Potential Safety Issue

A recent issue on the range lead to a discovery that needs to be made public

The issue

Hammer releasing but not moving forward

Fixable

Yes

Consequences

Potentially lethal

Cost to resolve

Zero to minimal

Showing hammer released but not moving forward

Having recently fitted a non-rotating trigger/hammer pin set I discovered a fairly serious safety issue.  Because of the way the HyperFire trigger works, there is very little energy from the springs at the point of the sear separating.  Badly made (I won’t mention China because China is where Vortex products are made) trigger/hammer pins which are too short result in the wall of the lower being pulled in by the tightening of the screws into the pins.  This causes extra friction on the hammer which is enough to stop the hammer moving beyond the counteracting springs on the HyperFire.  The hammer is released but does not have the force to go forward.  If there is a round in the chamber, this is potentially a lethal scenario as a slight knock to the rifle could be enough to dislodge the hammer resulting in an unexpected discharge (see video below).

NOTE: this is less likely to be an issue if the pins have a screw at only one end.

 

This is in no way meant to be criticism of the HyperFire trigger – mine is brilliant I have no intention of changing it.