Howdy
I have the Power Custom half cock hammers and triggers in three 'original model' Vaqueros.
This Stainless Vaquero and the blued one under it both have the half cock hammers in them.
I have one more stainless Vaquero with a 5 1/2" barrel with the half cock hammer, but it appears to be a bit camera shy.
The hammer is at half cock in this photo of one of my Stainless Vaqueros. Notice how nicely the chamber lines up with the loading gate.
Anyone who has ever shot one of the 'original model' Vaqueros or a New Model Blackhawk will eventually run into the situation where the cylinder gets rotated just a tad too far, and the hand clicks into the next ratchet tooth on the cylinder. This leaves a chamber slightly out of alingment and it is impossible to load or empty that chamber without going all the way around again. I got annoyed enough at this situation that I put the Half Cock hammers and triggers into my three 'original model' Vaqueros. The blued one was the first revolver I was shooting in CAS, then came the long barreled stainless one, and finally the 5 1/2" Stainless Vaquero. It has been close to 20 years ago now since I put in the half cock hammers, I seem to recall the kit with trigger and lighter Wolff springs cost about $180 back then. Yes, it was a lot to spend to prevent annoyance, but there you have it.
Unlike a Colt, when a Power Custom Half Cock hammer is installed, there are only three clicks, not four. There is no 'safety cock' notch on the hammer as there is in a Colt, so you only get three clicks. I certainly did not buy them to listen to clicks, I was tired of 'going around again' to load that one chamber.
This is a typical Ruger 'original model' Vaquero hammer. Ruger hammers are Investment Castings. After casting them they may need some secondary machining. This hammer is typical in that it is polished on the sides and back, but the recessed surface has not been polished and still shows the pebbly surface left behind from the Investment Casting process.
Another view of the Ruger hammer, showing the pebbly surface left behind from the Investment Casting process. A parting line is also visible down the center of the part. Clearly, Ruger does not waste time and effort polishing and finishing surfaces that do not need it, or do not show very much.
This is a photo I lifted years ago from the Power Custom website of one of their hammers. Notice the slightly different profile around the pivot hole. I think this actually makes for a slightly stronger part.
Notice how the front surface of the Power Custom hammer has been polished smooth.
The parts are very high quality, forged and case hardened.
Actually CraigC, Power Custom hammers are not forged, they are cut from bar steel by Wire EDM. (Electro Discharge Machine). At least they were when I bought them. I seem to recall I may have actually talked to Ron Power, but I may be imagining that. WIre EDM is kind of like a band saw, except instead of a saw blade there is a thin wire running over pulleys. An electrical charge burns its way through the work piece and the work piece is advanced through the wire. All controlled by CAD CAM today of course. I don't know if they are case hardened either. The 'stainless finish' parts are not stainless, they are just highly polished. Witness the corrosion on the side of that hammer at half cock in my photo, from years of shooting Black Powder cartridges. I seem to remember the 'blued' hammers were polished on the sides and the rear surface of the hammer was blued. With the 'stainless' ones they polished off the blued rear surface of the hammer.
Anyway, I liked my half cock hammers very much. Two of them dropped right in with no fitting at all. The 5 1/2" Vaquero had a very tight action. There was absolutely no play at all when the OEM hammer was cocked. After I put in the half cock hammer I could not get the hammer to go to full cock. A few strokes of a file on the hand shortened it just a teeny bit, so the hammer would go to full cock.
There are a bunch of guys in CAS who like the half cock hammers because if they short stroke their hammer, in other words let go of it before it goes to full cock, the hammer will fall to the half cock position. Then they can keep shooting and get to that chamber in turn. Not a valid reason for a half cock hammer to my mind, but that is why some like them.
Before I bought my Colts I really liked my Vaqueros with their half cock hammers. Once I bought my Colts I already knew the drill for setting the hammer to half cock and loading one, skipping one, loading four more, full cock and lower the hammer on an empty chamber.
