Too wide hammer?

[thatsteveguy]

I posted this over on AR-15 but thought I would also see if any fellow calgunner's had any thoughts:
I recently bought a Plum Crazy complete lower to mate with my Tac Sol M4 upper. It was a great price point and it arrived looking great, when I put the Tac Sol on it, it fit great. After using some snap caps to function test I noticed that the snap caps showed no indentations which to me meant the likelyhood of light strikes was a possiblity. I removed the lower and inspected the hammer and noticed some definite wear as you'll see from the photos. The wear was on both sides and it looks like it is just too wide for the the Tac Sol. The FCG is all polycarbonate; my question is should a "thinner" hammer work reliably and will a metal hammer have issues with a polycarbonate FCG? Anyone with a Plum Crazy lower who has experience with "too wide" hammers? What do you recommend? Please excuse the poor picture quality.

[xxINKxx]

Cant you take a dremel and make it a lil thinner? The hammer is plastic too right? And yes it looks way too wide lol

[thatsteveguy]

Cant you take a dremel and make it a lil thinner? The hammer is plastic too right? And yes it looks way too wide lol

That is an option but I'm a complete newb regarding the AR platform. I've got the question in to Plum Crazy and am awaiting their reply before I do anything. I was hoping someone else had also experienced this and could let me know what they did to rectify the issue.

[thevic]

is that 2 hammers in one? hah

[xxINKxx]

Well I think the plum crazy recievers can accept standard AR metal trigger assemblies from what I read (they look a hell of alot thinner then yours) I would try to dremel it first where its rubbing, because either way as of now its too thick and is useless. If you ruin it just buy a standard metal AR hammer which is like 10 - 15 bucks if it can accept AR parts kit parts

Find out first from the company what they say, and see if that lower accepts parts from standard AR parts kits so you can replace things yourself if you decide to mess with it urself.

[InfiniteArms]

thatsteveguy thank you for calling me about this issue so i can help resolve it for you!

I just compared a metal hammer and the Plum Crazy hammers are definitely wider. I have an email into our distributor about this and will let you know what we hear back!

[thatsteveguy]

thatsteveguy thank you for calling me about this issue so i can help resolve it for you!

I just compared a metal hammer and the Plum Crazy hammers are definitely wider. I have an email into our distributor about this and will let you know what we hear back!

Thanks! I look forward to hearing from you.

[InfiniteArms]

Turns out the hammer being to wide for some .22 uppers is a known issue (and now we know) and the solutions are to either replace with a metal FCG or to modify the hammer. They sell hammers separately so you can have one for 223 or a spare if anything happens during the mod.

Again thank you for calling us so we could look into and get you an answer.

[InfiniteArms]

***UPDATE***

It has been brought to our attention that there is one more configuration that the wide hammer will not work in and that is with a Colt SP1 bolt carrier. These carriers were from the days when Colt was trying to make everything proprietary so they could not be converted to full auto and are not mil-spec bolt carriers.

[CHS]

If you ruin it just buy a standard metal AR hammer which is like 10 - 15 bucks if it can accept AR parts kit parts

Actually, it'll cost more than that. The plum crazy FCG is proprietary. While the lower will accept standard parts, you can't just replace one part of the FCG. If you want to run a standard hammer, you'll have to replace the trigger and disconnector as well, running the price up to around $40.

[xxINKxx]

Good job on the confirmation ^. Ive read you can just swap it with a standard AR part on other forums, but as most stuff online isnt correct, I made sure to say double check with the company first if you can do that, and see what they had to say.

[CHS]

Good job on the confirmation ^. Ive read you can just swap it with a standard AR part on other forums, but as most stuff online isnt correct, I made sure to say double check with the company first if you can do that, and see what they had to say.

You can install a standard AR FCG into a plum crazy lower. That's not an issue.

The issue is the polymer FCG that comes with the lower is proprietary to itself. So the trigger is not compatible with a standard hammer, and vice versa.

Basically, you can replace all or nothing.

[thatsteveguy]

You can install a standard AR FCG into a plum crazy lower. That's not an issue.

The issue is the polymer FCG that comes with the lower is proprietary to itself. So the trigger is not compatible with a standard hammer, and vice versa.

Basically, you can replace all or nothing.

Thanks for the information. I've got a 5.56 upper coming so I'll try the Plum Crazy lower with that before I replace the FCG. I really wish I had known this issue before buying...I would have built an aluminum lower instead. Live and learn!

[CHS]

Thanks for the information. I've got a 5.56 upper coming so I'll try the Plum Crazy lower with that before I replace the FCG. I really wish I had known this issue before buying...I would have built an aluminum lower instead. Live and learn!

The fat hammer is only an issue with certain .22lr conversions or uppers, and older Colt/Bushmaster bolt carriers without a fully shrouded firing pin.

For everything else it should just work. The chances of you having a non-shrouded firing pin in a modern upper are pretty slim.

[InfiniteArms]

Thanks for the information. I've got a 5.56 upper coming so I'll try the Plum Crazy lower with that before I replace the FCG. I really wish I had known this issue before buying...I would have built an aluminum lower instead. Live and learn!

Even if you replace the FCG with a metal mil-spec group you are still saving money compared to buying and building a metal lower. You also have all the benefits of the lighter polymer lower.