The Down Range Forum

Member Section => Handguns => Topic started by: TSB on December 13, 2008, 03:52:42 PM

Title: Hammer Follow...
Post by: TSB on December 13, 2008, 03:52:42 PM
Read MB's blog about the GI problems the other day and wondered...I've never had an occurrance of "hammer follow" but wondered how many may have?  I've shot thousands of rounds with a Beretta, Browning HP, Sig and 1911 of various makes and never experienced the problem.

Anyone??

As a side bar question.  Can this occur on a striker fired pistol?
Title: Re: Hammer Follow...
Post by: Hazcat on December 13, 2008, 04:47:16 PM
I don't even know what it is!
Title: Re: Hammer Follow...
Post by: TAB on December 13, 2008, 04:49:40 PM
I don't even know what it is!

its when the sear does not engage the disconnect and the hammer drops when the slide is cycled.

you can check this on a 1911 by unloading the gun, then drop the slide on a empty camber.  if the hammer falls to half cock, its in need of repair( only a prob on premadona race guns normally.)
Title: Re: Hammer Follow...
Post by: TSB on December 13, 2008, 04:53:10 PM
its when the sear does not engage the disconnect and the hammer drops when the slide is cycled.

you can check this on a 1911 by unloading the gun, then drop the slide on a empty camber.  if the hammer falls to half cock, its in need of repair( only a prob on premadona race guns normally.)

What TAB said...

Another question...can this occur if the sear and disconnector are replaced in the frame incorrectly?
Title: Re: Hammer Follow...
Post by: TAB on December 13, 2008, 04:55:43 PM
i would asume so, but I don't know, its not something I have exp with... I know on 1911 its a very common to see on "Smiffed" action jobs.
Title: Re: Hammer Follow...
Post by: Hazcat on December 13, 2008, 05:01:43 PM
Happens on my POS Sig Mosquito every time I seat a magazine, and it came back from a factory overhaul like that!
Title: Re: Hammer Follow...
Post by: PegLeg45 on December 13, 2008, 05:33:00 PM
Happened on my old series 70 colt Bullseye gun several times. I had a 1.5 pound trigger and light weight bullseye springs. The weight of the slide going forward would sometimes 'bounce' the hammer 'full cocked' notch off the sear to half-cocked.
It never done it during a firing string. Only if I dropped the slide using the slide-stop. I started easing the slide back to load a round and had no problems. I could not find any mechanical problems or tolerance issues with any parts.
When I stopped Bullseye matches, I put factory weight springs back in and it stopped.
Title: Re: Hammer Follow...
Post by: Big Frank on December 13, 2008, 06:26:39 PM
If you do home gunsmithing and don't know what you're doing it's easy to get the angle or depth of the sear notch wrong and it will do it all the time. Never actually seen it happen, just read a lot about it. Semi-auto rifles can do that too. Don't know about striker-fired pistols. IMO any gun with a bad sear could probably do it.
Title: Re: Hammer Follow...
Post by: PegLeg45 on December 13, 2008, 06:34:34 PM
Mine done it with nothing more than a King's spring kit (drop in). No filing or stoning. The paper work that came with the springs warned and cautioned that 'hammer follow' could happen.

I have never had it happen to a pistol that I have fitted with a sear/hammer package.
Title: Re: Hammer Follow...
Post by: TexGun on December 13, 2008, 10:37:11 PM
Maybe an obvious question, or maybe a stupid one, but can hammer follow cause an accidental discharge or does it simply drop the hammer like the de-cock on, lets say, a SIG?
Title: Re: Hammer Follow...
Post by: m25operator on December 13, 2008, 10:58:01 PM
Yes Tex, it can cause an AD, or make it go full auto. On a 1911, after a trigger job, the smithy should warn you never to drop the slide on a empty chamber, without keeping the trigger pulled back to engage the disconnector, not only to prevent an AD, but to protect the trigger job, pull weights in the 3.5 lb + range won't really suffer from this, but under that,  the sear will beat itself up against the hammer hooks.

Striker fired guns can do it too, although it is tougher, I will say again as it's been a long time since this was discussed, on a Glock, do not remove ANY metal from the bottom of the striker, or doubling or tripling or worse can occur.

When the slide is released with a round in the magazine it slows down the slide and that's why it may happen in dry fire or just slide cycling, but not when when actually shooting.
Title: Re: Hammer Follow...
Post by: TexGun on December 13, 2008, 11:08:39 PM
So, for example, in a dry fire drill where you pull the trigger and hold it down and rack the slide in order to get a feel of the first "catch" when relasing the trigger so as not to allow the trigger to travel all the way forward... Is this an example of when hammer follow might occur given the relatively slower more diliberate movement of the slide?  The sear might not engage as it would in a normal shooting situation? This has happend to me with my SIG 229.