To flute or not to flute?
 

I understand that for a shooter a fluted firing pin is preferred over a non-fluted pin. My question is can a non-fluted firing pin be modified and fluted? Has anyone done this?

Yes,
but why do it?
Just buy a spare fluted pin.

Or clean your gun once every couple of years...
dju

Eugen, I would just watch for a fluted pin. The main advantage over un-fluted is to vent gas in the event of a ruptured primer. John

John,
I do believe that "explanation" has been thoroughly de-bunked :eek:, it is for purposes of allowing crud (technical word) buildup to accumulate.

One member posted the original patent wording for this feature by Georg Luger and he states this as the purpose- no mention of gas venting.

If you look at the construction, this is true, the grooves don't extend far enough to vent any gas.:cool:

The Finns drilled a small hole in the bottom of the breech block for gas venting though.

With patience you can find a fluted pin for around $50 or so on eBay or Gunbroker; and I think I recall that Tom Heller sometimes has them. Quick check on Gunbroker shows a lot of them at $40. Given the modest cost of an original I cannot see why it would be a good idea to modify an existing FP.

Especially when one "really" does not need one.

We all have time to clean our pistols after firing- the only potential need for a grooved pin is if you are in the trenches and have no time to maintain or are afraid you will drop your parts in the mud!:eek:

Even then the Germans made it all the way from 1900 to 1930 without grooved strikers.:cool:

I appreciate all the helpful replies to my question.

The reason I posed the question about modifying a non-fluted was mostly out of curiosity. Only if it could be easily done and was recommended by the experienced folks on the forum would I have attempted to do such a project. Also, I wanted to take the greatest of care of my shooter and if a fluted firing for a shooter was strongly advised, I would follow such advice.

I am a bit OCD about carefully cleaning/lubing all my guns after a range trip. Heck, half the fun I have is disassembling and cleaning all the parts, lubing and carefully reassembling everything.

So I understand that a super clean firing pin/breech block et al somewhat obviates the need for a fluted firing pin. That works for me.
:thumbup:

I can make one available. $65 shipped USA. Contact me via PM if interested.

Does a fluted firing pin tend to minimize any possible damage a "heavy load" would do to the internal parts? I received my first 30 cal Luger DWM 1923 Commercial with blown out breech block, broken firing pin guide and damaged side plate pin/spring that was test fired with Winchester White Box ammo. I am told that this is too hot a round for this gun. Please advise. Thanks.

If you received the Luger as described, then the seller has sold you a tall tale as well as a gun. There is no way WWB ammo would cause that much damage, it is not loaded hot. A fluted firing pin would not have made any difference. Sounds like the gun was blown up with an incorrect hand load and/or was damaged in some other way and the seller's story put the blame on WWB ammo.
Ron

Where did you find WWB .30 luger?

I'm with Ron, sounds like a bigger issue- like a separated case.
What did the expended case look like?

A lot of hot gas had to get loose in your pistol to cause that much damage. I suspect "re-loads" hot or loaded till the case gave up.

Sorry for your loss.:o

It would really be good to start your own thread with pictures and not step on this one. JMHO.

Both Winchester and Remington .30 Luger ammo are floating around out there somewhere, wherever it turns up. If you find a box at a dealer or store, it will cost you upwards of $60 at retail. I've scored boxes of the "high-priced spread" at auctions here and there. I've generally not paid any more for it than one would for a box of Fiocchi. My goal was to have a little of something of each to try out in a potentially cranky pistol, for possible improvement in function. Murphy's law strikes again! Since I have accumulated this diversity, none of my current pistols has significantly refused to digest any brand of ammo. I hope this does not use up all my good luck, I can always use it for other aspects of life.

I have some of all sorts of brands of .30 luger too, including winchester- but none of it is in a white box, only the good old yellow or yellow/blue. It is certainly not "hot", I don't expect the white box is either.

Personally I rather prefer the oboe to a flute.

Never did see the expended case(s) and the original owner never did see the damage. The dealer did the test fire (5 or 6 shots with one FTL) and then shipped the gun to my FFL without saying anything about the damage. Seller paid me for the new parts which I installed and will test at the range next week.

Would like to start a new thread but don't know how yet.

Cool I play drums so maybe we can jam some day. Oops! better not say "jam" to a gun enthusiast.

hey guys

he didn't ask if it was better or why or why not it didn't work, he asked if it could be done. Perhaps he just wants to see how hard it is :)

To create a new thread, just go to the forum you're interested in

http://forum.lugerforum.com/index.php

and click the "New Topic" button toward the top.

Why not introduce yourself and tell us about yourself and your collecting interests in the "New Collectors" forum?

And yes - it is possible to modify an unfluted firing pin, but not a very practical approach. Purchasing one already fluted makes more sense.

Did you ever acquire one for your 1923 Alphabet DWM?

No, never did but I was considering it. My thinking was the fluted firing pin was created for a reason. That maybe it purpose was allowing high pressure from hot loads to escape instead of breaking internal parts. I have learned so far that this is not the case that the fluting helped remove dirt or otherwise prevented the firing pin from jamming due to dirt getting into the breech block.

After the fluted firing pin was introduced, an instruction was published that non-fluted firing pins currently in service were to be modified with the fluting. Don't have the documentation at hand.

--Dwight

Dwight’s post motivated me to check my references and I discovered the following:

Gortz & Sturgess p.1115-1117 states that the primary or stated purpose of the flutes was to allow accumulated residue a means of travel away from the face of the firing pin. The thinner middle of the FP is intended to reduce friction and provide a “dirt trap”; the flutes provide a channel to the trap. It states that build-up of foreign material (absent the flutes) on a FP face could dampen the forward motion of the firing pin, so the flutes were primarily intended to make ignition more reliable. The section also mentions the flutes as providing an escape channel for gas in the event of a blown primer, but states that this was a secondary purpose.

A Reichswehr directive of 9/17/30 ordered the flutes added to all firing pins in official inventory. Grinding wheels or files of 2.5mm were used to add the flutes; new production from the factory then included the flutes through the end of production in 1942.

I can attest that the center section of the firing pin does indeed serve as a debris trap, even on non-fluted pins. I recently purchased a 1906 model American Eagle that included a non-fluted firing pin. There was so much dried residue on the thinner middle section of the FP that it would barely move. At the time I cleaned the pistol, I marveled at the debris quantity and why it chose to collect on the middle of the firing pin. Thanks to this thread, mystery solved.

When were fluted pins introduced
 

Don't mean to step on this thread but had a question about fluted pins. Don mentioned that "the Germans made it all the way from 1900 to 1930 without grooved striker" When were fluted pins introduced? Could I assume that a numbered fluted pin in a mid 20's DWM commercial would not be original to the gun ?