Under Hammer Failure at our Match Today.....Not Mine Fortunately!

Also not very serious except the gun can not be easily fired now. The shooter next to me had loaded his H&A 45 caliber under hammer with powder and ball to get ready to fire at a small steel rabbit when I heard him say "****, ****, ****.....". So I asked him what happened and he said the trigger piece that catches the hammer in half/full cock just broke off. So we cleared the firing line and I helped him fire the rifle with him holding it, I pulled the hammer back and carefully put on a cap then fully cocked the hammer and let it go. The gun fired okay but he was done for sure. I looked at the broken piece and it looked like what we called in the nuclear U.S. Navy "brittle fracture" with a nice grain showing. No way to cock the rifle and have it hold now for sure but when I looked closely, the hammer spring was super hard to cock the hammer, much harder than my 58 caliber H&A for sure?

Any ideas.....it looks like he might have to buy a whole action as the few parts places that sell that sort of thing all seem to be out.
John

That's basically what happened to mine. But it didn't fracture, it just deadened to a copper-like, bendable flat, almost spring.

Have you tried Numrich Arms up state NY , I know it isn"t spelled right but they do stock parts for H+A /Ed

Pecatonica sells the H & A actions and parts now. Maybe you can order a hammer from them.

I told the shooter about Pecatonica River as that is there I go my Allen box lock under hammer. Thanks everyone.
John

I have had both hammer and trigger break on mine from Deer Creek. I think the problem is that they are cast parts and unsure about the heat treating on them if any. Polishing might help a little. I believe that Deer Creek also carries replacement parts.

Bob

Thanks Bob, a local gunsmith has made several replacement hammers as the originals are oil quenched and never annealed so they are too brittle he told me. If the unlucky shooter can't find parts then that will be the way to go.

John

No help, but there is a complete action (to the buttplate) and 2 barrels on eBay.

I picked up some spare hammers and parts on ebay.

If it is an H&A action, there is a hammer available right now at Gun Parts Corp. Mine broke too and I keep a spare handy.

This is a common problem. The trigger will catch on the edge of the half cock when firing and after a while it will break. If you grind the hammer half cock at an angle to get rid of the sharp edge then the trigger should last a lot longer. The trigger can be annealed and welded but it should be re-hardened for a good trigger pull. To soft and the trigger pull increases.

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Originally Posted by John Taylor

This is a common problem. The trigger will catch on the edge of the half cock when firing and after a while it will break. If you grind the hammer half cock at an angle to get rid of the sharp edge then the trigger should last a lot longer. The trigger can be annealed and welded but it should be re-hardened for a good trigger pull. To soft and the trigger pull increases.

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Thanks John, I just finished this one back in the fall and I'll have to make that modification to the half cock. I do have an extra hammer and trigger laying about though.

Bob

You could try Deer Creek Products in Waldron Indiana, 765-525-6181. They produced the H&A underhammer actions, parts and rifle kits. Probably still do.

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Originally Posted by yeahbub

You could try Deer Creek Products in Waldron Indiana, 765-525-6181. They produced the H&A underhammer actions, parts and rifle kits. Probably still do.

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Different owner now but they do still have parts as far as I know. Bought mine from the previous owner who manufactured the kits right there. Said that he had 28 employees turning out the kits for the H&A and the Mowery Rifle back in the 70s and 80s. He had 2 rifling machines and most machines were set up to make one part and there were 5 gallon buckets sitting everywhere with small parts.

Bob