Single Action Army Broken Hammer Notch

C

conrad977

Inactive
I was shooting a 1978 Colt SAA at the range yesterday when I had a misfire. I noticed a small piece of metal was preventing the hammer from falling completely forward. After taking the firearm apart, I found that this is the half cock notch. As of now the hammer will stay at half cock and the gun will still fire. Any ideas as to what may have caused this? I always bring the hammer all the way back before letting it down as I have read elsewhere. Is it possible that if you release the trigger prematurely while firing, the falling hammer will land on the half cock notch? Also, if I am letting down the hammer, I can feel a little resistance as the trigger sear reaches each notch. Is that normal?

Another thing is sometimes after firing 10-15 rounds, the cylinder will lock up when I'm trying to reload. Could this be powder residue wedging against the cylinder?

Thanks.
 
None of that is normal or acceptable.
And I doubt it is DIY level repair work, time to look for a gunsmith.
There are several who work on single actions for CAS.
I sent mine to Peacemaker Specialists when I was getting set up.
 
Metal fatigue could have caused it. Or it could be poor material or poor heat treatment. Either way, it's time to replace the hammer. You need it fitted by a gunsmith.

I suppose it could also be tig welded up and then filed to fit, but I'd keep that hammer for show and not for range use.
 
Howdy

I'll give you a scenario of what may have happened.

Yes, when you pull the trigger, as the hammer rotates the overhanging lip of the half cock notch, as well as the safety cock notch should rotate clear of the tip of the trigger (the sear). No, the sear should not touch or strike either of those surfaces, that is part of the design.

Sometimes a kitchen table gunsmith will try to do a trigger job by filling down the the full cock notch, so there is less engagement with the sear. The logic is that the trigger will not have to travel as far to release the hammer. The problem with this is that by reducing the amount the trigger moves, the over hanging lip of the half cock notch may strike the tip of the trigger as it moves past. Strike it enough times, and the over hanging lip may break right off. I had exactly this happen to an Uberti 1873 rifle that I bought used. Some clown had tried to do a trigger job as I described, by filing down the full cock notch. Within a week of buying the rifle I could feel the hammer 'ticking' the sear as it rotated past. Then one day a broken piece of metal fell out of the action, pretty much as you described. The over hanging lip of the 'safety cock' position of the hammer had sheared off. And there was enough damage to the trigger sear that a good knock on the stock would cause the hammer to fall. At this point, the gun was unsafe. I wound up replacing both the hammer and the trigger.

I'll bet you a donut that is exactly what happened to your Colt. If the overhanging lip of the half cock notch is gone, the gun is unsafe. You don't want the hammer to accidentally fall while you are loading. That is why the overhanging lip is there, to capture the trigger and prevent the hammer from falling while loading.

Bring he gun to a qualified gunsmith who is familiar with the SAA lockwork.

Dunno why the cylinder is binding, there are a lot of things that could cause that. Have the gunsmith check it out.
 
Driftwood has it right, but the same thing can happen another way. The top of the trigger (the sear part) is very thin and sometimes breaks if the trigger is pulled while in the safety or half-cock notch. The shooter might not notice much difference but the remaining top of the trigger will have a triangle shape. If the hammer is lowered so the trigger tries to enter the half-cock notch, the trigger acts like a wedge and breaks off the front of the half-cock notch.

Either way, the hammer and probably the trigger have to be replaced, something requiring fitting and a fairly expensive proposition on a genuine Colt.

Given the cost of a Colt, I think I would consider returning the gun to Colt rather than using cheap parts or chancing the job to a local gunsmith.

Jim
 
Thanks for the replies. The trigger didn't look damaged when I took the gun apart. At any rate, I'm going to send it to Colt and have them look the gun over and replace the hammer.
 
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