doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com The pinfire game gun

Taking a rest from moving firewood, and having thoughts about hammers...

When do we look closely at such things? Hammer guns have a certain charm and are "from another age." Flint locks seem like such contraptions, and percussion locks, with hammers meant to focus the strike on the cap, keep it in place, and deflect flying bits of copper away from the shooter, follow a certain form, and are attractive to be sure. With the appearance of the pinfire, the role of the hammer was to drive in the vertical pin to strike the internal cap, but not too much so as to allow the extraction of the case by the still-extruding pin. Because of the different arc, hammer noses tended to be longer than with percussion hammers. And later centre-fire guns could have more vertically-compressed profiles as the noses did not have to push down vertical pins. Low-profile centre-fire hammers could also disappear from the sight plane when cocked, while the tall "rabbit-eared" pinfire hammers were always in sight.

However, just because they do the same job doesn't mean they have to be identical. Hammers were shaped by hand with files, and even from the same maker, no two sets might be wholly identical. Combined with differences in engraving styles and decorative flourishes, there is actually a fair bit of variation in hammers when you stop to look. So let's look at a bunch of them, and for this I'm copying Argo44's clever idea of creating a montage of hammers.

All have high thumb-pieces, and a under-stop that keeps the hammer from hitting the pin flat. Some retain a design hold-over from percussion days, with a raised 'shield' or extended lip meant to deflect pieces of copper cap, now reduced to a stylized flourish. Most are rounded, others have flat sides, and some with both. Some are decorated with 'dolphin' features, a common Victorian motif. Others are plain, plain, plain. And if hammers aren't your thing, you might notice instead the wide variation in the fences, another part where the filers could really express themselves.








By the way, amongst these British examples are three Continental guns.

Back to moving wood, will come back to entire guns later in the week. But by all means keep the discussion going in the meantime!