1858 Remmy hammers

[Holiday]

I remember reading somewhere that the hammer on a Remington was supposed to have a small gap between the hammer face and the nipple when the hammer is at rest and no cap is on the nipple. My hammers hit the nipples and have made small indentions in the hammer face. Should I file a small amount of metal off till they just touch or maybe leave a gap? Or does it really matter?

[Singing Bear]

I'm thinking if you rework the hammer face, you're also going to have to reharden it.  

I shoot 60's and 51's that have this same problem.  I simply rework the rear of the barrels to open up the B/C gap.  Using aftermarket Treso nipples and such can exacerbate the problem because they tend to be a bit longer than the stock nipples.

Another option is to work on the nipples themselves.  A flat file and a drill motor will do the trick.  They're also cheaper to replace than a new hammer or barrel.  :wink:

Someone else chime in?  Ain't sayin' I'm right.  It's just what I do and works for me.  :-)

[Cowpox]

Your method works for me too Singing Bear. I feel a lot more comfortable grinding on an easily replaced $3 nipple. I wouldn't dare start on the hammer because of a tendency to over do things. I have, twice in the past, taken too much off and ended up with too big a gap. I would hate to do that on a hammer!   Cowpox

[Flint]

Several people have mentioned changing the angle of the hammer nose to match that on the nipple, as many hammers don't, the difference is visible in the indentation on the hammer nose.  Remove material to the bottom of the dent.  

The case hardening on these parts is so shallow, since it's for color only, that removing metal isn't going to make a difference.   If the case hardening were deeper the nipple wouldn't indent the hammer nose to begin with.  The nipple is the part you don't want blossomed too oversized for the caps to fit over.  Niples are cheaper than hammers, true, but that's not a benifit if the caps don't fit.

Were you to reharden the hammer, you would probably just make it brittle, and then it would damage nipples as well as being more breakage prone.

The hammer nose should just barely touch the nipple face so when a cap is on it there is enough thickness to fire the cap, and that is how the Ruger is set up.  The hammer nose should also be parallel with the nipple face.

[Holiday]

Thanks for the information, I'll try to put it to good use!

[Singing Bear]

Good point, Flint.  :-)

[willysjeep134]

the hammer on my pietta was getting like a wide spot where the nipples allways contacted. I took a whetstone and polished the sides of the hammer down in that spot so it was square again, not the face of the hammer. I couldn't even get the hammer to engage those safety notches in the cylinder. Now I can let the hammer down inbetween chambers and the hammer face meshes with the cylinder notches nicely.

[yooper]

If you coat the face of the hammer with a red china marker/grease pencil...then let the hammer down on the nipples,you'll be able to use the cut and try methood of stock removal with less danger of taking off too much stock and ruining the nipples.