2nd time in two months, I've noticed the spur cracked and pushed up out of position. First time it happened I got a free replacement from T/C. Second time was this weekend and after a call to T/C, I asked, at my expense, to ship it next day air, cause PA deer season starts next Monday. I told them this was the 2nd time this happened and the first words out of the tech's mouth were "do you use a hammer extention". Well yes I do. As a matter of fact, I use Mike's on all my Contenders and Encores. Well this is not covered on their warranty and I would have to pay for a replacement. No real biggy as I was desparate to get a replacement. I know the metal is cast, unlike the Contender's, but has this happened to anyone else? Am I doing something wrong with the ext.? Just curious to hear some input.
Thanks, Jeff

I've used extensions for many years on Contenders and now for several years on Encores & never had any problems such as yours. Are you perhaps overtightening them to cause additional stress on the metal?

[ 11-25-2002, 21:00: Message edited by: Bobby Tomek ]

Bobby and all, I've been thinking hard and all I can come up with is that I don't always pad the face of the gun when I dry-fire while tweaking the internal parts or while doing a cleaning. No, the ext. are not on too tight. However it may be a common problem using an extension 'cause that's the first thing the T/C tec. asked me. Just a thought.
Jeff

[ 11-25-2002, 21:32: Message edited by: jb HHI 7241 ]

I had an extension on my Encore hammer briefly and it developed a crack too. I sent the frame back to TC to have it replaced and since I had a trigger job done by Virgin Valley, TC would not replace the hammer unles they removed the replacement trigger spring. I'm not using an extension anymore and I think TC was being petty about not replacing the hammer.
Greg

Sorry to not get into this sooner, but I have not had much discretionary time lately.

When I first got into hammer extensions, we were making them from steel and right away we had a number of instances of hammer spurs breaking off.
But since switching to aluminum, the weight of the extension is 75 gr., half the weight of the steel extensions.

Supposedly, via TC, there were a couple thousand hammers made early on that were defective. However, it is, I feel, a design problem.

Look at the hammer. First off, the set screw is no where near the narrow waist of the hammer, so set screw tension is not a factor at all. It is this flimsy narrow waist on the hammer that is the weak point. The weight of the spur is above the waist of the hammer. It is the sudden impact of the hammer against the frame that bends the spur forward.

But, again, with the aluminum extensions, I have had no other reports of broken hammer spurs.

(One party is selling steel Encore extensions yet, and is supposedly not having any problem, but I am not that brave.)

With or without a hammer extension on, I feel it is ill advised to simply let the hammer hit the frame dry firing, if for no other reason than the fact that dry firing will collapse the firing pin return spring and eventually you will have the firing pin hanging up in the fired primers of cases making it necessary to force the barrel open, and in the process breaking the firing pin.

Bottom line: Don't dry fire the Encore without
1) first removing the plug in the breech face that contains the firing pin, and
2) use some form of padding to cushion the blow of the hammer against the frame.

If you will get the free Encore Trigger Job instructions download from my website, you will note that I recommend the above procedure of removing the plug and cushioning the hammer.

When I do trigger jobs, I ALWAYS do this. I have more regard for your frames than you do, I suppose.

In regard to trigger jobs, it is a given that TC will undo what a 3rd party custom shop does. If for example one of my custom springs is installed, you can count on TC taking it out. Whether you get it back or not is another question.

Thus, it is smart to take out my custom spring before shipping the frame to them for any purpose, then hope they do not install their rough castings again and undo the work that either you or I have done to the frame.

And IF TC or anyone does any work on your trigger, I strongly advise, again referring to the trigger job instructions on my site and in my CDs in circulation, that you DO the outlined Safety Function Checks detailed. I had one frame sent to me that TC had supposedly done a trigger job on. The hammer readily, and I do mean readily pushed off from the cocked position. Someone had ground off at least half of the sear notch! In my opinion this falls into the category of not so bright, to be kind.

All the best,
Mike Bellm

Mike said about some early encores that had trouble well mine has a low serial #. I bent and broke mine just shooting at the range with no fancy extension. I had a trigger job done by virgin valley and talked to them before TC. They told be about what TC would do so I let VV handle the repair and they check out the trigger job with the new part to make sure it was alright.
By the way all I paid was the shipping.