New Hammer for the Marlin 1889

In November of 2020 I bought a Marlin 1889 sporting rifle chambered for .38 WCF (AKA .38-40). The Marlin 1889 was the first side-ejecting lever action, leading to the rifles that Marlin has built ever since. When I got it I discovered that the half cock notch on the hammer was chipped. It held OK at full cock but when placed in half cock, as you'd use it when hunting, the hammer could be pushed off. This was obviously no bueno.

At the time I bought it I was unable to find a replacement. This is a hazard of collecting old guns that have been out of production for decades, or in the case of the 1889, over a century.

Actually, the full cock notch doesn't look so good, either.

At the beginning of July I did an Internet search on a lark and found that Old Arms of Idaho had a few in stock, and I decided to take a chance.

It worked out splendidly, dropping in with no fitting required.

A few days later I took the rifle to the range.

I shot the rifle with my black powder handloads in Starline brass. One oddity of guns chambered for .38 WCF is that the chamber dimensions and cartridge dimensions allow for a lot of case expansion. The British military had a similar situation with the chambers on their Lee-Enfields and .303 British ammunition. The result is that if you full length resize the brass for reloading, it work hardens the brass leading to short case life. To wit:

The good thing is that I didn't know the case split in half until after I tried to eject it and got out only half. The bad thing is that I noticed several other cases had splits and needed to be trashed.

Since I have two rifles in .38 WCF I am now sorting my cases by rifle and will adjust my sizing die to only neck size the brass. This is a hassle, especially given the current scarcity of .38 WCF brass. Unless I run across something I really want at a price I can't pass up, I won't be buying any more guns in this caliber because of the hassle.