1873 Winchester / Fire pin hang up

[rbertalotto]

I have an original 1873 Winchester (DOM 1884). Very little wear in the action.

But when the firing pin comes back to cock the hammer, there is lots of resistance as it slides over the hammer and them on closing the lever, it binds on the hammer. If I pull the hammer all the way back to remove it from contact with the firing pin, the action is smooth as glass.

It almost seems like the hammer spring is to heavy.

If I put grease on the mating surfaces, it smooths out considerable, but grease won't last during a CAS shoot.

Is there anything I'm missing here?

There is some type of set screw infront of the hammer spring attachment screw. Is this screw to adjust tension on the hammer spring?

[downwind]

The forward screw on the lower tang is a MAIN SPRING TENSION SCREW, it can be adjusted slightly to relieve tension.

Good luck on new adventure!

DOWNWIND

[Blanket]

There also is a small part called a firing pin retractor that is often missing

[rbertalotto]

The firing pin retractor is there. I'm not sure I put it back in the proper direction. It's strange that of the four exploded view drawings I have of the 1873, only one even shows this part.

[405]

Ya, that little part is a bugger about which way is the right way- especially if well worn. The beveled side (on the longer portion of the part above the pin) should face the bolt. The slightly pointed lobe on the shorter side (the wider portion below the pin) should point slightly forward.

[rbertalotto]

http://images109.fotki.com/v786/photos/2/36012/8599305/fpretractor2-vi.jpg?1335051907

[KirkD]

An old gunsmith who used to work on '73's in his younger days, passed away this past year at the age of 94. A friend of mine visited with him and they got to discussing this very problem. The old smith said that as the sear wears, it permits the hammer to rotate more forward, making it higher in the area where the firing pin passes over, causing dragging or binding between the underside of the pin and the top of the hammer. The fix is to build up the sear with some weld and then file it to suit.

[rbertalotto]

The old smith said that as the sear wears, it permits the hammer to rotate more forward, making it higher in the area where the firing pin passes over, causing dragging or binding between the underside of the pin and the top of the hammer.

Yup! I bet this is the issue. I think your old gunsmith friend knew what he was talking about! You can see the hammer rotate much further forward after it is relieved of the firing pin.

I'm going to pull it apart tomorrow and look at the sear and hammer notch.

THANKS!

[405]

I think "B" forward, toward barrel. Some 73s have those wear issues as described. One of my theories is that some had that retractor put in backwards sometime in their past (if taken apart) which could account for the excess or odd wear.

[KirkD]

My friend's visit to the old gunsmith, who was 93 at the time, was a rare glimpse into the past. My friend had brought an old '73 along. The old gent has it apart lickety-split ..... so fast, my friend was amazed. It was clear that he was very familiar with the '73 and had years of experience in repairing them. He said that the '73 was a wonderful rifle that could be repaired over and over again, once a fellow knew what to do. The worn sear was either the top problem, or second from the top and he had repaired many in his early days. The more wear on the sear, the further forward the hammer will rotate before it is caught on the sear, and the more the firing pin will drag on the forward stroke. I have an original '73 and '76. I have put some high quality synthetic grease (stays soft when it is 30 below zero) into the sear/hammer interface of both my guns.

[rbertalotto]

Being an old S&W gunsmith, I did a thinning of the hammer spring (but not before I sourced and bought another original spring in case I screwed this one up!)

This lightened up the hammer considerably. And the drag is much less. The sear on my rifle and the face of the hammer where the sear engages look brand new. Under a magnifying glass there is zero wear.

I did report in my Blog ( www.rvbprecision.com ) that the lever safety was not coming fully up because the stock tang screw was a bit too long. The wood had shrunk over 128 years and the screw protruted a bit below the bottom tang. This caused the trigger to really "grind" against the lever safety and made the trigger pull about 20 pounds! I filed a few thou off the stock bolt and the trigger pull is now 5 pounds. And zero creep. Nice!

I think I've done as much as I can about the hammer / firing pin situation. Although it does look as if I could file a little bevel on the underside of the firing pin rearxtension. It seems like this might aloww easier forward travel of the whole bolt and firing pin. But I believe a bit of drag is needed to retract the firing pin, as there is no spring to accomplish this.

Comments?

[KirkD]

The hammer lever safety will definitely give problems with the trigger pull. This is another thing the old gunsmith talked about. As I recall ...

If it is hard to move the firing pin back over the hammer, it could be too strong a spring setting.

If it is hard to move the firing pin forward over the hammer, it could be a worn sear (the case hardened hammer does not wear like the sear). The sear should have a fairly sharp, narrow edge to it, much narrower than I would have thought.

If it is hard to pull the trigger, the hammer lever safety button is the problem.

A common fix for the forward drag of the firing pin over the hammer was to take a bit of material off the underside of the firing pin on the flat section. The better fix, however, was to extend the edge of the sear so it forced the hammer further back. Once you take material off the underside of the firing pin, it is hard to put it back on.

[rbertalotto]

Once I have another firing pin in hand to experiment on, I will try the filing. But I don't want to do it on this one for collector value.

I just bid on one on Ebay.