Hammer replacements for TM Hicapa / M1911A1, KM/PDI/Carom/Nineball - any experience?

[davedawg123]

I'm looking for a replacement egg-hole/skeleton hammer for my TM M1911A1. I intend to fit a beavertail to go with it.

The options seem to be:
KM
PDI
Carom
Nineball

I'd prefer to get the KM, but there doesn't seem to be many vendors that stock it. I was also considering Carom but I don't like the $20 increase in price or the slightly smaller cut hole. The PDI looks good and I like the price but the only feedback I've seen is that their spur hammer wouldn't work properly with a PGC M1911A1 kit (caused full auto, IIRC), which is a shame since I was ready to buy the PDI. The finish of the Nineball hammer seems lacking but it is included here for completeness.

Does anyone have any experience with hammers from any of these brands? Which are recommended? Any fitting necessary? Thanks.

[ILLusion]

I have experience with all of those brands, except for PDI.

The Nineballs are fine for general use, but if you're running with an upgraded sear, skip any aluminum hammer, as a reinforced stainless sear will chew up the sear stops in no time.

The KM one requires a good amount of filing to take down the edge of a part on it to fit on Hi-Capas. I'm actually not even sure why it was manufactured that way - I don't read Japanese, otherwise I'd understand why.

As a direct out-of-the-box drop-in, I'd recommend the Carom. Nice and heavy stainless steel, when matched with the Carom stainless sear, the trigger pull completely changes in to a much smoother and much more positive pull.

[davedawg123]

Thanks for the reply. I was going to hold off on the sear until later, but perhaps I should just get it now.

Another question that comes to mind then is are the teeth on the Hicapa hammer different than the M1911A1 hammer? In other words, would a PDI Hicapa skeleton hammer even be compatible with the PDI M1911A1 sear in my M1911A1?

[ILLusion]

I'm not 100% positive on it, but I believe it's cross-compatible. I've seen some hammers that are meant for both platforms.

Perhaps this is why the KM hammers required that modification: it fits 1911 without modification and hi-capas with modification? I'm not too sure. In any case, I HAVE seen hammers for both platforms. I've never held a 1911 hammer beside a hi-capa hammer to find the difference.