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The hammer block can make a veeerrry little difference in smoothness if it is rough or the v-shaped cut is rough inside, or the slot in the sideplate has burrs. It is one of the areas you stone when working a Smith over, but you don't take the block out.
In a Smith, the rebound slide acts as a safety for most normal cases. But if the gun is dropped on the hammer hard enough, the hammer pin can shear and then the rebound slide can't stop the hammer from going forward.
It happened in WW II when a Naval officer dropped his S&W .38 onto the steel ship deck; it went off and killed him. I don't know if the old type hammer block failed, or the gun didn't have one, but that is when Carl Hellstrom changed to the new style.
Doesn't happen often, but...
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