Centering a hammer - Hawken rifle

colonelhogan44 said:

My hammer hits towards the outside of the nipple about 1/16 inch too far towards the outside of the gun. It rarely causes problems, but I'd like to get it resolved.

What's the easiest way to center the hammer on the nipple?

Click to expand...

Well I took a torch to a hammer on a couple of mine.... of course I also forgot to remove it from the lock one time too...

Not too difficult in my opinion.... Now I've a CVA that still shoots accurately, hits the nipple accurately and hasn't given me any problems, but not to say it won't in the future... but I heated it cherry red with propane, took an adjustable wrench to twist/bend it a smidge and dumped it in motor oil.

Much Aloha...

That's OK if you know what your doin' but you have to watch to not change the geometry of the hammer.....

xXxplosive said:

That's OK if you know what your doin' but you have to watch to not change the geometry of the hammer.....

Click to expand...

Trust me... I didn't have a clue... but it is fairly self explaining...

I suggest you look into shimming the lock in it's inlet, so that it tilts very slightly inward at the top. It won't take very much.

mykeal said:

I suggest you look into shimming the lock in it's inlet, so that it tilts very slightly inward at the top. It won't take very much.

Click to expand...

Hmmmmm another cat... I don't suppose that would change the geometry of the through bolt much but have you actually done this? I'm just visualizing how that would actually work on the screw pulling the lock into the inlet.

Much Aloha,

For only 1/16 of an inch I'd try adjusting the lock first - either shimming it out a little or inletting it a little further into the stock. Sometimes it's just a little high spot or two in the wood under the lock that need scraped off to bring the whole lock further in.

First of all are you certain it has the right nipple? Sometimes the wrong nipple might be the culprit. I'd check that first. Note some niplles are taller than the others and vice versa.

Ifishsum said:

For only 1/16 of an inch I'd try adjusting the lock first - either shimming it out a little or inletting it a little further into the stock. Sometimes it's just a little high spot or two in the wood under the lock that need scraped off to bring the whole lock further in.

Click to expand...

Hehe.... and here I am... heat it and beat it... bend it and scend it.... burn it and turn it...

Yes, I've done the 'shim the lock' thing, several times. A very tiny amount of adjustment results in a good bit if in/out movement of the hammer head (it's at the end of a long arm...). The effect on the lock screws is negligible (they're essentially in the middle of the lock and see virtually no change at all). In fact, it may well be that just a quarter turn in a lock screw will do the job if one is above the center of the lock.