Hi all, I'm new to this forum.  My trouble may not be a new one but I've only had a chance to read a dozen or so pages of posts.  What brought me here is that I have an 1885 highwall that has an issue with the hammer not staying in the cocked position when the lever is closed, that is, it falls onto the firing pin when the lever is closed.  It is chambered for .219 Donaldson Wasp. I have no idea how old it is as it was given to me by my uncle, who picked it up back in the 50's used.  My uncle passed away 14 years ago so he's not available for questions.  It worked fine until last summer when I took it out of the stock to refinish the wood; that said, I have not shot it much since I've had it.  Of course, now I want to remedy that.

My first thought was that it needed a new hammer as the notch on the back of the hammer is subtle, only a few hundredths of an inch of indention.  I was at the Cody, Wy museum a couple months ago and saw a hammer on one of the pieces there on display that had much more pronounced notch in the same place.  So as I said, my first thought was that the hammer needed to be replaced but after reading some of the posts, I read where it is easy to put one of the parts in incorrectly, which causes said trouble. I have called Ballard Arms as they list a hammer for it; however, they have not answered their phone  for about 6 weeks now.  In the posts I've read, I've not come across anyone looking to replace their hammers so maybe I am on the wrong path.  Any suggestions from others who have had similar trouble would be most appreciated.

I assume that the hammer does not have a 'decocking fly' at the full cock notch.  One of mine does and the hammer does not stay cocked on purpose.  I had another that recently had an issue with the stock compressing the trigger flat spring that caused the hammer to fall and fire!  It worked just fine with the stock off which confused the issue for a while.   

Jack