In percussive drilling of rock, use is made of high-amplitude short-duration force pulses generated through impacts of a hammer on a drill bit or a drill rod assembly. The mass of the hammer is crucial for the impact velocity and the impact frequency, while its length and variation of characteristic impedance control the duration and shape of the force pulses. High efficiency of conversion of kinetic impact energy to work results if the force pulses have suitable shapes and durations. Commonly, hammers of hydraulic rock drills are nearly uniform and generate nearly rectangular force pulses admitting high efficiencies. When space is constrained, short hammers are advantageous as they allow short rock drills. Here, therefore, shorter substitutes for uniform original hammers are sought. They should have the same mass as the original hammer, be shorter than the original hammer, and generate approximately the same impact force history as the original hammer. A method based on 1D theory is developed for realization of substitute hammers with axially periodic characteristic impedance. Impact force histories generated by such hammers agree well with that generated by a uniform original hammer in a 1D context, and also in a 3D context if 3D effects are small enough. Also, for bit-rock interaction conditions from soft to hard, the efficiencies obtained by use of substitute hammers agree well with that obtained by use of the original hammer.