need help with percussion hammer strike please!

[adkmountainken]

have a very old .32 cal percussion made in the 1800's that i bought from this site, LOVE the gun shoots great BUT it has a replacement hammer from a TC Renegade which strikes the nipple to high. it does go off and is very accurate but after a dozen strikes the top of the nipple gets deformed/mushrooms and a number 11 cap will not fit anymore. can someone help me with what to do or point me in the direction of another hammer preferably a little more period correct as this is the only piece that is not original. the dimensions of the nipple are a bit different as well .270x28 as opposed to the normal .250x28 any help would be greatly appreciated!

[JPK]

That is the wrong replacement hammer for that rifle.

[Daryl]

You need to go to Track's site and pick a hammer with the proper "throw".
Measure from the centre of the tumbler screw, to the centre of the nipple. That is the "throw" you need.
A hammer without the tumbler square hole filed, will be needed, so the hammer can be properly fitted.

[Hungry Horse]

Shortening the nipple, and or replacing the existing nipple with one that is shorter will bring the nipple closer to the center of the hammer.

Hungry Horse

[2 shots]

 contact paul ackerman [ ackerman arms] he is in or near cooperstown. ny.

[Gaeckle]

Log Cabin Shop has a wide variety of hammers, give them a call.

[steven baker]

I would take a piece of mild steel and carve one out. Sometimes  the hard way is the easy way.
Take care Steven.

[Bob Roller]

L&R has a group of caplock hammers and I used a lot of them.They are smooth ,cast steel but they do have the square that is
rarely correct for the repair.
Bob Roller

[Levy]

Besides being the proper throw length, the hammer needs to hit the nipple squarely at a ninety degree angle or you will continue to get the mushroomed nipple.  James Levy

[smylee grouch]

Levy  makes a good point. A proper sized drill bit ground square and used in the hammer cup should make it strike square on the nipple.

[Gaeckle]

Pure and simple it's the wrong hammer and it needs to be replaced.

[Leatherbark]

A longer throw hammer isn't going to help if the angle of the nipple isn't changed.  Looking at your picture again try a Thompson Center short nipple.  Track sells them and I can tell from the picture it won't totally cure the problem but will help immensely.

Bob

[Leatherbark]

The picture below shows the TC nipple compared to the standard Uncle Mike's. It will let the hammer fall farther and it will help some.

[smylee grouch]

Changing the angle of the hammer cup isn't hard to do and if there is enuf thickness to the skirt around the cup you could use a drill bit a few thousands bigger to help with clearance. Food for thought. 

[taterbug]

one thing you may want to check before making changes to the hammer/nipple, make sure you have room for the end of the mainspring to extend further down.  If you let this hammer rotate further forward/down, it will let the mainspring droop a bit more. 

you can check it now, with this hammer/nipple combination.  Then try to determine if the mainspring will interfere with wood in the lock inlet if this hammer goes further.  it might not move much, but sometimes there is not a lot of extra room in the lock inlet. 

What you find may dictate if you can use current parts with some modifications, or if you'll need a new hammer cut to fit this tumbler/lock.  its easy for one small change to lead to another issue.   

[Long John]

The Rifleshoppe has lots of casting taken from originals.  you might want to contact the. www,therifleshoppe.com
jmc

[Dave B]

Some good advice here. I think reguardless what hammer you use it is going to need some modification to work with that more vertical nipple alignment. Your existing hammer will work just fine the face of it needs a face angle change of 20 deg I would guess.  I would get a new nipple scribe the center axis of the hamer face in its resting position through the nipple axis. Now make a perpendicular scrib mark across the side of the hammer shaft. Remove the hammer and grind the new face angle all most all the way accoss leaving the front lip portion of the hammer untouched. Center punch the middle of the hammers face. Start the5/16 drill(assuming it is the dia. of the recess) to the depth of the small portion of the original face angle now use the flat faced drill to square up the face all the way across. A drill press and a solid vice are helpful but i could be done by hand. That will make the contact point where it needs to be for function. The breach looks like a more Europen design and the hammers for them  lay out at a steeper angle so they almost look like a pinfire hammer. That is how I would aproche the problem. If you know someone with a vertical mill they could do it for you in a bout 50 seconds with an end mill. good luck with your getting it squared away.

[Dave B]

Here is what i am thinking they are talking about

And Bob's your uncle

[Blacksmoke]

Dave B is right! once again! His fix for the percussion nipple verses the hammer cup is exactly what I did for my "Bennson" rifle that had the same problem.  The inside of the hammer cup is now modified to fit the nipple squarely - no more mushroomed nipples!  Hugh Toenjes

[Eric Kettenburg]

I have the same issue with a LH S Hawken rifle Don Stith made out out one of his parts sets years ago.  It uses I think the Ron Long lock, which has a tall hammer, and the breech angle is not perfectly ideal for that lock I don't believe.  I haven;t messed with it yet but he recut the angle of the striking surface inside the hammer cup so even though it looks off, it does hit the cap/nipple squarely, especially when using one of the Track nipples that are supposed to be historically accurate and are not as tall as other nipples.

Outwardly though, the mis-alignment appearance still bugs me.  Sooner or later I'll figure out a fix when I feel ambitious.