Scratches on Blackhawk hammer

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Good thinking.... I like the idea of using a fine/small file; I've done a little filing at times and it always worked out for me.... certainly beats using a Dremel in your situation...
J.
 
On the left is the stainless hammer I put on just long enough to get some msmts with a feeler gauge, maybe 20 times cocked. It had no scratches when I got it. On the right is my original hammer, see my first post for how it looked. This is how it looked after working it down with 1000 grit sand paper, installing it, and cocking it 100 + times. still a bit to be done, but MUCH better. When I get it right, I will sand the stainless, install it, get some new msmts. Shims are due in tomorrow. I will wait to shim it until I make a decision on the finish.
 

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Way better.
Thanks, man. I can deal with good honest use wear on a revolver, or hell, any firearm for that matter. Holster wear, bench dings, limb brushes. I can't deal with preventable wear/damage. This revolver should never have left Ruger with this kinda damage in a few cockings. I may be a little harsh, maybe things loosened up during use. As I am not the original buyer, hard to say. But a little bit of filing shows a mountain of chatter in the hammer channel. A few minutes of TLC after milling would have taken care of this.
 
I measured hammer/frame clearance on some of my other revolvers, kinda' interesting.
Ruger GP 100- .003, no scratches
S&W model 14- .0015, no scratches. This one is the tightest.
S&W 657- .005 No scratches
Ruger BH NM .45 Colt- .010, Scratches, about half as bad as the 357.
BH has at least .005 more hammer clearance as the models above, Even on a low end revolver, this could be improved on. And not that BH is a low end.
 
I keep and use a variety of flat stones. When I worked in tool and die shops, Stones were kept in kerosene. A thin , flat stone, fine grit would do wonders with that problem.
 
I measured hammer/frame clearance on some of my other revolvers, kinda' interesting.
Ruger GP 100- .003, no scratches
S&W model 14- .0015, no scratches. This one is the tightest.
S&W 657- .005 No scratches
Ruger BH NM .45 Colt- .010, Scratches, about half as bad as the 357.
BH has at least .005 more hammer clearance as the models above, Even on a low end revolver, this could be improved on. And not that BH is a low end.
Did you measure the pin/hole clearance ? I'd wager that is where much of the issue is.
 
I keep and use a variety of flat stones. When I worked in tool and die shops, Stones were kept in kerosene. A thin , flat stone, fine grit would do wonders with that problem.
Problem is, I gotta' stay away from the firing pin, 3/32 is about as thick as I can go. Polished it out with 1000 grit paper wrapped around a 1/16" thick fine file, just barely cleared, Filed the channel down, deburred the top of the channel at the outside, put 2 .005 shims in, worked fine. The stainless hammer was about .008 thicker thane the original, so I had to work the channel down a bit more than for the original. All I have to do is take the base pin screw out, and will be ready for the finish. I hope they don't tell me the firing pin will have to come out. A major PITA........
 
I understand your frustration at having to finish smoothing out your Ruger. The manufacturing methods used by Ruger now are for mass production, using machine operators, & not gunsmith types. They do not cycle the guns like we do,, so they can easily miss stuff. Your comment; "A few minutes of TLC after milling would have taken care of this." is not what happens. Those "few minutes" is a lot more than you'd think to just do that,, and that takes TIME. TIME is money because it slows down production,, a LOT.
Most CASUAL buyers & shooters will not bother with such minor flaws. And to the more serious folks,, well, we have to often do little things to satisfy our wishes, desires, or complaints.
Ruger can't afford the TIME to hand build guns & keep the costs to where we can afford them. Just look at Freedom Arms, and a 2 year+ wait & over $3000 for a gun. With FA,, you get a darn near perfect gun everytime. Production assembly lines can't do that.

When Bill was alive & building guns,, he had more gunsmith types,, and production was a LOT less. And we'd often have a long wait time to find guns that were introduced each year,, but due to high demand, and LOW production,, it often took a few years before the model was considered common & available.

I'm not trying to defend Ruger as much as I'm trying to explain the differences we now see. To get higher production, putting more guns in the hands of the people has a trade off of making them by mass production, where minor flaws are acceptable.
 
Thanks much, Contender. What I don't understand about this is how can they produce the GP100 with .003 clearance, works smooth, no scratches, but the BH has 3 plus times the clearance and not just scratches but gouges the hammer? Perhaps I am taking this a bit too seriously, but, jeez....
 
Thanks much, Contender. What I don't understand about this is how can they produce the GP100 with .003 clearance, works smooth, no scratches, but the BH has 3 plus times the clearance and not just scratches but gouges the hammer? Perhaps I am taking this a bit too seriously, but, jeez....
I'm still wondering why Ruger hasn't corrected the turn line on the cylinder. Drives me nuts! I know there's a pin modification solution, and also a polished cylinder and cylinder stop help… but I'd think a factory solution is about 45 years overdue!

Didn't mean to change the subject…Joey, good job on taking care of the cause, and effective!
 
I'm still wondering why Ruger hasn't corrected the turn line on the cylinder. Drives me nuts! I know there's a pin modification solution, and also a polished cylinder and cylinder stop help… but I'd think a factory solution is about 45 years overdue!

Didn't mean to change the subject…Joey, good job on taking care of the cause, and effective!
Time and Money.
 
Time and Money.
Thanks much, Nitro. Time and money cost Ford millions, a $2.00 part would have taken care of the exploding Pinto problem, but they were more concerned about their bottom line.
Another thing that drives me nuts about the BH is their variances in cylinder throat diameters. They can vary by 3-4 k, I was told the reason is they use a three milling drill set-up to bore throats. When 1 gets dull, they change just the 1, causing wide variances in diameter, and undersized throats.
I will shut up now.
 
I'm still wondering why Ruger hasn't corrected the turn line on the cylinder. Drives me nuts! I know there's a pin modification solution, and also a polished cylinder and cylinder stop help… but I'd think a factory solution is about 45 years overdue!

Didn't mean to change the subject…Joey, good job on taking care of the cause, and effective!
 
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