Skeletonized N-frame Factory Mim Hammer

[Carmoney]

...Mike, I'm curious if you WEIGHED the hammer in qusetion--the one you applied your "Dremelology" to--before end after the "Surgery"???...It would be interesting to know what the weight reduction was in total...Thanks....mikey357

Mikey, I still don't have my 625 back from the plater but I happened to have my 627 .357 apart tonight and so I weighed its similarly-skeletonized hammer on my powder scale. With the stirrup and sear installed it weighed 265 grains. (Randy says his custom hammer weighs 301 grains.) A stock factory forged N-frame hammer weighs 532 grains, so I managed to take more than half the hammer mass and turn it into dremel dust on my basement floor.

[mikey357]

Mike, thanks for the info...now I have a target number to work towards in MY "Dremelology" journey....mikey357

[RePete]

Carmoney and aerosigns:

Nice job.

You've got to be using a stock mainspring and Federal primers too.

RePete.

[Carmoney]

Carmoney and aerosigns:

Nice job.

You've got to be using a stock mainspring and Federal primers too.

RePete.

RePete, not exactly sure what you mean here, but if you're suggesting that lowering the mass of the hammer contributes to misfires, that is a huge (yet often repeated) misconception.

Fast slap always beats slow crushing blow when it comes to primer ignition. These light hammers allow us to take our double-action pulls to places we can't go with stock hammers--the spring tensions can be lightened up even more and still maintain 100% ignition reliability. That's the whole point of doing all that whittling!

Yes, Federal primers are generally the order of day for revolver competition, although I'm using factory Winchester white box 9mm ammo in my "converted" Model 627-4 8-shooter, and with a lightened hammer I've been able to dial the DA pull down under 6 pounds. With Federal primers, I can take my actions down to about 5 pounds, and still have 100% ignition reliability, even with a dirty gun, mixed brass and loose moonclips.

Edited February 19, 2006 by Carmoney

[aerosigns]

Hey guys,

Since it was actually above 30 degrees, and not raining or sleeting I went outside to test my 625 'claw' hammer and spring settings.

I have the trigger back up in the 4-5 pound area now. I wanted it to be as close as possible to my other guns. I have the 14 lb. rebound spring in. The lighter ones felt good, but I had a tendency to not let it lock up, and would just spin the cylinder.

Using several brands of Wal-mart ammo, every single round fired without a hitch. After playing around I would have no fear in using any off the shelf ammo.

Now I plan to work on my reloading skills. I did find the factory recoil a little more punishing than it is when using my 1911.

Mike - Don't forget to pack you trigger pull scale when you go to WI. I would like to know if the calibration is off on my trigger finger.

Jim

[Carmoney]

No prob--I'll throw it in the shooting bag.

[rwmagnus]

Hey Guys,

Here is my rendition of the "Claw" Hammer.

....nice work!