"Hammer follow"

[Toepopper]

While at the range last Saturday my Browning Hi Power pistol began misfiring. The slide came back but the hammer started riding forward with the slide so I had to thumb the hammer back into position to fire the next round. This happened 7 rounds in a row so I switched pistols to finish the event, using the same hand loaded ammunition with no problems. When I got home I stripped the Browning down to the bare frame and upon inspection discovered a build up of tiny brass particles, almost like brass dust, lodged in the grooves of the hammer notches along with some old hardened grease from when the gun was assembled at the factory. This brass gunk was making the sear skip out of place and prevented the hammer from going into the cocked position. I soaked the frame and all parts in Simple Green and washed away all the crud and gunk and used an air hose to blow out and dry the unit. After re-assembly the pistol now has a positive sear to hammer lock up and it even sounds louder when the hammer is pulled to the rear. Did a live fire test cranking 80 rounds through it with no problems what so ever.