If the hammer won’t rotate back off the case head when you drop the lever, the firing pin will drag on the case head or plug seater. The plug will probably be worse than the cartridge because it’s jammed between the bullet and the breech face.  A fired cartridge  generally has some headspace, or it’s just the primer backed out.

It could just be that the trigger is adjusted too light, and the sear won’t engage. The sear and or hammer worn. The other thing that can happen is the cam on the link is a poor fit for and just isn’t rolling the hammer back enough. 

It’s also possible to get the link in backwards. But I don’t remember what that causes, but it’s worth a look. If it will manually hold if you pull it back halfway, I might suspect this. I tried it wondering if it would be like a 44 and go to full cock. It didn’t.

My rifle, made in the early 2000's, began to not put the hammer in half-cock after several thousand rounds.  The problem turned out to be a link that was not properly hardened.  Gail sent a replacement; it's worked properly for well over 10,000 rounds since then.

cardyk

Thanks for your help guys. Will get to it hopefully this week and tear it down. It is a brand new action.....

Skalkaho wrote on May 19^th, 2026 at 9:06am:


I feel your pain, today mine would not cock after about 30 shots. Noticed the larger hammer screw was backing out, tightened it and now it will not cock. This last rifle I bought has been nothing but a problem from day one, first day the hammer stirrup broke, supposedly a bad batch, sent back, then no matter what ammo could not get it to group, had a new barrel (different mfg) installed and it was grouping and now this not cocking again. Frustrating, I have 3 others with no issues.

On full cocking, the sear has to get past the fly before it can drop into full notch.  Once past, the fly moves forward and covers the half cock notch.  A fly not made correctly, not stopping at the correct point or the hammer not being able to move back far enough would cause the sear to not engage the hammer at full cock.  I would say any of these would be rare and more likely seen only during manufacturing.

All that being said, the one issue that can crop up on a Stevens 44 1/2 or CPA is the sear hanging up.  A couple things can cause the issue.  
First, and I would say most common, is the front trigger guard screw.  If you have a habit of tightening screws, this screw can be over tightened, and pinch the sear in the trigger frame.  If the hammer will not full cock try loosening this screw.
Second the sear spring may have failed or moved off the side of the sear.
Hope this helps someone.
Bob

Well I fiddle dinked with that action for so long and got so frustrated. It was shearing off brass from the case plug.I sent it to CPA. Said fix it ,call me for my Visa # no problem. well got A notice it shipping back already,should have it this week. A big thumbs up  to CPA .  Thankyou again Guys for all the input for myself and others......