Thread: Begara BA13 hammer safety question

G’day team. Tried searching both here and online, couldn’t find an exact answer.

Just a thought the other day when bush stalking. While cocking the hammer on a BA13, and say my thumb slips or… while uncocking and released the hammer quickly rather than slowly guide it back. Will it fire a round?

Just wanting a bit of reassurance with safety. Pointing in a safe direction regardless.

Cheers

Don't know, try it!

I had a quick look online at an exploded view, I can't see a transfer bar type arrangement, so my initial thoughts are that it will fire. You could even test it with a used case, use a marker pen or tape on the primer and see if it gets marked.

Cheers

I've got a couple of BA13s. The trigger has to be pulled for the hammer to be able to hit the firing pin.

I double checked, looking at mine tonight. It doesn't use a transfer bar system like the Rossi and H&R single shot, but has a trigger interlock that prevents the hammer going forward enough to hit the firing pin without the trigger being pulled.
So only real risk might be if you hold the trigger in while de-cocking it and it slips, while you still have the trigger pulled. So in theory it might be possible, but I would think so long as you have controlled the hammer for the first (say) half, it won't have enough energy to actually ignite the primer. I haven't tried it though.

But if you treat as loaded (which it is!) and point in a safe direction when you de-cock, then it should be ok? And if you are thinking about that, you will hopefully be concentrating enough not to keep the trigger depressed after starting to de-cock, or letting the hammer fall? I have hunted mostly with a single shot rifle, so I don't think about it much any more, it just happens naturally...

Regardless of transfer bar, if you squeeze the trigger to uncock the hammer, there is a risk of discharge. That risk decreases the more the hammer is lowered before it slips, but that fact doesn’t make any difference to how you should and shouldn’t treat the situation and where you have the rifle pointed when you lower the hammer.

The purpose of a transfer bar is to be between the hammer and the firing pin when the trigger is squeezed and to ‘transfer’ the impact of the hammer to the firing pin. It drops out of the way when the trigger isn’t squeezed and this is so that when your rifle falls to the ground and lands on its hammer, the impact won’t transfer to the firing pin. The Winchester 94 doesn’t have this feature, in this scenario it can easily discharge.

The Rossi rifles have a safety that blocks the hammer, as well as a transfer bar. When cocked, they cannot be broken open.

The H&R/NEF rifles do not have a safety like the Rossi, they rely on the transfer bar, but you can break them open when cocked, allowing to uncock the hammer on an open action.

You could check if your Bergara can be broken open with the hammer cocked, if it can, this is one way to add a thick layer of mitigation.

Another thing worth while is fitting a hammer spur extension, it’s not perfect, you can still slip, but much less likely.

Just checked, you cannot break open the Bergara when it is cocked. Mine has the hammer extension (they come standard). Interestingly, even though I was trying to let my thumb "slip", I couldn't! The hammer spring is strong enough that immediately you ease the load on the hammer it just pulls forward, bringing your thumb with it. The hammer extension is very grippy, and it just kept pulling my thumb forward with it, even when I tried to make it slip. I think it may be possible to accidentally discharge, but I couldn't do it, even with a case with a primer in the breach, I couldn't get it to fire.

Even so, Rule 2 always still applies!

The 94 does however have a easily used position part way back...hammer can't go forward from there without coming right back first. My rebounding hammer on older single shotguns both won't allow hammer to mover forwards from at rest position without trigger being pulled at same time.i meant to try it today with mates rifle but forgot all about it..next time.

Cheers gents. Some good info on the transfer bar, etc. sounds like de-cocking is the big risk. I think I’ll give it a go with a spent case and primer and see.

Originally Posted by stinky_fisho

Cheers gents. Some good info on the transfer bar, etc. sounds like de-cocking is the big risk. I think I’ll give it a go with a spent case and primer and see.

This

‘If you squeeze the trigger to uncock the hammer, there is a risk of discharge. That risk decreases the more the hammer is lowered before it slips, but that fact doesn’t make any difference to how you should and shouldn’t treat the situation and where you have the rifle pointed when you lower the hammer.’

If you don’t ignite the primer in your testing, it proves nothing, as the test is not repeatable. The results you get in your garage cannot be relied on to be the same results you will get when hunting.

As @bjp says Rule 2 always still applies.

You can reduce the risk of the hammer slipping if you hook your thumb around the hammer rather than placing pressure on top of the hammer with the tip of your thumb. But basically it looks like risk of discharge is something you must always account for.

As long as you follow rule 2 you’re good.