Gunner Quinn
I was looking at hammer pictures when something caught my eye. It wasn’t the hammer nose; however, it was at the other end, the bottom of the hammer. It was the sear cut. They looked the same on 637 and 642 hammers. That is, it looked like the sear on the 642 hammer had the same cut for single action as the 637 hammer. But how could that be? The 642 is double action only.
Do 642 hammers really have a single action sear? There was one way to find out. I happen to have a recent production Model 642-2. I grabbed it and took the side plate off. Well, I’ll be damned — the 642 hammer is cut for single action!
Does it work? Yes! With the side plate off, the hammer can be cocked to single action. Hilarious! Of course, this can’t happen unless the trigger also has a single-action-capable sear. The 642’s trigger does.
I put the 642 hammer in the 637. It works there, too, single or double action. I don’t know if all of S&W’s hammerless hammers have the single action cut as I only have the current production hammers.
Who knew that S&W’s double action only J-Frame hammers had a single action sear cut!? Well, S&W knew. And now you do, too.
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