'73 Peacemaker hammer

flyingcollie

Can anyone tell me if a first generation hammer can be retrofitted for a second generation SAA .45 ?

The half-cock safety tang broke off my 2nd gen. hammer, which is obviously a "precision casting" rather than an item made from a forging or solid billet steel. Can this be repaired ?

navc130

I am not a Colt expert. All parts on 1st and 2nd generation should be interchangable. The notches on single action Colt hammers can be welded up and recut. It is not unusual for the safety notch to break off, especially if misused. Colt never used "cast" parts on Single Action Army revolvers, to the best of my knowledge.

flyingcollie

Thanks for your input. Update: The nice folks who make Peacemaker reproduction guns in the old Colt plant tell me there IS a difference between first and second generation hammers, and indicated some kind of "work" would have to be done to retrofit a first generation hammer into a second generation frame. They avoided answering what, exactly, or how extensive that might be.

Apparently the big difference is that first generation hammers have a "solid" firing pin, while there is some "float" to the pin in the second generation pistols.

Obviously, I'm no Colt expert either, but I do have some experience with production metal forming techniques, and I'm here to tell you the hammer in my second generation gun (made about 1972) definitely IS a "precision casting" . . .

Can anyone shed some light on putting a first generation type hammer in my gun ?

perry shooter

The contour of the firing pin itself on the early First gen pistols were cone shaped. later first gen guns had a different shape the late ones should work in an early gun but early ones might not be able to reach the primer in the later first gen frames.

flyingcollie

Thanks, Perry !

RRConductor

Check with Doug Turnbull (he has a website). Doug does restorations of SAAs, and his work is outstanding.

v35

Floating SAA firing pins, I believe, are floating on 3rd generation revolvers.

flyingcollie

I'm sure you're right, v35, the pin is floating on the 2nd gen. guns.

Problem solved. Notch welded and re-cut. We'll see how it holds up. Thanks all for your input.

v35

My 2nd Gen 45 LC S/N 14238SA is NOT floating.
When reducing depth of the full cock notch on SAAs or any hammer gun or when rebuilding any notches, you have to be certain that when the trigger sear barely clears the full cock notch that it will fully clear loading notches and safety notches or it will bugger up or break these notches or the trigger sear.