Thank you all for you insight and advice. I took the lock out and noticed that the screws holding tha back of the hammer and innards togetherwere loose. Naturally I tightened them and found that they were loose with a purpose. The works could be felt to grate together when the screws were tight. Not liking that at all I took the whole thing apart and found various rough spots. This was a "kit gun" and the builder might have been unable or lacking in tools and knowledge to polish those bits that rub against each other. Couple of minutes with a dremel and a small emery disc and all the sharps and bumps were gone and the works reassembled. no grating even with the screws tight. OK. I put the gun back together and noticed wear on the wood where the hammer had lacked clearance during its travel.A cabinet scraper did short work of that area.6 caps in a row went off just fine. I hope i got it licked.