Proper firing pin projection
 

Hello all, what is considered the proper protrusion of the firing pin past the breech-block face? Does protrusion increase because of wear to the inner shoulders of the firing pin or because of wear to the inner face of the breech-block?

The blueprints show a 1,2mm rounded tip and cylindrical protrusion on the front tip of the firing pin. The actual amount probably is slightly less, perhaps 1mm to 1,1mm.

The area milled away for the case head to fit into the breech face is 1.5mm deep.

If you dry fire a Luger with nothing to protect the firing pin, it could possibly peen the inner surface of the breech block and push farther through the face of the breech block.

If the linkage and axles of the toggle train are worn, you could end up with headspace issues. Are you getting pierced primers?

German gage specs are 1.1 mm to 1.3mm projection.

Wear in either area would have the same effect, i.e. making the protrusion slightly more.
I would not want to think how many rounds it would take to cause significant wear though.

No I am asking this all in advance. I haven't even fired the gun yet. Headspace measures right at .014,Which should still be okay I believe. The breach casing Depth and the firing pin diameter are both .059 inches. The firing pin protrudes .058 inches. That is basically your 1.5 mm So I guess I should be okay?

The gun is a 1900 AE, 30 cal, With its original early style firing pin.

Scott

I missed Don's response while I was typing this. Would it be dumb to think about dremllng the tip of the firing pin down so it only protruded 1.2 mm As long as I preserve a nicely rounded face?

I wouldn't touch it unless you have issues after live firing (pierced primers being the obvious symptom to look for).

The nose being smooth and rounded is important.

For a 1900 I would not hesitate to reduce the protrusion a bit, but with a dremel it will be easy to go too far. I'd use very fine or fine emery cloth on a flat surface and rub the point against it, rotating and tilting to maintain a smooth rounded nose.

My experience with firing the 7,65mm 1900 is that Fiocchi ammo- which is usually too weak for a coil spring luger- works fine in a 1900; BUT they have thin primers and are easily punctured.

You sure don't want to damage the expensive and hard to find original bolt or extractor.

PPU ammo is somewhat hotter and I have not had any pierced primers with that brand.

Enjoy your 1900.

Thanks for your input Don, I did some research before I bought ammo and indeed I picked up some PPU. Your methodology Sounds good, and I will use it to pull .3 mm off (.012 in.)

Scott

I put 50 rounds of PPU through the gun today. I didn't mess with the firing pin and the primer strikes look just fine.

I had some feeding issues the first 10 rounds but after that it ran perfectly. The sights are just dead on... I'm surprised. And even though the bore has more pits than a hundred acres of olive trees it shot amazingly tight groups. I put a piece of masking tape on the back of the receiver and it got marked but it didn't get crushed so we're looking pretty good.

I have a 1917 imperial that is my shooter, so I won't shoot this 1900 AE very often.

Equally exciting, I won auctions for a 1917 artillery and a 1917 Navy.

Let the "Luger addiction" begin!! :roflmao:

to add to the above - holy smokes!

you doubled what you had! :burnout:

GDR 'comrades' said between 1.1 and 1.35mm.