Good questions
The hammers are forged and the firing pins (strikers) are part of the forging that is then machined to the finished part. Tom, you mentioned you found the problem, do I assume you have a replacement hammer for your Trojan then? Dave is right about metal fatigue- and also snap caps-
I use A-zoom snap caps as the dummy primers are spring loaded, and give the firing pins something to contact. IMO- snapping down to relieve stored tension on the springs- especially V springs as on my LC Smiths is important.
But I have several pre-WW11 Model 12's and a M70- all have been shot a great deal, and I do NOT dry fire to take tension off those coil springs when stored in the Browning Gun Safe. One advantage to a coil spring, if contained, if a slight fracture occurs on either end, it will still function. Break a V-spring as from a sidelock doublegun, and you now have two pieces of potential shim stock- from alloy steel-
I use Rem Oil aerosol, but also prefer the clear oil that is used to lubricate the internal pistons of air powered nail guns--for grease I use Lubriplate (lightly) applied with either a toothpick or Q-Tip--
Welding fractured sears and springs is a waste of time- and material- and TIG is not a cheap process. You can re-weld a fracture (depending on location and function of the area of the hammer that broke of course) with TIG, but you should first take a DHP test to determine hardness, and you must anneal before welding, post weld anneal by packing the part in ground charcoal and wrapped in asbestos sacking- then reharden to factory hardness specs. Cheaper to buy a replacement intact hammer-possibly!!
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