Hammer tumbler square......

[Scota4570]

I am working on a cap gun.  The mortise for the tumbler is oriented wrong.  I had to radically reshape the hammer to make it work .  Now it will not strike the nipple, by a lot, I can not just touch up the stop.  If I tried the mainspring would loose tension and or bust out the stock. 

I could make a new tumbler, yuck....  Or, bush the hammer and re-cut the square hole.  I think that is probably the best plan. Should I use a smooth sided bushing or thread it.  I;m thinking making the bushing out of a bolt would give more surface are for the silver solder to bond with.  Might make adjustments easier?

[Bob Roller]

I am working on a cap gun.  The mortise for the tumbler is oriented wrong.  I had to radically reshape the hammer to make it work .  Now it will not strike the nipple, by a lot, I can not just touch up the stop.  If I tried the mainspring would loose tension and or bust out the stock. 

I could make a new tumbler, yuck....  Or, bush the hammer and re-cut the square hole.  I think that is probably the best plan. Should I use a smooth sided bushing or thread it.  I;m thinking making the bushing out of a bolt would give more surface are for the silver solder to bond with.  Might make adjustments easier?

That is a job I hate.The bolt is probably best if you have no lathe to turn
a new tumbler blank from.

Bob Roller

[T*O*F]

Unless you have an oddball lock, why not just fit a new blank hammer.  You can clock it to whatever position you want.  It's the simplest option of any.  Have you got a picture of the existing one?

[P.W.Berkuta]

I've done this on quite a few hammers. I drill out the hammer then make a plug out of cold roll steel for a slip fit then silver braze it in using high temp silver braze which flows around 1250 deg. The silver braze will flow into the joint and be permanent and not shift. I then file a tapered square for the tumbler. 

[JBJ]

P.W.'s and I use the same approach. It works and works well. In fact, after the new hole in the hammer is filed square and fitting the tumbler, it is possible to further adjust things a bit (if needed) by reheating the hammer and rotating the "plug" in the required direction. A new hammer screw with a slightly larger head may be needed to cover the silver solder seam of the plug.
J.B.