There's a lever in the trigger guard that interacts with a notch in the breechblock to insure that the hammer can't be pulled unless the breechblock is closed.  Either your rifle has the wrong lever length, or it's out of time due to being bent.  The lever can be judiciously bent without breaking it to correct slight problems in geometry.

You can take the trigger guard out, and the hammer and block, and should be able to re-assemble them to the side of the action, using the pins and screws, to see how it all interacts.