question on a lifter

[charlie cleveland]

i have a lifter 10 ga made in about 1875..my question is about the hammers...there seems to be a safty factor built into the hammers...you cannot push the hammer by hand so that it will meet the firing pin..you can even pull thr trigger and it will not move with fingers on hammer....only by cocking the hammer and squezzing the trigger will the hammer make contact with the firing pin...plus my firing spins have springs in them...my old 8 ga parker lifter does not have this safety feature and no spings in the firing pins this old gun built in 1882... my question is all the parker hammer guns built with this safety factor in the hammers or is my old 8 ga that seems not to just wore out in this department... charlie

[charlie cleveland]

i should have stated with the safety factor built in it seem a person could have been hunting with a loaded gun...could have stumbled and fell and there would be no danger of acidently firing the gun...or a person could accidently drop his or hers gun even hitting the hammers just rite and ther be no chance of gun going off.....this seems to be the case with the 1875 10 ga..... charlie

[OH Osthaus]

what you seem to have is "rebounding Hammers"

This invention prevents the hammer from sitting directly on the firing pin/striker which not only gives some additional safety but make the gun easier to open since there is no drag of the pin on the cartridge.

[ch]

When cocked if the hammer dropes it will go bang. I think if hammer is down and you drop it on the hammer it won't fire not 100% sure on that statment. The SA Colt been told you carried it on a empty chamber in case you droped it on the hammer. Bean a gun guy 4 28 minutes so reader b ware. I would think your mighty 8 would have rebounding hammers????

[charlie cleveland]

i will check again on the 8 gauge to see if it does have the rebounding hammers...... for sure the 1875 lifter has them...the 1875 lifter is about as close to new in the hammer department as parker made it...the finish is good but not like new... i suppose if gun were to be dropped directly on the hammer on a hard service it might break the safety device...but if it was soft dirt or something similar i dont believe it would go off...seems to me parker also built these hammer guns with safety in mind... charlie