Clearance on hammer/firing pin help
 

Hi All, I have a 1881,10 Ga Hammer Parker. I think the hammers have been reworked. The hammers lay on the firing pin as well as force the pins to hit and burr the ejectors when closing. I also have to presume they are tight on the the primer cap.There appears to be no half cock or safety mechanism in the locks. There are also no springs to hold the firing pins back, all this seems a bit unsafe to me. I have taken everything apart for a through cleaning so there is no gunk blocking up the mechanisms, sooooooo.
Can any one slip a feeler Gage between the firing pin and the hammers and let me know clearance they have please. I am thinking to readjust the hammers to correct this spacing issue.

could you post some pictures of the hammers - they may not be original, if the are - maybe the firing pins have been improperly replaced


my 10ga near that vintage does have springs- although i had to install a new one on one side

Maybe one of the gun smith guys can chime in but I would expect a small coil spring be in place to hold the pin back?

right - i just went to the hardware store and bought a light compression (coil) spring and cut it to the correct length


but even if there is no spring the hammer should not put enough pressure to press the firing pin against the primer

one other possibility is that there is a hundred and thirty years of crud in there, several hammer guns I have dismantled have had lots of petrified oil and dirt in there.

ok - just checked a 10ga Hammer Parker that was handy - i have not had points in a car for so long - so I have no idea where my feeler gauges are, but - i can just fit the thickness of two business cards in between the hammers and back of the pins - but a credit card compresses the pins a little.

Lonnie: TPS indicates that the early hammer guns had a half cock position. Later hammer guns had rebounding locks to prevent this problem. The first with rebounding locks was serial number 84,314. Hope this helps. Bob

are you sure that is not the patent number?

Parker introduced rebounding locks in the 1872 catalog

the one I just measured is number 50732 - absolutely rebounding

and only 5k before hammerlesss Parkers

ps

just pulled out lifter number 14418 (made 1879) - also rebounding

Rick: My bad. That is the patent number. The rebounding lock option was offered in the 1872 catalogue as you stated. Sorry for the misinformation. Bob

Lonnie, Rick: Page 94 of TPS: "The 1874 price list says that rebounding locks are standard on all guns". Bob

Your gun would have rebounding locks. So, the hammers should not be even touching the pins when at rest.

Your issue could be a couple different things...

Incorrect hammers. Some mechanical issue (which I doubt). Or your gun is not a Parker brothers gun, and a cheap imitation.

Photos would be a big help.

You guys are the most helpful and knowledgeable group and thanks to each and everyone. I am a fairly quick learner. I believe the hammers after reviewing a lot of the shown pictures, are not the correct ones for the gun, but I think they are workable. I am going to try the two business card dimension less .005 to start to set the spacing. As I have the weapon apart and spread out I will post a few pictures as soon as I get it back together . Again thanks for the information. Lonnie