Gass relief hole botom of breech block.

[Sieger]

Originally Posted by Dwight Gruber

The reason for the firing pin flutes, according to the patent involved, is to collect burned powder residue and reduce the possibility of fouling the firing striker. The assumption that they reduce the possibility of damage in the event of a pierced primer is the purest fantasy of undocumented "conventional wisdom," as there is no place for the high gas pressure to go within the breechblock body whether the firing pin is fluted or not. I have many friends on this board who will take umbridge and serious exception to this bald statement.

The most common damage from a pierced primer is the firing pin being forced backwards hard enough to break away the back of the retaining slot for the firing pin retainer, effectively destroying the breechblock.

I have had correspondence with a Finnish member of this board--If I remember correctly it was Juha--who agreed with the speculation that the Finns drilled the breechblock gas relief hole because the extraordinarily cold conditions there caused the metal of the primers to become brittle with the cold.

--Dwight

Dwight,

Did Juha offer any proof of his "hard primer" claim, as the pistol's metal should be the same temperature as the primers are.

Agreed that the fluted firing pins on vintage Lugers DO NOT provide any ventilation to prevent breach block destruction.

Respectfully,

Sieger