Post by "DoubleAction" on Jun 26, 2010 10:18:07 GMT -5
1911 : Modified Hammer Face" and "Hammer Over Travel
As the center rail of the slide travels rearward, it performs several functions, one being to cock the hammer. With some hammers, they might be pulled beyond the point of locking on the Sear Nose, causing the hammer hooks to beat against the fine engagement of the sear as the hammer is released by the slide. To prevent this from occuring, many hammers come factory tuned to react with the center rail of the slide in order to minumize the hammer's overtravel during the cocking stage of the slide cycle.
The center rail to hammer cocking engagement is located at the top of the face of the hammer. Some hammers will have a smooth broken top edge on it's face to eliminate it's overtravel. If you think your hammer is being overcocked, you can manually cock it ( check to make sure the pistol is unloaded first) and while pulling the slide to the rear, over the cocked hammer, check to see if the hammer travels any further to the rear. If the hammer travels excessively, as the slide passes over it, this could tell you how much it will slam on the sear nose as the slide cycles normally.
If anyone would like to request photos to illustrate this, please ask.