Can drop hammer on half #### safety

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TrendyRendy

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I am wondering if someone can help me remedy my issue.

I just recently acquired a winchester 1895 in 30-03. When I first handled it I couldn't get it to half ####. Opened it up and saw the sear spring upside down. Fixed that and now I notice that when I put it on half #### I can pull the trigger and release the Hanmer, maybe about a 10lb pull.

I pulled out my other winchester 1895 in 303 and see if it did the same thing, and it did but with noticeably more harder than the other.

Then I thought I should check my winchester 1894 in 32 ws and same thing.

Mind you these are older guns, the 1895s are made in 1914 and 1915 and the 1894 in 1905.

Is there a way to fix it and make the half #### more safe?
 
Check the half #### notch on the hammer. It may have dirt build up in it. In which case cleaning the notch should solve the problem.
You could also have damaged notch causing the sear to ride out of the half #### notch.
 
More importantly than pulling the trigger on half #### is to test if you can push the hammer ahead on half ####. That is the purpose of half ####... to prevent the hammer from moving ahead...not to prevent you from pulling the trigger...
 
When I removed the hammer I inspected the notches and they are visible and seem to be in good condition.

When on half #### the hammer does not move forward

I'm just thinking safety when hunting if I were to fall or the gun to bang around that it wouldn't somehow loft the sear or something to allow the hammer to fall when on half ####. But then I may be over thinking it and the forces to come into play for that to happen may not exist.

My post 64 1894 doesn't allow to hammer to fall when on half #### that's why it concerned me with my other rifles.

But if the purpose of the half #### is to prevent it from going forwards regardless of trigger pull then my rifles would be how they should right?
 
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We might be talking about different things? Most of the safety checks that I know of are trying to jar the gun to see if the firing pin slams forward to fire a cartridge in the chamber - so often like a jolt, bump or jar to the gun - to ensure that it can not "go off", unless the trigger has been pulled.

I do not have much experience on the external hammer guns, but I think the purpose of the "half ####" notch was to catch that hammer on the way forward - say you have chambered a round, attempted to #### the rifle and your thumb slips off the hammer before it is caught in the "full ####" notch. Can be defeated by severe blow on half #### notch - that can shear the half #### notch completely away - so is no "half ####" function if that happens. Is to prevent the thing from firing, unless you are pulling the trigger - regardless if you fall, or the rifle gets bumped or knocked by something.

"Half ####" also typically prevents the firing pin from resting against the primer - so a moderate blow to that hammer can not set off that primer - unless the blow is forceful enough to shear off that notch.

I am not sure that most hammer guns can generate enough force - from the half #### position - to hit the firing pin hard enough to fire a primer - but is not something that I have played with - the hammer guns here with "half ####" will catch and stop / hold a falling hammer when the trigger is not pulled. If you are pulling the trigger, then you must have been expecting the rifle to fire? Is simply very bad procedure to have your finger on the trigger when NOT intending to fire.
 
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Any functional half #### should trap the sear and not permit either the trigger to be pulled or the hammer to drop from half. The fact that it does means that someone forced it at some point and broke off the little tang that is supposed to prevent the trigger being able to be pulled.

The little tang that SHOULD be there on the half #### notch forms a notch that traps the sear. Typically they are only about 1/32 inch or a single millimeter long. But I've seen some of my guns with half #### notches that are a touch longer. If the trigger can be pulled even with extra force it means that at some point someone got quite brutal with it and snapped off the tang that is on the outer side of the notch. And by rights the proper course of action, in particular if one is going to rely on it as a safety item, is to replace the hammer. Or in the case of a very old gun to have the hammer repaired which would involve TIG filling in the spot and recutting the proper notch.

And when the trigger won't pull because it is on the half and we didn't realize it? Let the idea that you're up over 10 lbs trigger pull give you the idea that something is not right and we need to stop instead of white knuckling the darn thing.
 
My 92 in 44-40 displays this act of unkindness.
Iff'in yer overly concerned 'bout safety, fill the mag tube and user like that.
Don't take long to ratchitt the lever.
 
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