Was shooting at the range yesterday and had several factory loads to try/evaluate for carry in my EDC Colt Delta Elite.

Before I get any "you shouldn't shoot Underwood in a Delta" comments.........


I had a Clark Customs ramped/fully supported bbl installed/fitted in my Delta......now on to my issue.


I have approx 300 rds thru my new bbl setup using a #22 recoil spring, Sprinco Recoil reducing guide rod, EGW flat bottom firing pin stop (no radius).  I had ordered/received  Underwood 150gr JHP (1500fps). I also had a couple of boxes of Hornady 155gr JHP XTP (1265fps) and Hornady 180gr JHP XTP (1180fps), and a box of Precision One 180gr JHP (1125fps) ammo to test.

I had shot approx 30 rds total of all but the Underwood ammo( none shot before the incident), when I loaded 5 rds of the Underwood. On the 3rd rd, I got hit in the mouth/lip by what I initially thought was a brass case, but as I reacquired the sights for the 4th shot, realized I had been hit by the hammer.  Which had broken off during slide recoil.  Gun is now not functional and I'll be taking it soon to a local gunsmith for a new hammer and trigger job.
Hammer was not the original hammer that came with the Delta, it was a (I thought) quality aftermarket part that was fitted/installed when I had the trigger job done back in the winter.

Anybody else have any broken parts stories with Underwood?

Doesn't sound like a ammo problem to me. Why blame Underwood?

You got hit with a flying anything, brass or not in the lip, slow down and check it out.

Nope. That's all in your parts selection I'm afraid. In all the years of reading on the forums that is a first for a hammer EVER!


Most of mine have the "Heart Shaped" hammer... did yours have a "Combat" style?

Pictures if you please...

You have to ask yourself if the hammer that broke was a MIM (metal injection molded) part?

Did you notice any abnormalities in the area of the broken part, pits?, stress fracturing? etc?

yes Underwood is a higher impulse ammo, but your gun being modified is more suspect!  SORRY!

I am also going with the aftermarket hammer as being the problem.

I might suggest putting the stock Colt hammer back in the gun. Other than that, good luck with it and do keep us posted.

I run Hot ammo through my Delta Elite all the time and  lot of it Underwood. Also my handload's of 800X which are 1300+ fps and the Sig ammo which is up there for factory ammo. Last week my son took the Colt to his CCW class and put over 100 rounds of a hefty charge of Blue Dot over 180gr FMJ not one hiccup from that gun, it has always ran flawless.
The number of rounds put through that Colt is close to 1300 and counting, as a matter of fact I'm going out Monday and chrono some more loads. And by the way I don't think it was Underwoods ammo that caused an after market hammer to come off.

I'm pretty sure this is a Delta with a Combat hammer


And this is a Delta with a Heart shaped hammer I think


My EAA Hunter has a Combat style hammer which I swapped to the Heart shaped hammer when I gave it a facelift. I never either style hammer and have only Hearts in all mine now running some nasty ammos. It's always been my understanding the Combat hammer is beefier and heavy... but should last forever.

Pics?

Did the hammer shear/break or did the hammer pin let go?

Either way, the hammer is really just a lever on recoil used to cock and capture the mainspring  If the hammer physically broke then it was definitely a defective part, or was incorrectly modified at some point.  Same would be true if it were the hammer pin that sheared off.

My guess is a weak spot in the hammer, micro crack or improper heat treatment.  In any of those cases, failure would most likely show up in the first couple hundred rounds, like your describing.

I've only seen two hammers break like your describing.  One was a bad casting and the other was a Mil-spec hammer, the gun was dropped onto a steel deck and landed on the hammer.

Jeff

Underwood makes delta specific loads IIRC.

Quote from: AllStrobedUp on April 04 2016 10:58:15 AM MDT
Underwood makes delta specific loads IIRC.

As the OP pointed out in the original comments, his Delta isn't really a Delta.  It was a Delta base gun that has all the upgrades to be comparable to a Dan Wesson, Kimber, etc as far as high impulse ammo.

I agree with fltbed...this was a bad part.

Sorry it took so long to get back to my thread.......out of town on vacation, and then work sent me out of town.


Update:

Gun has now been dropped off at the gunsmith for "proper" repairs.  I specified quality parts, not cast or MIM.


Hammer was (as previously suspected by the experienced people) a MIM replacement.  Previous gunsmith who did my trigger work said it was a good replacement, so his "knowledge" will no longer get anymore business from me.


To go back to the beginning, the title gives the wrong impression that I was blaming Underwood, just curious if their "nuclear" ammo has ever done anything like this before.

Thanks for all the reply's. Tracy

Being it was an aftermarket part, I would contact the hammer manufacturer. I have shot several thousand rd's of Underwood's ammo in multiple flavors (yes kind of expensive) and have never had an issue. Sorry for your lip accident by the way

Ken

I have about 9000 rounds through my Glocks with no parts breakage. Obviously, not all of that is Underwood Ammo (not even close). It would be way too expensive. But I did shoot a fair amount of Underwood through them.

That having been said, my Kimber Eclipse shows some slide battering from the heavy loads (Underwood included).

As an aside note, I acquired the Kimber after the original date of this thread.

I have shot a few thousand rd?s (if not more)of Underwood ammo through my G20, and Sig P-220 Elite, primarily 135gr - 200gr,  and have not seen any issues. Yes, it?s hot and expensive, but am confident that their product is safe?Love their ammo 😊