Bobbed hammer reliability...

[magnumwheelman]

I'm a hammer guy ( sorry I can't help that ) I'll almost always fire single action, whenever I can... I do understand the desire for snag free double action only guns... but reading up it seems some out there never become reliable... without trying to overstate the obvious, it would seem that there is a minimum force needed to reliably fire a ( magnum ) primer, & that force is a combination of mass, & spring tension... spring too stiff double action trigger suffers, cut off enough mass from the hammer & mass gets too low to fire reliably...

isn't there enough material to somehow add mass to the hammer to get that reliability back

perhaps, bore / counter bore a hole or two & swage in some lead alloy in the right spots to correct the loss of energy from removing the hammer spur???

I had a friend who had 3 competition guns & he had sent 2 of them to a well known gunsmith to be tuned & have the hammers bobbed, the only gun he didn't have trouble with was the one he didn't send.

Played with a 617 for a while.. never did get it to run reliably.

... or am I over simplifying the problem???

[rkrcpa]

I had my 696 hammer bobbed and converted to DAO back in 1997 when I purchased it because I was always banging my elbow on the hammer spur. In 20+ years it has never failed to fire. The trigger pull is so smooth and light that it will bring a tear to your eye. I use CCI primers exclusively.

[bigbrowndog]

I have a 3” 629 that would be the big brother of that 696, it’s hammer has been bobbed for 20+ years, also tuned inside by Alex Hamilton of 10 ring precision. No issues ever, also use CCI primers.  Top of hammer has been serrated to allow SA use if desired, no issues SA or DA.

Trapr

[AxeHandle]

My model 10 built for NRA action in 1987 has fired many thousands of rounds without a snap. My PC 629 with a spurless Apex hammer runs good too. Played with a 617 last year that made me invent ugly words and never did get it to work with the aftermarket springs much less a lightened hammer. Apex makes a hammer they call an mass driver hammer for the 617. Bought one for when I find a gun I can afford I'll try it out.

[AxeHandle]

629 hammer looks like this

[AxeHandle]

Mass driver hammer for the 617 looks like this

[ezekiel38]

Thanks Axe, you always bring up interesting stuff. Didn't know about the Mass driver hammer.