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Offline Elijah Gunn

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hammer spring
« on: June 02, 2012, 08:06:05 AM »
A while back the hammer spring in my 1861 Whitney broke. So I ordered a new spring from Dixie Gun Works,and installed it myself.  The replacement spring is the same as the one for a Remmington revolver. All it needed to fit in the Whitney was some minor filing to get it to fit the slot in the frame. The replacement spring is lighter than the original spring, and now the only caps it reliably fires are the no.10 remingtons. The old spring would make most any  cap go off.
I haven't actually shot the gun yet, just busted some caps with it so far. Now I'm wondering... With this spring being so much lighter, would the gasses from firing the gun push the hammer back?( I have a .45 cal CVA colonial pistol with a weaker hammer spring in it and sometimes I'll find the hammer at the halfcock position after firing it.) The Whitney is .36 cal and I use 18-20 gr fff.  I can't remember ever hearing about anyone having a problem with having a light hammer spring in a cap and ball gun. Just checking to see if there is anyone that knows more about this .
Thanks in advance.


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Offline Fingers McGee

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Re: hammer spring
« Reply #1 on: June 02, 2012, 05:35:32 PM »
A light hammer spring can allow the gases from ignition to push the hammer back.  You won't know till you try. 
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Offline Flint

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Re: hammer spring
« Reply #2 on: June 05, 2012, 09:40:21 AM »
Remington #10 is the best cap to use in the first place.  I've had failures with CCI no matter the spring pressure.  Treso nipples reduce the blowback, as will the new Slix-Shot nipples.  Slix-Shot also work well with reduced springs.  One of my Uberti Colt 1860 has a Wolff spring, because I often shoot it with an R&D conversion cylinder.  It shot well with both Treso and Slix-Shot as a capo and ball.
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Offline keith44

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Re: hammer spring
« Reply #3 on: June 07, 2012, 12:14:41 PM »
The hammer will stay down as long as you have not eroded the reduced diameter hole (flash hole) in the nipple.  The first sign of trouble is missing caps after firing.  You might be able to add some (small amount) of spring tension by re-arching the spring (anneal it, then slightly bend it to add resistance the direction it normally flexes, then re-hardening it)  If it works well enough for you as is though, let it alone
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