Firing pins for W.H. Hamilton

gunNstuffer · 04-13-2012, 08:22 AM

I am resurrecting an old Hamilton external hammer double barrel shotgun to
shoot black powder shells at cowboy action shoots. It's solid, tight, and in quite good condition except for the firing pins. Someone previously had tried to do what ever they were trying to do with the firing pins and in the process
ruined them making them totally nonfunctional. I made new brass housings for
the firing pins; and am now ready to make new firing pins. My dilemma is how
do I determine their length? I know what the protuberance toward the chamber should be but how do I determine the length toward the hammers?
Any suggestions or information would be most appreciated.

BETH · 04-13-2012, 02:59 PM

welcome to the forum i am sure someone will be along to help

Hammerslagger · 04-13-2012, 04:13 PM

Follow this link to here: http://www.thefirearmsforum.com/showthread.php?t=61508

Is this your shotgun? If so it should give you a place to start.

Post back after looking.

Jim K · 04-13-2012, 04:17 PM

Deleted.

gunNstuffer · 04-13-2012, 09:13 PM

My shotgun and the one in the pictures are almost identical. The difference is the stock.
I suspect mine at one time was restocked. Thank you for the link - very interesting.

Hammerslagger · 04-13-2012, 10:21 PM

You are most welcome.

The shotgun pictured is Belgian. It has barrels forged from homogeneous steel not by the forge welded or so called Damascus method. {I have no idea what you have without clear pictures of the marks on the under side of the barrels as well as pictures of the barrels.

It post dates 1893, but is likely 110 years old. It was Black Powder proofed, and not nitro proofed. It is bored 18.2 mm which is 0.015" tighter than current US standard of 18.5 mm or 0.729". It was made for use with brass shotshells and likely has chambers no longer than 63 to 65 mm as compared to 70 mm for today's standard 12 gauge.

I do not advise shooting old guns like this for reasons that include damage to the gun, the shooter, and persons near by.

Hope that this is useful.

Jim K · 04-14-2012, 02:34 PM

I do want to say that it was fairly common in the old days to deliberately remove or disable the firing pins on old shotguns that had been determined to be dangerous to prevent them from being fired. On a few occasions, people have not understood that, made new firing pins, and ended uip blowing up the old gun and injuring themselves.

Anyone who decides to "restore" an old gun to firing condition should make sure that it can stand up to firing. Note that I am NOT just talking about black powder vs. smokeless; some of those guns should not be fired, period. Often the old barrels have been rusted out, or scrubbed so often that they are paper thin, ready to blow with even the most mild pressure.

Jim

Hammerslagger · 04-14-2012, 06:58 PM

Jim K is 100% correct on all points made.

04-13-2012, 08:22 AM	#1
gunNstuffer Member Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: We have lived in numerous states but since 1980 we have lived in Harlan, Iowa Posts: 7	Firing pins for W.H. Hamilton I am resurrecting an old Hamilton external hammer double barrel shotgun to shoot black powder shells at cowboy action shoots. It's solid, tight, and in quite good condition except for the firing pins. Someone previously had tried to do what ever they were trying to do with the firing pins and in the process ruined them making them totally nonfunctional. I made new brass housings for the firing pins; and am now ready to make new firing pins. My dilemma is how do I determine their length? I know what the protuberance toward the chamber should be but how do I determine the length toward the hammers? Any suggestions or information would be most appreciated. -->

04-13-2012, 02:59 PM	#2
BETH Advanced Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: naugatuck,Ct. Contributor Posts: 6,666	Re: Firing pins for W.H. Hamilton welcome to the forum i am sure someone will be along to help

04-13-2012, 04:13 PM	#3
Hammerslagger Advanced Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 1,099	Re: Firing pins for W.H. Hamilton Follow this link to here: http://www.thefirearmsforum.com/showthread.php?t=61508 Is this your shotgun? If so it should give you a place to start. Post back after looking.

04-13-2012, 04:17 PM	#4
Jim K Advanced Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2009 Posts: 6,408	Re: Firing pins for W.H. Hamilton Deleted. Last edited by Jim K; 04-13-2012 at 04:24 PM..

04-13-2012, 09:13 PM	#5
gunNstuffer Member Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: We have lived in numerous states but since 1980 we have lived in Harlan, Iowa Posts: 7	Re: Firing pins for W.H. Hamilton My shotgun and the one in the pictures are almost identical. The difference is the stock. I suspect mine at one time was restocked. Thank you for the link - very interesting.

04-13-2012, 10:21 PM	#6
Hammerslagger Advanced Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 1,099	Re: Firing pins for W.H. Hamilton You are most welcome. The shotgun pictured is Belgian. It has barrels forged from homogeneous steel not by the forge welded or so called Damascus method. {I have no idea what you have without clear pictures of the marks on the under side of the barrels as well as pictures of the barrels. It post dates 1893, but is likely 110 years old. It was Black Powder proofed, and not nitro proofed. It is bored 18.2 mm which is 0.015" tighter than current US standard of 18.5 mm or 0.729". It was made for use with brass shotshells and likely has chambers no longer than 63 to 65 mm as compared to 70 mm for today's standard 12 gauge. I do not advise shooting old guns like this for reasons that include damage to the gun, the shooter, and persons near by. Hope that this is useful.

04-14-2012, 02:34 PM	#7
Jim K Advanced Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2009 Posts: 6,408	Re: Firing pins for W.H. Hamilton I do want to say that it was fairly common in the old days to deliberately remove or disable the firing pins on old shotguns that had been determined to be dangerous to prevent them from being fired. On a few occasions, people have not understood that, made new firing pins, and ended uip blowing up the old gun and injuring themselves. Anyone who decides to "restore" an old gun to firing condition should make sure that it can stand up to firing. Note that I am NOT just talking about black powder vs. smokeless; some of those guns should not be fired, period. Often the old barrels have been rusted out, or scrubbed so often that they are paper thin, ready to blow with even the most mild pressure. Jim

04-14-2012, 06:58 PM	#8
Hammerslagger Advanced Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 1,099	Re: Firing pins for W.H. Hamilton Jim K is 100% correct on all points made.