Winchester 1885 problem

D

DREger

Inactive
I am working on an original Winchester 1885 hiwall. It has the coil mainspring and a factory single set trigger. With the trigger assembly out of the reciever the hammer will cock. The set trigger will also cock out of the reciever. When they are assembled, the operation of the lever does not cock the set trigger and thusly will not let the hammer cock.

Does anyone know what cocks the set trigger or if there is any parts missing??
 
Operating the lever does not cock the set trigger, pushing forward on the trigger does.

It sounds to me like someone deepened the sear notch in the hammer. That will allow the sear to swing too far forward and there will not be any clearance between the knockoff and the sear. So when the knockoff is in place, the sear won't engage the hammer and it won't stay cocked, plus the set trigger won't set.

If that is the case, you might be able to work around things, maybe by filing the sear to compensate, but that can get very tricky. Needless to say, I know of no source of parts for that gun, though they can be made at considerable expense.

Jim
 
James is right about pushing the trigger forward to set it other wise it will work as a regular trigger. I highly doubt that you could file/hone the catch in the hammer enough to move the sear enough to have the knock off stop the sear from catching.

To me it sounds like you have a hammer fly problem. Do you have any pictures of the hammer so we can see it? Also will the hammer catch in the half cock notch?

There are a couple places to get parts as soon as you know the problem.
 
The common trouble with a fly is that it is stuck in the out position; if that is the case, the hammer would not go on half cock, whether the trigger group is in place or not, but the hammer would still cock and the knockoff should work OK. But DREger can easily check the fly if he has the hammer out. It should move freely.

Jim
 
Thanks for the link to Ballard.
It appears that the hammer and fly have been modified. I am going to order a new hammer and fly.

The set trigger does not function as a normal set trigger. The knockoff is spring loaded. It has to be rotated downwards in back for its notch to catch on the notch in the trigger release. When the trigger is pressed the nockoff rotates upward in back by spring pressure and hits the sear to release the hammer. In essence, there are two sears, one on the hammer and one on the trigger. The trigger will not function as a normal trigger, it is a set trigger only.
 
Technically there is only 1 sear, it is what rides on the hammer. There were 2 different fly's as well. The sear has a spring on it and the trigger has a spring on it. All single set triggers will function as a normal trigger when not pushed forward to set it. If not there are other problems.
 
Check out the parts of it in Wisner's Hard to Find Gun Parts Drawings pages WIN48 & WIN49
Click to expand...

I don't need to check out what a catalog says, I own 7 of them, 3 of them are set triggers, 1 is double set, 2 are single set, the single set is both of the flat spring type. That makes no difference in how they work. Trust me there are 2 different fly types is there is only 1 sear.
 
OK ImpalaCustom, I'm going to trust you here since you have seen the inner workings of the single set triggers and All I can find is Winchester's original blueprints (Wisners) on how to make the parts.

I think the trigger assembly might be missing a pin. On rifles without the set trigger, the part Winchester calls the knockoff which is just above the trigger has three pins. One pin is the pivot pin. Right in front of it is a smaller pin which works against the flat spring for spring pressure/trigger return. The third pin is in the lower part of the knockoff and engages the trigger in the slots on both sides of the trigger. So when the trigger is pulled it rotates the knock off up into the hammer sear in the top of the reciever. The one I am working on does not have this third pin that engages the trigger.

So, my question is - Do your set triggers have this third pin that interacts with the trigger???
 
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