Antique Pistol Repairs in Lower Mainland, BC.

Grove

Grove

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Alrighty, for those that have had old antique guns repaired, does anyone know anyone whom can fix or replace the hammer on a Birmingham .48 caliber boot pistol?

A previous owner had repaired this before but did not do to well of a job.

Can anyone point me in the direction of a smith whom can fix it or know anyone who could maybe even produce a new hammer?

Pistol is percussion cap as well so rather easy to replicate I'd expect.

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Any help is greatly appreciated as I'd like to be able to repair and then fire this 150-175 year old gun with a very light loads.

Thanks everyone.
 
Taking this piece to a person who charges by the hour is not really viable, what you can do however is to get yourself a small piece of mild steel plate and make your own hammer, you be surprised what you can accomplish with some basic tools like a couple files, hand drill, hack saw and a small grinder.
The pins and the nipple also need replacing, but what concerns me more are the worn threads I see in the picture, this can also be fixed, but that would involve a lot more work and the use of machine tools.
 
i agree you will have to make it yourself or use a good gunsmith silver solder

checkout what this guy did with just hand tools.
http://amodestpublication.wordpress.com/tag/homebuilt-percussion-pistol/
 
Paying to have a replacement made by hand by a professional would not be cost effective.
You may be able to find a modern cast replacement.
It would not be too difficult to make a usable hammer as a home gunsmithing project.
The hammer should be pivoting on a screw - looks as if the screw has been replaced by a rivetted pin.
I think that a decent repair by steel welding could be done.
 
I have no metal working experience or knowledge, if this were a motorcycle no problem but this is beyond my scope.

Talked to friend of mine who's going to look at it for me, if that fails I guess I'll be posting here asking if someone wants to make a few bucks refurbishing this gun for me.

Thanks very much for your replies.
 
You could try barry at bits of pieces.

I don't know what it would cost you but I don't think it'll be cheap. My guess ( a shot in the dark) would be $200ish.
 
it looks to me as if you could silver solder the two pieces together. Welding might be hit or miss because of inclusions in the metal. A concern that I would have is that there appears to be a hole behind the nipple and appearing to perhaps be connected to the powder chamber.

cheers mooncoon
 
Id Drill and put in a steel pin right down thru into the hammers body then silver soder it.
You can buy silver soder rod for about $10 a stick its silver with blue coating you can get it at welding shops and uses a propane torch to weld with it.
Best stuff ever for a repair like that.
You might get away with just silver soder as mooncoon says but hammers get alot of shock from the sudden stop so i would drill and pin it + the pin will help hold the pieces together perfect for you.
 
Whatever you decide to do you are going to have to get the hammer out of there. If you take it out how about a picture of it in profile with the pin or screw that holds it in.
If you want to wind up with a shooter I would make or have made a new part and have a press fit pin installed on the old hammer but not heated this will ruin the "patina". Use the old hammer for display and the new one for shooting. Also check for that hole that Mooncoon mentioned that could be a problem. The treads don't look too bad as there is still shiny metal there and you did get it un-screwed.
If you work on motorcycles you can make a new hammer. use a bench grinder to rough it out then finish with files. The shiny new metal can be blackened with G96 instant liquid gun blue so it doesn't stand out too much. Or you could bury it in the back yard for a couple of years.
 
dingus said:
Id Drill and put in a steel pin right down thru into the hammers body then silver soder it.
You can buy silver soder rod for about $10 a stick its silver with blue coating you can get it at welding shops and uses a propane torch to weld with it.
Click to expand...

The silver solder that I use is called Braze 450 and is 45% silver, melts at 1140 F but does not really flow until up around 1300 - 1400 F It comes in a coil about 2 or so feet long for around $16.
You might have a hard time getting the metal hot enough for the silver to flow, using a propane torch but if you make up a retort to surround the part and contain the heat, you can reach higher temperatures. Think of say 4 fire bricks forming an open ended box and the part sitting up off a fireproof base on some sort of non burning pedestal. Also can use pieces of that concrete asbestos board to make the retort and a small stack of same to make the pedestal for the part.
The silver solder requires a special (borax ?) flux I should mention

cheers mooncoon
 
The dark brown is from a very old break, the aero bar holes are from porosity, from day one, hammered out a little from firing it. that little shiny bit is all that held it together for ??
If you like you can send it to me and I'll weld it for you.
Cheers nessy
 
Nessy, I've PM'd you. My buddy is going to be away at work for a while so you are my best option so far.
 
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