Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Single Shots 45/70 Browning/Winchester High Wall

Notropis,

There are several conditions that result in the hammer only falling to the half-cock position. If you have not fooled around with the trigger pull by installing a Lee Shaver sear or the Dale McGee modification than I suspect you action needs flushing with a spray cleaner and then sprayed with a good lubicant. Browning�s 1885 action is designed with two sears, a trigger sear and a hammer sear. The hammer sear is a internal safety feature. Under normal conditions the hammer rapidly rotates forward striking the firing pin. It�s moving so quickly that the hammer catch passes the hammer sear half-cock catch before the hammer sear can rotate back and catch the hammer in the half-cock position. If the rotational speed of the hammer or proper operation of the hammer sear is affected in any way, the hammer may catch in the half-cock position. In most circumstances a good cleaning to remove old gummy contaminated lubricant, followed by judicial lubrication, is all that�s necessary. Use a gun cleaning spray with a nozzle to flush the action from the top and bottom, followed up with a high-quality spray lubricant.

If cleaning and lubrication does not fix the problem, further inspection or disassembly of the action may be required. In that case you may be interested in purchasing my book on the rifles. It discusses all the problems and fixes that I�m aware of after many years of working on and selling the rifles. It also has step by step details on disassembling and reassembling the action. All the details on the book plus many related articles can be found at www.texas-mac.com.

Wayne

I did a little lubrication on it the other day and could not get it to malfunction after I did. Sitting around for a few year without being used may well have been the problem. I should be able to shoot it more in a few days and will be interested to see if the oiling solved the problem.

Thanks for the advice.

I took it out today and shot about 50 rounds through it with no problems at all. I a little lubrication can solve many problems.

Notropis,

Good deal. Most likely there was some old stiff lubricant and fouling that loosened up with the new lubricant. If you run into the problem, follow the steps that I posted earlier.

Wayne

I'm guessing you have an 1885 and not a 78. The 1885 has what Browning called an inertia trigger. By design, you cannot lower the hammer all the way to the firing pin. Texasmac describes the operation. This is quite a bit safer than the 78 and originals as a slip of the thumb will not lead to an AD. Your rifle was probably a little gummed up causing the hammer to fall slower than needed.

Jerry

Jerry,

If you don't mind a small correction, it's referred to as an inertial sear, not an inertial trigger since it has nothing to do with the trigger but does affect the action of the hammer.

To explain further, the Miroku manufactured Browning designed 1885 action has a component commonly referred to as the hammer sear for added safety . In actual operation it�s an inertial sear, making it just about impossible for the hammer to be in a fired position (pressed against the firing pin) without intentionally firing the rifle. In other words, by pulling the trigger and thumb lowering the hammer, it cannot be lowered enough to contact the firing pin.

By the way, the hammer sear and trigger sear are two different components.

Wayne

You are of course correct, Wayne. I was thinking that I used the wrong term after I posted, but didn't get back to edit it. It's been a while since I read the manual.

Thanks
Jerry

When I got my B78, I found the half-cock notch did not engage at all on the hammer. That was ~25 years ago, and IIRC was what prompted me to dissemble it the first time. I think I found it had previously been disassembled & the trigger adjusted incorrectly. Once that was fixed the half-cock notch did engage correctly. I always wondered if that wasn't part of the reason for the redesign of the B78 into the 1885.

I bought one like that also and had a bit of trouble getting it straightened out until I found the procedure. Some of the 78's had a poor feel to the trigger and people could really mess them up by turning screws.

There was a replacement made by Canjar that improved things a bit if it was installed correctly.

Jerry

Gary Chatham at Tennessee Colony, TX 903-928-2400 will sell you a field service manual. It has trigger job and disassembly/assembly instructions. Very helpful and a great guy.
Don`t worry about taking it apart- the first 200 times are the hardest!
He also has parts, barreled recievers,wood, etc.
Good Luck with your project,
Tom