back and waiting another 2 1/2 months. Plus, there is a rather long screw that holds the trigger guard/ main spring. However, it about 3/4 inch long and is up against the back of the trigger. The trigger only moves about an 1/8 inch the hits this screw.

 

[twotoescharlie]

shorten the screw, it only has to be about 3/8 of an inch long. that could be your problem. I have a blue grouse buggy rifle and that is the length of the screw in it. it has a very nice trigger pull.


TTC

 

[gmww]

I ran into the same problem with the hammer falling. Look a the sear (sp?) and make sure it has not chipped. What I did was take a triangle file and made sure everything was seating flat against each other. I also shaved off a little so the trigger fit farther onto the sear.

Call Bruce and he will also give you advice. I think he might even have a post on his forum showing what needs to be done.

 

[faw3]

???????????? Say what? screw is short a little over a 1/8" I just pulled 2 out of a old and new org Deer Creek frame 1/8th from bottom of head, you can also tighten up your trigger spring,(watch how you take it out, now bend the long tail up at least a 1/4" that will fix it also(if your face on hammer/ trigger is ok, dont know what Bruce is useing now days , but thats the fix to the old ones. :winking: FRED :hatsoff: "Watch carefully how you take the trigger out so you know how it goes in"

 

[gmww]

The length of the screw holding the spring is not the stock length for the kits I've built. However on Bruces web site I believe he puts the longer screw to stop the trigger from over travel. It may be a nice feature but it doesn't look right to me.

 

[rice1817]

Same thing happened on mine. It worked for a while but then it started to not hold on full cock. I thought it was the hammer notch: I had not looked at it when it was new and it did not appear to be very deep. I thought it was chipped also. Turned out that it was not, just rounded off. I called Bruce and he gave me a very detailed explaination on how to fix it...but I am very poor at metalwork and took it to a local Black Powder shooter who is. Assuming the half cock notch is not chipped, the suface of the notch needs to be squared off with a stone. Not a file....it will glance off the hard metal of the hammer. Judicious stroking with the stone fixed mine just fine. About 3-4 pounds, good enough for the kind of shooting that I do without having any worries about the hammer falling of its own weight.
Any gunsmith worth his salt could do it for you, probably for 10 bucks or less, if you are tool impaired like I am!

 

[gmww]

Same thing happened on mine. It worked for a while but then it started to not hold on full cock. I thought it was the hammer notch: I had not looked at it when it was new and it did not appear to be very deep. I thought it was chipped also. Turned out that it was not, just rounded off. I called Bruce and he gave me a very detailed explaination on how to fix it...but I am very poor at metalwork and took it to a local Black Powder shooter who is. Assuming the half cock notch is not chipped, the suface of the notch needs to be squared off with a stone. Not a file....it will glance off the hard metal of the hammer. Judicious stroking with the stone fixed mine just fine. About 3-4 pounds, good enough for the kind of shooting that I do without having any worries about the hammer falling of its own weight.
Any gunsmith worth his salt could do it for you, probably for 10 bucks or less, if you are tool impaired like I am!

I tried the stone route first. Turned out the metal was so hard and brittle that it would not work with a stone. Had to use a file. I used a small triangle file a little at a time. Deer Creek sent me a couple of hammers because they admitted to the hardness problem due to poor contractor work.

I was able to soften the hammers by heating them up to 700 degrees and letting them air cool. I was even able to file out the chipped area and now I have two extra hammers. Test out the hardness first with a stone. If it is soft go that route. If not you might have to do what I did by heating it up and gently taking a small triangle file to it. Good luck.

 

[gmww]

To give you all an idea how hard and brittle the trigger and hammer was. Here is a break on the trigger. Notice how clean it was. A stone didn't do anything to it. I sent one of the broken trigger to FW as he had never heard of such a thing happening. He tells me it broke for him in a vise with only a few pounds of pressure.

 

[Zonie]

That's a beautiful picture of a fine grain fracture due to not tempering steel after it has been hardened.
The crack may have initiated at a micro-crack too small to be seen with the naked eye.

If a person is not sure if his parts have been tempered, it is a good idea to bake them in your oven at about 475 degrees for an hour, then air cool to room temperature.
Even if the part has been tempered, a "double tempering" like this won't hurt it and it beats the hell out of having your parts fail.

 

[gmww]

My buddy a metalurgist (sp?) said the same thing. Said to reheat it and let it cool. Unfortunately, I was not sure if my oven of 450-500 degrees was going to be hot enough.

According to Deer Creek. The subcontractor put the trigger and hammers in a pile and heated them up. They did not get evenly heated. As a result some came out fine while others did not. Before Deer Creek knew of the problem they had put the whole lot into the bin with the good ones. Therefore, they were getting a hit and miss on these in the guns that went out.

Being the case that Bruce got his from Deer Creek I'm wondering if the poster may have one of the bad ones. Bruce told me to stick it in my lead pot and heat it up and let it air cool. Worked like a charm. :hatsoff:

 

[faw3]

Sounds like hes useing up old parts? That was long ago, like months it was like 100 of them or so, only had less than 6 come back, I put weights on the one GMWW sent me and it snapped in two at 1 oz over 3 pounds this in center of trigger! FRED :hatsoff:

 

[wizard71]

I've tried to call Bruce several times about this problem and my question about the screw in the trigger guard. The past two times I left a message but have not received a reply yet. Tried about 15 mins ago both the toll free (877) number and the number on his web site. Now, I don't even get the answering machine. I'm starting to get a little concerned. He still has a barrel I sent him and paid him to install a new breech plug, drill and tap a new nipple and install a forestock for underhammer use.
You may be right about him using up old stock. The stock he sent me doesn't look like any of the stock pictured on the Blue Grouse web site. It looks like it off a modern shoot gun with a pistol grip and flat plastic butt plate. Not what I was hopping to receive.

 

[Zonie]

As for the oven temperature, hold up your thumb and imagine this for a untempered, hardened part:

If the temperature is 430 (Yellow) the part will be about as hard as a scraper or lathe cutting tool

If the temperature is 470 (straw yellow) the part will be similar to a punch, die, drill, or tap.

If the temperature is 500 (brown) the part will be similar to a wood chisel or drift punch.

If the temperature is 540 (purple) the part will be similar to a cold chisel, center punch or rivet set.

If the temperature is 580 (blue)the part will be similar to a spring, gear or high class screw driver.

Any of these is better than nothing.

 

[faw3]

Cannoner I dont want to alarm you he (BRUCE) is on Musketmans links at the bottom of the forums,(and Im sure he's honest) but Bruce I dont know what is going on, he was run off from the people that make H+As, and they stopped makeing them because of his doings, they sold or gave me a lot of what is left over, Im hopeing they will make them again some day, but it dont look good. If you' PM me I'll see if I can help you. FRED :hatsoff: ( IM only helpping NMLRA members,I dont have any FOR SALE sites on any other places but will help you here if I can FRED

 

[wizard71]

There is no question in my mind that Bruce is a very honest and honerable man. I heard from him yesterday and he explained about the stock and the trigger stop. The receiver he sent me was finished and polished to perfection. A beautiful piece of craftmanship. I can't wait to see my barrel.

 

[jimbo15563]

I'm in the process of having a custom underhammer built. See

Jimbo's Underhammer

The tip of the trigger where it fits into the hammer sear (I don't know the correct term) broke off on the action I bought from Blue Grouse. I emailed Bruce and he gave me the phone number for Deer Creek (765 525 6181) and told me to let them know what happened. The lady I talked to mailed me a replacement out the same day. There were no questions asked and I didn't need to return the defective one.

Jimbo