I bought a tc newenglander 50cal. After every shot I had pry the cap off nipple.It looks like the hammer is off and striking cap and splintering it.Anyway the gun failed to fire every shot.Am I looking at a bent hammer or another problem?

Wow Illianbowhntr, that's a tough one without a little more info. Is the gun set up for #11 caps or musket caps? What size/brand of caps are you using? Are the caps not popping at all, or are the caps popping but the gun fails to fire? When you lower the hammer slowly on the cap can you feel it dragging on the side of the cap?

check the nipple on the rifle. Sometimes the top will flare and it makes seating the cap hard. Often you will hear people about saying the first strike of the hammer sets the cap. The second fires it.

Try a new nipple if that is the case. Another thing is what cap are you shooting? If they are CCI standard, that might be your problem. Also make sure they are #11 and not #10.

Also when it does "splinter" the cap is it firing that cap? But the fun fails to fire? Or is it just hitting it and setting it? Pick the nipple with a nipple pick. Then cap it.

Last, what kind of powder are you shooting?

I agree with cayugad and would replace the nipple. Once that is done lower the hammer onto the nipple and look to see if the nipple is centered into the hammer recess. If the nipple is not pretty well centered it will sometimes drag on the side of the cap causing the hammer not to strike the top of the cap hard enough.

If this is the problem look and see which side of the hammer is off center and which way it needs to be bent. Remove the hammer chuck it up in a vice in the area where the tumbler and screw hole are located completely covering this flat area with the jaws of the vice.

Next heat the shank of the hammer red hot with a torch and with an adjustable wrench placed on the nose and spur of the hammer give it a slight twist in the direction it needs to be bent.

This may take a couple of trys to get it just right.

You could also return it to TC if changing the nipple does not work. They know what they are doing.

You might change the nipple and check the hammer screw to make sure its tight after that I would check the tightness and seating of the lock and that the lock screw is tight. Lee

I had that happen on a used T/C Hawken 54. All the yahoos that fondled it in the gun store before me dry fired it so much they peened the nipple to oversize. New nipple should solve it.

I had that happen to my 'new' used Hawken the first time I took it out. The hammer would drop but no bang. Recock and bang. A quick nipple switch and it went off every time.

The gun failed to fire every "shot"? Did it ever fire at all? Were the caps not firing on the first try, or, did you have to use more than one cap to get it to fire??

I'm assuming you are using powder meant for your gun, and your powder is not contaminated.

If your trouble is that the caps are not firing, there's something up with the nipple, the hammer, or the way you are putting the caps on the nipple. I press my 10.75 size caps onto the nipple "gently" with the hammer until they bottom out. They fire every time.

If your trouble is that cap fires but the gun won't fire, most likely you have a dirty gun or you are not cleaning/swabbing correctly bewteen shots. My advice in this case is to thoroughly clean the gun with solvents and the proper tools. Make absolutely certain that the nipple and flash channel area are spotless. Then before shooting, remove solvents/oil with rubbing alcohol or a 50/50 mix of alcohol and windex. Run a dry patch, load and fire.

I have had 4 New Englanders, 2 regular, 1 shotgun, 1 Black Rynite stock.

DO NOT dry fire them (not that I ever did ). The hammerwill deform the nipple and you will end up with the exact problem you are experiencing. Probably had a previous owner who dry fired frequently.