I know I have been told what this marking is, but I can't remember it, and my manuals are in my range locker.....

Can someone ID this hammer for me?

rock river.........

If its Colt its one of the early .155 hammers. I looked at Biggerhammer, and it looks exaclty like that one. If its not Colt, I have no idea.

I hope the process of elimination helps

I should also mention this hammer doesn't work/ is out of spec.


CJ-  I'm trying to remember where I've seen it/ read about it.  It might have been the Colt class.....  

Interesting. IIRC my old OAI hammer looked like that too. No notch on the face, tapered back, the little details I can't recall.

Its the "E11" marking I can't place, I keep thinking it means something, but I am drawing a blank.

Don't know who actually built it, but you'll find the type from at least two or three manufacturers. I got one on a DPMS lower, and it works just fine.

It's actually an M16 A2 hammer that's had the full auto sear notch cut off to make it AR legal.  Notice the wide disconnector notch.  That's the A2 tip off.

In addition to the one that came on my DPMS, I picked up an unaltered M16A2 hammer of the same type at a show, and ground off the full auto sear notch myself, to make it legal

(Edited to Add).  Come to think about it, you may be right that it's out of spec. Just checked the piece I have, and it's marked EII N, with the N below the EII.  I do seem to recall something about the original batch being nonspec, but can't recall when or where I saw or heard this.

Good info, thanks!

Sooooooo, what is out of spec?  all this speculation...  The Ell came at the time of the forging.

To be honest, I'm not sure what is out on it.  It won't function, regardless of what lower or FCG I swap into it.  

Stickman,

The Ell marking is a revision number for the part itself that appears to have been applied during the time of forging on this particular piece. Revision numbers identify any engineering or manufacturing changes made to a particular part and are a way to identify them at a later date if any problems are encountered. M1 Garands are excellent examples of this practice as can be witnessed by field stripping any M1 and deciphering its history or "correctness" by the drawing numbers applied to it's components.

In contrast, very few drawing or revision numbers will be found on an M16 with the exception of the Hammer and Trigger. Other parts are usually only marked with a letter used to identify the manufacturer. I.E. Bolts with MPC(Colt) or MPF(FN) or the CMP, FNMI or EMP found on barrels, etc. M16 and A1 hammers and triggers are usually encountered with numbers to identify the revision such as 1, 2, 3 or 4 on them sometimes in conjuction with a C to identify them as colt produced parts. M16A2 components may contain the drawing type or size being E and the revision number to that drawing, in your case being the ll. Also, most of these components will have a letter near the revision number, or somewhere else on the piece to identify the manufacturer. An example of this, would be a hammer found on a Colt produced M16A2, CEl or C(Colt) E(drawing type/size) l(1st revision). These are some others I have encountered to help show the practice:
CEl - Colt production revision 1

CEll - Colt production revision 2(not 11)

El or Ell - found intermixed in mid-production of Colt M16A2 rifles some with or without a "N" marking followed by:  

E3
 N - National Aerospace production revision 3

E4
 N - National Aerospace production revision 4
E3 and E4, N marked hammers and triggers were used as original components in later Colt production M16A2 rifles.

FN production started at revision 3 or:

E3
 F - FN production revision 3

E4
 F - FN production revision 4

There are some others including E(EMCO) marked revision 3 and 4 as well as others with only a letter to identify the manufacturer such as M(yet to be identified).

Back to your hammer, from the Ell marking and as shamayim pointed out the wide disconnector notch, it started out life as a blank for a M16A2 hammer. It sounds like it may have been a manufacturers reject before it was completed or the blank was sold and machined incorrectly later. If it was a completed A2 hammer the right side "leg" where the hammer spring fits over, would be machined smoothly and to a different diameter than the left side to accommodate the burst cam. However, late production full auto M16A1 repair parts, M16A3 and M4A1 hammers are made using the A2/A4 blank with the wide disconnector hook.

Yours looks like the hammer pin hole is not drilled concentric with the left "leg"of the blank which may be throwing off the geometry between the hammer nose and the disconnector. The hammer notch also doesn't look right in the picture.

BTW, the only A2 hammers that were recalled by the government were those marked with the letter H to identify the manufacturer. As of this date I have not determined who H was.

Wpns Man

WpnsMan,

I knew I had heard it with Colt somewhere....  Thankyou!!

No problem,

But remember, just because it has a Ell revision number on it does not necessarily mean it was made by(CEll) or for(Ell w/ or w/o a N) Colt. It may very well have been a replacement part or a reject before it ever got close to a Colt M16A2. Unless it has been machined for the burst cam as I stated previously and given it's current problems, it's got my vote as a reject.

Wpns Man

It came out of a DPMS LPK, but I knew that I had heard it by name from somewhere else.  I thinkyou called it on a throw back part.

Thankyou again.