Won't half cock after firing

Hello All,
I have a tc hawken kit gun, 50cal. I changed the #11 nipple (very short) to a musket cap nipple which is longer. The gun shoots fine except after firing the hammer is all the way down but will not engage in half cock, only full cock. If I pull the hammer back then let it down the next time I pull it back it will go into half cock. This is not really a problem for me BUT I want to know if this will damage the parts in anyway??
Thanks

Sounds like the fly can't re-set due to the high nipple.

ADK Bigfoot

OK, thanks BUT will shooting the gun this way cause damage to the lock parts??

ADK Bigfoot said:

Sounds like the fly can't re-set due to the high nipple.

ADK Bigfoot

Click to expand...

This^^

I did same. Had to shorten the cone and reshape.

And the answer to my question is ???

shorten or get a shorter nipple

Steel Guitar said:

And the answer to my question is ???

Click to expand...

no

WHEW! I was beginning to sweat! Thanks Deerstallkert

ADK Bigfoot said:

Sounds like the fly can't re-set due to the high nipple.

ADK Bigfoot

Click to expand...

this

beat me to it

Because of the much larger and higher nipple the tumbler can't rotate enough for the fly to be reset as the hammer rests on the top of the cone. Pulling the hammer back pulls the fly back and by holding the front trigger allows the sear to clear the fly and now the sear will be pushing the fly clear of the half cock notch so the sear nose can engage the half cock.

Now, will this condition harm the gun parts? No.
Not being able to have the sear enter the half cock notch after firing unless the hammer is cocked and then manually lowering the hammer is not a good practice. Since it is a relatively simple procedure to shorten the cone of the nipple and reshape the cone to allow the fly to reset and maintain the safety provision of having an automatic resetting of the fly, well the shortening of the nipple and reshaping should be done.

I have a couple of old percussion target rifles that do not have a half cock notch. Because of the firing procedure, this is not a safety concern as the rifle is capped and fired soon after and the muzzle is always pointed down range.

Thank you Grenadier