The hammer shouldn't be against the backstrap when the gun is in battery(fullcock) .
When it is then a little later when wear and seat in of the parts occures the hammer needs to be drawn back a little further to get the gun into battery. If the hammer was already not able to draw back a little more because it's against the backstrap then the gun becomes inopperative.
Sam Colt wouldn't have designed a gun to become inopperative when it attained a little wear.
The action parts stop the hammer at full cock. A little hammer overdraw isn't going to hurt a thing and doesn't really cause the bolt to batter the cylinder and do the damage. The off-time is what does the damage as does the soft metal of the cylinder and the hard metal of the bolt(which is actually a spring).
If a person wants that nice positive stop of the hammer as it hits the backstrap they can have it and no problem will be there till the gun wears some. It's better in the long run tonot have the hammer hit the backstrap at full cock.
Anyway......some guns would need excessive re-vamping of the action parts to get the hammer to hit the backstrap at full cock. Example would be the hand needing to be overly shortened and the trigger needing to be overly long. That ispossible and I've done it for some Hombres that want it but it makes it difficult to get the perfect timing with the hammer hitting fullcock when the trigger hits in the sar(hammer notch) and the bolt hits in the cylinder notch. The last "snick" of the action should be the trigger hitting in the hammer full cock notch and the bolt hitting inside the cylinder notch. There is four snicks to the action of a Coltsingle action. The last two need to be simultaneous. Makes sense tohave the action let the trigger hit in the full cock notch on the hammer as the bolt hits in the bottom of the cylinders notch.
Anyway I'll have to see Pettifoggers example of using a machinist triangular square to spiff up the damaged cylinder notch. I make an engraver of sorts from an old small wood chisel or hardened screw driver to spiff up the mess of the battered cylinder notch.....among other things. I like to ,at times, get rid of all the damage by filing the cylinders notch lead-in and deepening the notch some so the lead-in side of the notch as some "edge" put back to it. A mill and a woodruff key cutter can be a big help. Not everyone has a mill though. A small mill table can be bought for about a hundred and fifty dollars on sale and that can be put on a good drill press and make a type of a home made milling machine. Enco and MSC and Blue Ridge machine shop supply should have the small mill tables fer sale.
One thing I have to add is about where the bolt head should hit the cylinders lead-in ramp when the bolt returns to the cylinder surface i the action timing.
Guns with actual hardened ordanance grade steel like a S&W or modern Colt seem to have the bolt hit real close to the notch edge. Then as the guns wear they hit further and further away from the notch edge. That's the modern high end guns. Cap&ballers should be as well made but that would make them too expensive.
Cap&ballers are good when they hit with the full width of the bolt head hitting the cylinder just a tad before the notch edge. That is when the bolt spring has been adjusted to not be too heavy. If the spring is stock then the bolt seems to do well hitting in the middle or a little closer than that to the notch edge. Then as the parts wear the bolt head still hits in the ramp(lead-in) for a good while. You know...not having the bolt scrap a line on the cylinder before the ramp (lead-in).
Anywhoooo......cap&ballers are not quite up to parr really and that's one reason I've learned to love them. They are fun to "fix-up".
The illustrious and venerable ole Pettifogger with his articles with pics and all has been a big help to all the aspiring "Kitchen Table Gunsmiths" out there. Big help to all the newbies and the fearless and all.
Like an old long gone friend used to say,"buying a cap&baller is like buying a "kit" gun to fix up.
A lot of what a person does with their own personal cap&baller is ....well.....personal. People do what they want with them according to their own taste and perception ect ect.
A lot of what is "wrong" to one Hombre is "right" to the other Hombre and.......who's to say what is actually right and wrong?
I do it to try to be a help to my fellow cap&baller shootin brothers in arms. If someone wants to think....." that Pard Rifle is full of _ _ _ _ and I ain't doin it that way he suggests"......then....well.....he can do it his/her own special way and that's all OK and in the spirit of the cap&baller game.
I get my reward when someone extends a "thanks Bud" to me for takin the time to type these replies to some posts.
Right now I have to get off this puter :banghead:and go run the hounds.
I know one thing....when a Colt single action cap&baller is runnin good it's a beautiful thing fer sure sure. Makes ya want to just sit and work the action to death because it feels and sounds so good.
If a person wants the actual well timed gun then the hammer doesn't hit the backstrap but the bolt and the hand stop the hammer. A person just should know not to draw the hammer excessively hard after or as the gun locks into battery. If the gun owner doesn't feel when to stop the hammer draw and makes like a gorilla and man handles the guns action(that's a weird way to put it....gorrilla man handles the gun ha ha ha ) it'll get some wear or damage sooner than not. Even the "Cowboy Action Shooters" probably learn the ways of their guns and not man handle them too bad too much.
