-
This community needs YOUR help today. We rely 100% on Supporting Memberships to fund our efforts. With the ever increasing fees of everything, we need help. We need more Supporting Members, today. Please invest back into this community. I will ship a few decals too in addition to all the account perks you get.
Sign up here: https://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/account/upgrades -
Friends, our 2nd Amendment rights are always under attack and the NRA has been a constant for decades in helping fight that fight.
We have partnered with the NRA to offer you a discount on membership and Muzzleloading Forum gets a small percentage too of each membership, so you are supporting both the NRA and us.
Use this link to sign up please; https://membership.nra.org/recruiters/join/XR045103
No Half Cock
- Thread starter swampy11
- Start date
Help Support Muzzleloading Forum:
Guest
Sounds like the fly in the tumbler might be stuck in one position? Or maybe it was designed without a half-cock notch? You won't know for sure until you pull the lock out and look at it. Once you know why it's happening, then you can figure out how to fix it.
Let me make sure I am know how to do that correctly. I just loosen the bolt of the opposite site of the hammer that is in the middle of the stock on the left hand side and gently tap on the bolt and the hammer assembly, the lock, will come off?
robinghewitt
62 Cal.
- Joined
- Jun 26, 2004
- Messages
- 2,605
- Reaction score
- 19
You have to get the hammer clear of the cap before you can push the lock out. I'd usually put it on half cock but I can see how that would be a problem ::
If you are cocking the hammer too far towards the full cock position, and then letting it down into what you think is the half cock notch and it keeps going, the problem may be that you cocked it too far. As soon as you hear the click of the sear entering the half cock notch, do not try to cock the hammer further back.
If you do, the fly will just do it's job and prevent the half cock notch from working. That's what it's job is.
If your not making this mistake, read on:
After making sure the gun is unloaded, put it on full cock, and proceed to remove the lock like you described.
Don't force it, just use little taps on the screw until you can start to wiggle the lock while applying pressure to the hammer.
After the lock is out, get your fingers out of the way, grab the hammer spur and gently push up on the sear arm that's sticking out from the lock. Be careful. As soon as the end of the sear arm disengages from the tumbler, the hammer will try to fall.
Lower the hammer gently all the way down.
Looking at the tumbler, it should have two notches in it.
The lowest is the half cock notch. It should look like a pocket for the nose of the sear to go into.
The upper notch should be fairly shallow and it will not have a pocket.
Because your gun has a set trigger, it must have a fly in the tumbler to work properly. The fly is located right at the half cock notch. It is very small and it can swing back and forth (if it's working right).
When you start to cock the hammer, the fly is supposed to swing out of the way so the sear can enter the half cock notch.
If you cock the hammer past the fly, the sear will ride up over it on it's way to the full cock position.
When the gun is fired and the tumbler starts to rotate past the sear nose, the fly gets in the way and blocks off access to the half cock notch. That lets the tumbler and attached hammer tp continue to rotate to the fired positon.
If the fly will not rotate and is blocking access to the half cock notch, try oiling it with a very light weight oil.
As I mentioned, it must swing freely but a thick oil will sometimes cause it to bind (especially in the winter).
If you do, the fly will just do it's job and prevent the half cock notch from working. That's what it's job is.
If your not making this mistake, read on:
After making sure the gun is unloaded, put it on full cock, and proceed to remove the lock like you described.
Don't force it, just use little taps on the screw until you can start to wiggle the lock while applying pressure to the hammer.
After the lock is out, get your fingers out of the way, grab the hammer spur and gently push up on the sear arm that's sticking out from the lock. Be careful. As soon as the end of the sear arm disengages from the tumbler, the hammer will try to fall.
Lower the hammer gently all the way down.
Looking at the tumbler, it should have two notches in it.
The lowest is the half cock notch. It should look like a pocket for the nose of the sear to go into.
The upper notch should be fairly shallow and it will not have a pocket.
Because your gun has a set trigger, it must have a fly in the tumbler to work properly. The fly is located right at the half cock notch. It is very small and it can swing back and forth (if it's working right).
When you start to cock the hammer, the fly is supposed to swing out of the way so the sear can enter the half cock notch.
If you cock the hammer past the fly, the sear will ride up over it on it's way to the full cock position.
When the gun is fired and the tumbler starts to rotate past the sear nose, the fly gets in the way and blocks off access to the half cock notch. That lets the tumbler and attached hammer tp continue to rotate to the fired positon.
If the fly will not rotate and is blocking access to the half cock notch, try oiling it with a very light weight oil.
As I mentioned, it must swing freely but a thick oil will sometimes cause it to bind (especially in the winter).
robinghewitt
62 Cal.
- Joined
- Jun 26, 2004
- Messages
- 2,605
- Reaction score
- 19
Unless it's a cheap gun with set triggers. The cheap alternative to a fly was simply to miss out the half cock notch :thumbsup:
Rabbit
36 Cal.
If the fly is there like mentioned above and seems to be working properly, there are a couple of other things to look at. First off make sure all the screws are tight. I have a T/C Cherokee that all of a sudden the set trigger stopped releasing correctly(hung up in half cock). Figured it was due to a worn out fly but ended up being that the screws had loosened up. If none of the above seem to work it could possibly be (depending on the lock) that the sear is in backwards. I have seen L&R locks that this can happen on.
Zonie-
When I slowly pull the hammer back, it clicks about 1/8 inch into the pull and then the hammer returns to the nipple. The forward trigger is not in operative, but I thought the hammer should be off the nipple...about half way to full cock. Am I missing something here being a newbie to percussion?
Thanks
`swamp
When I slowly pull the hammer back, it clicks about 1/8 inch into the pull and then the hammer returns to the nipple. The forward trigger is not in operative, but I thought the hammer should be off the nipple...about half way to full cock. Am I missing something here being a newbie to percussion?
Thanks
`swamp
flintlockmdj
45 Cal.
- Joined
- May 6, 2005
- Messages
- 507
- Reaction score
- 0
Perhaps I am missing something here but how do you put a sear in backwards?
He who ask a question is a fool for five minutes. He who doesn't ask the question remains a fool forever.
He who ask a question is a fool for five minutes. He who doesn't ask the question remains a fool forever.
Swampy: I have a couple of guns that do that.
For reasons known only to the manufacturer (they are store bought guns) the half cock notch positions the hammer about 1/8 off of the nipple.
I suppose this is good because the hammer can protect the cap?
In my opnion, it's a PITA because for me to place a cap on the nipple, I have to bring the hammer back to full cock. I don't think that's very safe.
Not only that, but as you have found out, if the lock has a fly in in it, you cannot reengage the half cock "safety" without lowering the hammer down below the half cock notch and then bringing it back up until you hear the "click".
In guns like yours (and mine) that means lowering the hammer all the way down to the cap.
Not good keemosavy.
Anyway, from your discription, I think your gun is working like someone at the factory thinks it should.
If it's a Lyman or Thompson Center, contact them and tell them about your concerns. They might even fix it for you for free.
For reasons known only to the manufacturer (they are store bought guns) the half cock notch positions the hammer about 1/8 off of the nipple.
I suppose this is good because the hammer can protect the cap?
In my opnion, it's a PITA because for me to place a cap on the nipple, I have to bring the hammer back to full cock. I don't think that's very safe.
Not only that, but as you have found out, if the lock has a fly in in it, you cannot reengage the half cock "safety" without lowering the hammer down below the half cock notch and then bringing it back up until you hear the "click".
In guns like yours (and mine) that means lowering the hammer all the way down to the cap.
Not good keemosavy.
Anyway, from your discription, I think your gun is working like someone at the factory thinks it should.
If it's a Lyman or Thompson Center, contact them and tell them about your concerns. They might even fix it for you for free.
