76 hammer wear.

[Pitchy]

I watched a vid this morning of a guy that was tuning up a Chappy 76 and he noticed that the bolt was wearing a groove in the hammer were the bolt rides on it.
So got mine out and sure enough there`s a groove in it, so my guess is they didn`t harden the hammer enough.
Has anyone else seen this and whats your opinion and fix, my thought would be to weld it then file it flat again as weld is pretty hard.
My rife has only cycled a few boxes of shells through it so i`m figuring it will get worse.

[piller]

I think I would check into warranty replacement first. That looks as if it wasn't hardened properly.

[GunnyMack]

If you can run a file across it and it cuts like butter it's soft. If the file skates across its hard and maybe too hard. Just try it where it won't cause a problem.
You could try CASEINITE but that would require a lot of heat, possibly drawing the temper out of it.
Warranty is best bet.

[Pitchy]

Thanks, so far i`m not finding any links that Chaparral is even in business.
I`m sure the case hardening isn`t very deep and ya would file through it and have the same problem, thats why i though a spot of weld on that area then ground flat again would fix it.

[Sixgun]

Pitchy,
Like Gunny says, hit it with Kasenit. Use a propane torch to heat up that area red and it won't travel down to the hammer notch to soften that area upon quenching. I'm no gunsmith but I've filed a half dozen hammer notches in that manner and used Kasenit. It only goes down a few thousandths but that's all you need. One hammer I did on an original 1894 Marlin has gone through about 4,000 rounds and it's still hard as glass. I've used that stuff on other things too.

Only thing you have to do is heat up the area you want to harden and push that part in the can of Kasenit. Repeat two times and quench it in cold water......

Brownells sells it..I think about 15-20 bucks.

Or, just don't worry about it. Shoot it until it wears to the point where the hammer won't stay back then weld it up and harden. It may not even get to that point as much as you shoot the gun.---6

[Pitchy]

Or, just don't worry about it. Shoot it until it wears to the point where the hammer won't stay back then weld it up and harden. It may not even get to that point as much as you shoot the gun.---6

Yepper

[Nath]

Yeah, what is the problem really!
It may be better to wear the hammer instead of the bolt!

N.

[Bronco]

I have a question.
If the hammer is hardened so it does not wear! Doesn't make it so that the bolt will start to wear ??? I know in some things certain item are designed to wear so other parts do not. Sometime making the weak link stronger moves the weak link to other parts that are a sumbitch to replace or far more expensive.

What Nath said

[Pitchy]

Well fellars it would be interesting to hear from those that own a 76 from a different companies or originals and see if they have the same wear.
My guess would be there isn`t the issue but that`s why i brought it up in hopes someone would chime in with other rifles.

[M. M. Wright]

I tried to comment but it didn't stick so I'll try again buddy. Whatever you decide, I'll second. I had a Chiappa 76 but traded it off. Didn't shoot it enough to have an opinion about wear.

[Hawkeye2]

Chiappa has been gone for several years now but it's my understanding their parts would interchange with originals. I would probably shoot it till it becomes a problem then weld it up. Kasenit was removed from the market quite a while back. Brownells carries a hardening compound and a brand called Cherry Red is available though I have heard that Cherry Red isn't as good as the original Kasenit.

[Pitchy]

Thanks guys, like Six said i don`t shoot it enough to worry about it and if i did and it got worse a spot of wire feed weld on it quench and grind flat.
Mine came from Heritage out of Florida.

[GunnyMack]

All else fails you could weld it up and send it out for heat treatment.

[OldWin]

How heavy is the mainspring? If it's real stiff, that can contribute. Lighten the mainspring a little and it may help some, at least.

[Pitchy]

Yepper Jay did that shortly after i got it and other things she`s smooth.

[OldWin]

Haha I shoulda' known!

[Sixgun]

. Lighten the mainspring a little and it may help some, at least.

Yea....you ought to talk yourself into lightening up the pockets in your Buffalo coat and maybe it won't be so heavy the next time you leave my gunroom. -----6

[OldWin]

Haha no way bro! I'm sewing bigger pockets in that sucker!

[Rusty]

That's a good eye Pitchy. Very few people would catch a flaw like that.

[KirkD]

I've had a couple different original 1876's from the 1870's and 80's and never saw a ding like that in their hammers. They were case hardened and didn't seem to change with use, neither did the rear of the bolt.

[Pitchy]

Thanks Kirk, i`m sure its poor hardening on this hammer but if it gets worse i know the fix.