H&R 999 Sportsman problem - light strikes

[RX-79G]

I have a mint 999 that I got from my grandmother, and it has never quite worked right. After having it for several years I took it apart and found that the nylon head on top of the mainspring strut had shattered.

Numrich had a bunch of different H&R struts, so I ordered one that sounded right and installed it. It did not go in easily, but seemed like it was just the result of the mainspring tension. I'm pretty certain I got the mainspring head oriented the right way.

The result was a rebounding hammer that bounces off the firing pin leaving room for the hammer block to retract. With the broken mainspring head the hammer would rest with the firing pin against casing, but the hammer block would pop back up as soon as the hammer was moved at all. I could see either being the way it was designed.


Should the hammer rebound, or is that the reason I'm getting light strikes? I've already replaced the hammer in case the firing pin is too short.

 

[SeanSw]

I repaired a snubbie 929 sidekick and found myself asking the same questions. The gunsmithing sub forum may have a better answer for you.

I recall reading somewhere that the original design was to allow the hammer to bounce back far enough to activate the hammer block, and that may be the reason for the nylon head on the hammer strut. Mine was replaced with an all steel strut and I still had a huge rate of misfires so I added an outer spring to fit over the a new replacement hammer spring and now have near perfect ignition. It has a miserable trigger but it functions very well and if I recall the hammer block now works in actual use but not in dry fire situations.

 

[RX-79G]

I wonder if I should try reshaping the mainspring head so it has less rebound effect. Or simply make it non-rebounding.

Thanks!