For one, I am not a Marine. I never served, so do not want anyone to get the idea I did. I actually got a talking-to, from my 85 year old Mom. Her father was a Marine, and when I made a donation to the USMC Rifle Team, and they sent me a 'USMC Rifle Team' sweatshirt in return, she told me I was not allowed to wear it!
Anyhow, here is the history of the skeletonized hammers:
I was machining out pockets that left a web. I make these by having blocks rough-cut by water jet, then machining to get final dimensions. I wondered if it would not be easier to skeletonize the hammer, removing the same amount of material, but doing it in the water jetting step (which cuts all the way through) rather than by machining, which can go to partial depth. I had about 1 square foot of tool steel, so I sent it off, and they made about 50 hammers from it.
Results were that the additional water jet time cost more than I saved, plus when I tested them, I did not see an improvement in lock time, plus the old design I had sold for a few years was known to work, and I did not have that same amount of experience with these hammers, so I saw zero benefit. I did give out a few to people who would be likely to shoot them, just to see if we got any feedback or observed failures. I am pleased to say I have not gotten negative feedback, but neither did I follow-up to see how many rounds were through them, to see if the testing was actually done.
Bottom line is that I still have about 45 of them. If someone wants to order a hammer and attach a note that they prefer the skeleton version, I'll give a 20% discount on the hammer and still cover it under warranty. Indeed, I have some blem triggers that I'll also discount 20%. Now that I'm thinking about it, I'll have Customer Service put together a package on the website.
If Art wants to chime in about his experience with the skeletonized design, I'm sure we'd all like to hear about it.
Art
shootingsight.com
