What's that on my hammer???

I haven't fired it yet, but other than the casting flaw on the hammer its an exceptional pistol. S&W have perfected slide serrations, the fish scales are very grippy. If its merely cosmetic I guess I can live with it. Perhaps Bulls Eye will sell me a replacement hammer at


Man that is one sharp looking pistol! I would ask them to send out a replacement - then you would have a spare on hand.
 
Pretty sure Murray Charlton and Western Guns Parts are still the CDN repair centers for S&W.

Send them your info and that pic if you are not satisfied but try to avoid sending them the gun until they guarantee they have a replacement hammer in there hands!

http://murraycharltonenterprises.com/services.html

http://www.westerngunparts.com/General_Info.html
 
It's just a MIM part those things happen. I dont think I would care but than again if I paid what you probably did maybe I would after all.

Either way it would be less hassle to replace the hammer than the gun itself.
 
My first reaction reading the title was to make an appointment with a doctor.

Bad on S&W QC for their Performance Center product. Seems like its happening more and more. 'Get the hammer replaced if it bothers you.....I would.
 
If it's still unfired contact the vendor and send the picture. If they have another of the same model they may just send you a new gun, take that one back, and deal with the problem on their end. Absolutely depends on the quality of the business but I recently went through something similar with Prophet River. They had me a replacement inside of three days and paid shipping both for the replacement and a return label for the original defective gun, no questions asked.
 
I had a ruger sr1911 with an identical casting mark and I had no operational issues with it and now a family member has it and neither has He... the front sight on the other hand is a different story.
 
Ok, ok. That looks really terrible. How can you even stand to look at it? I'm going to help you out here. PM me and I will take that beauty off your hands and I'll do it today!
 
I would agree - my SW1911 PC (in 9mm - gasp) has exactly the same mark on the hammer.

Really?!? My Smith&Wesson 929 PC is glorious. Perfectly fit. The hammer is striking the firing pin hard enough to mark my snapcaps. As long as the gun functions this is not a returnable issue for me. I'm waiting to hear back from the vendor. Hopefully they'll sell me a hammer. Cheap.
 
Took it to the range yesterday and shot the sh!t out of it...

And guess what?!?

It's a fantastic pistol. Not sure I like the ambi safety...I inadvertently partially engaged it a couple times.
 
You stated you contacted vendor so wait and see what happens. It's not going to effect function, and your happy with the performance. Problem is it's not like a bad haircut that get's better every day. Personally if S&W or the vendor don't address it, I would have stripped it down taken a Dremal with a small ball stone and just cleaned it up "real pretty" and continue to shot the hell out of it.
 
I would have stripped it down taken a Dremal with a small ball stone and just cleaned it up "real pretty" and continue to shot the hell out of it.

I wouldn't do that. This way you reduce the working cross-section of the hammer. The force divided by the cross-section is called "stress". If that stress level happens to be slightly larger than the fracture strength level of steel used for the hammer it may fracture right away. I would never reduce the cross-section of any element which acts under force/stress. After all, all those elements were originally designed by engineers not by laymen.
 
I wouldn't do that. This way you reduce the working cross-section of the hammer. The force divided by the cross-section is called "stress". If that stress level happens to be slightly larger than the fracture strength level of steel used for the hammer it may fracture right away. I would never reduce the cross-section of any element which acts under force/stress. After all, all those elements were originally designed by engineers not by laymen.

Speaking from a "failure analysis POV, the rough texture of the blemish will allow stress to accumulate in the sharp valleys making failure more likely than if one polished the mark out. This is similar to a piece of aluminum or a lexan windshield on a light aircraft; within limits, the repair for a crack in either is to drill a "stopper hole" at the end of the crack; no more point loading, no more cracking. Either way, the metal loss would be minimal and there is enough material in the hammer to likely not fail if left as is.
 
Speaking from a "failure analysis POV, the rough texture of the blemish will allow stress to accumulate in the sharp valleys making failure more likely than if one polished the mark out.

I mentioned about that in my post #7 but rather from a viewpoint of fatigue; that surface flow doesn't look to me like a notch that could introduce a substantial stress concentration

Either way, the metal loss would be minimal and there is enough material in the hammer to likely not fail if left as is.

That depends how much material would be removed from the cross-section, minimal or not minimal; like I said I would never advise reducing the cross-section of a stress-carrying element. All in all, if I were the OP, I would ask for a hammer replacement ASAP. Case closed.
 
I highly doubt just cleaning it up is going to cause any problems and personally would not hesitate doing so. Look at photo again lots of meat left, appears to be in the heaviest area of the hammer. Under your theory it's stressed all ready dress out or left as is. Agree S&W should cough up a new hammer.

SORRY BRAIN FART EDIT!
 
Last edited:
I mentioned about that in my post #7 but rather from a viewpoint of fatigue; that surface flow doesn't look to me like a notch that could introduce a substantial stress concentration



That depends how much material would be removed from the cross-section, minimal or not minimal; like I said I would never advise reducing the cross-section of a stress-carrying element. All in all, if I were the OP, I would ask for a hammer replacement ASAP. Case closed.

Such is indeed the best case.
 
Back
Top Bottom