Slow hammer

[roamer]

Good day

Built a Lancaster 36 caliber percussion.Looks beautiful Accurate as all get out. But,intermittently it seems as though the hammer will fall slow,thereby not popping the cap.
Any suggestions of the above.

[54Bucks]

 First thing I would do is make sure the inletting is sufficiant to allow the main spring to function. Secondly I would check the function of the lock when removed from the gun.

[roamer]

Thank you.

Will do

[Larry Pletcher]

Could the lock retaining screw have been tighter than usual? 
Regards,
Pletch

[roamer]

Well that's a good point. It seems the problem shows up after maybe 15 to 20 shots,and then is intermittent.
I tried oiling the internal mechanisms and that seemed to delay the problem ,but it did come back

[BrentD]

Recently, I had a friend's rifle with this problem in my shop.  He had a multitude of issues that caused exactly this problem, much to the benefit of a certain 10 pt buck.

He had a tumbler that rubbed on both the lock plate and the bridle.  In addition, the inside surface of his hammer rubbed on the lock plate and a little bit on the wood.  Strangely the rubbing only occurred when the lock was in the gun suggesting that the lock bolts were slightly warping the plate enough to cause the rubbing.  Better inlettting or bedding of the lock plate may solve that eventually. 

Brent

[roamer]

Dreary rainy day.No better day than to be in my garage in the space allotted to me by my wife  and try all your kind recommendation's..Hope the fixes work because tomorrow is supposed to be sunny and I plan to go out to my buddies farm in Geauga Cty. Coolest thing,300 acres no one and I mean know one is their but me. 15 acre lake fed by an amazing clear deep water swamp. Best news my cell phone gets no reception their.

[caliber45]

Roamer -- I'm sure you've already checked this, but if not, check to see if the inside of the hammer is rubbing against the mortise as it falls. It's so obvious, it can be overlooked. - paulallen tucson az

[msw]

Reamer, good luck with your problem- i had a similar thing happening with a flintlock i was building, and it turnout to be (a) screws too tight (now i put a small witness mark on the sideplate so i don't gorilla them when i reassemble the gun) and i smoothed out the internals- there was a burr on the flye which might have been the single cause, but since i was in there anyway...) i lightly re oiled the internals, and when i reassembled the lock and put it back in the mortise, i noticed that there was a rubbed spot on the back side of the inletting, so i had to slap the back of my own head and get out a chisel (luckily the gun hadn't been finished yet)

Now it works fine.

As regards cell phones:  i am compelled to repeat the Burt&Eddie joke (New England humor warning goes here)

Burt & Eddie are sittin' on Burt's porch, and the phone starts riningin'
Eddie: Ah, Burt?
Burt: Ayup.
Eddie: Burt?!
Burt: Ayup

[this goes on for as long as the audience allows]

Eddie: Your phone, Burt.
Burt: What about it, Eddie?
Eddie: Well, dontcha want to answer it?
Burt: Damnit Eddie I put that thing in for my convenience.

I usually have my cell phone with me here in southern Vermont (called the Great Frozen North my my nieces in Maryland) and it's usually turned off.  If I want to call you, I will.  When I get around to it.  If I feel like it.  If I'm not doing something else more important.  Now you'd feel a fool if there was the buck of a lifetime about to meet his maker at your hand, and the stupid thing went off and the buck ended up in Cleveland. 

[Artificer]

Besides the other things mentioned, I would look at the bridle and sear screws to see if they are tightening as the shots are fired.  I used to run into that especially with Italian Rifle Musket locks and Japanese and some Italian Brown Bess and Charleville locks.  I would either replace such screws with ones where the threads did not run as deep or fit screws that tightened without binding those parts.
Gus

[omark]

i was just starting trigger squeeze on a coyote when my wife called to see what i was doing. boy,,, did i tell her!!!  anyhow i try to remember to shut it off when going hunting now.  mark

[roamer]

Well gentlemen iI followed each suggestion and still getting intermittent slow hammer.
I did notice if iI pull the front trigger quickly double set or not I get good ignition.
If though I pull the front trigger slowly at double set I will here an unusual click then a creep and then at release slow hammer
Wow this perturbs me .
.Appreciate insights

[Acer Saccharum]

Does the lock work smoothly when it's out of the gun?

So many possible problems have been mentioned. But to sort it out we gotta know if the lock is the problem, or the mortice/trigger assembly interference is the problem.

[roamer]

I believe it does but i will check this evening thanks

[Roger Fisher]

I believe it does but i will check this evening thanks

Have you checked to be sure the lower bridle screw is not a tad too tight and binding there.

[Simon]

Well gentlemen iI followed each suggestion and still getting intermittent slow hammer.
I did notice if iI pull the front trigger quickly double set or not I get good ignition.
If though I pull the front trigger slowly at double set I will here an unusual click then a creep and then at release slow hammer
Wow this perturbs me .
.Appreciate insights
[
/quote]

I don,t know what this has to do with your click and creep, but I had a trigger on a flintlock that would do this. 
The center of the trigger plate was about a 1/32 deeper into the stock than the ends. I disassembled the trigger and flattened the plate to lessen the depth into the stock.  No more click and creep. I still do not know why the trigger did this but it stopped.   


Mel

[Artificer]

Sounds like you have both rubbing going on when the lock is in the stock and a problem with how the sear is mated to the hammer in the sear engagement surface.
Gus

[Artificer]

Sorry, I ended the above post too fast. 

Here is what I would do to check for the lock binding in a stock and I've actually done this on quite a few locks over the years.  I put a thin layer of grease all over the outer surfaces of the lock parts and put the lock in the stock, tighten it down as normal and function the lock at least three or four times.  Where the grease transfers on the stock from the operating parts, will show you where you have to clear it.  However, this may not show you if the tail of the sear is too long and it is rubbing inside the stock.  You have to look deeply into the sear tail cavity to notice this.  I've found many times that just shortening the sear tail a bit takes care of problems like these.
Gus

[Artificer]

Thought about something else.  Depending on how the set trigger is sitting compared to the tail of the sear, that can also cause this problem.  I've had to take some off the bottom of the tail of the sear sometimes when the sear tail was under too much pressure from the set trigger. 
Gus

[Don Getz]

You have not identified the lock you are playing with.   I worked on a CVA (ugh, ugh, ugh) that had a percussion lock and
a mainspring that was so weak that it would not set off a cap.    Could this be the problem?.......Don

[roamer]

The lock is a Cochran 1992

[Don Getz]

Cochran, eh..........similar mainspring.    How stiff does the spring feel when you cock the lock, out of the gun?   Unfortunately I get the feeling that you are not too familiar with other locks, and how they feel......example.....a Siler.
Siler locks normally have a rather strong main spring.   If you have ever tried a gun with a siler lock, how does this lock
compare?...........Don

[roamer]

Stiffness seems simaler to other locks I have from cva,tom ctr, Dixie tenn and the cochran

[Don Getz]

When you say it is similar to a CVA, Dixie Tenn, and another Cochran, you are comparing apples to apples.   All are very
similar, and, not very good, or on the weak side............Don

[Acer Saccharum]

Rather than getting into lock comparison, I'd like to know if the lock works well when it's OUT of the gun.......