Firing pin cracked

Alx · 06-10-2014, 01:37 PM

" In essence, with a broken pin, it is fully extended, un-contained, and really pushes on very little, if anything at all... "

This is not making sense to me .... When assembling the firing pin into the gun, and compressing the spring with the retainer, there is quite a bit of pressure, even with the pin all the way forward, sticking out past the bolt-face. Even with a broken firing pin, broken in half, there is no way the metal can escape being there .... the stack of firing pin pieces is the same length as before, or longer if the break is jagged and the forward part of the pin twists. If the skirt of the cup is what is broken off, and the sear bar holds back the rear part of the pin which is merely then a sleeve, the front of the pin is still under the spring pressure.

Given that the spring would not have enough pressure to dent the primer cap at rest, still the intertia of the bolt slamming the primer with the pin's point could cause firing. Without the sear holding back the entire pin when the action closes, you have a dangerous situation. But if the pin were broken in half, with the break in front of the spring cup, and the gun went into battery with the sear holding the back of the pin as it is supposed to, there might not be enough inertia for the front half of the pin to fire the gun. Maybe that is how your pins broke, and why the gun did not fire.

06-10-2014, 01:37 PM	#20
Alx User Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Nashville, Tennessee area Posts: 263 Thanks: 5 Thanked 3 Times in 3 Posts	" In essence, with a broken pin, it is fully extended, un-contained, and really pushes on very little, if anything at all... " This is not making sense to me .... When assembling the firing pin into the gun, and compressing the spring with the retainer, there is quite a bit of pressure, even with the pin all the way forward, sticking out past the bolt-face. Even with a broken firing pin, broken in half, there is no way the metal can escape being there .... the stack of firing pin pieces is the same length as before, or longer if the break is jagged and the forward part of the pin twists. If the skirt of the cup is what is broken off, and the sear bar holds back the rear part of the pin which is merely then a sleeve, the front of the pin is still under the spring pressure. Given that the spring would not have enough pressure to dent the primer cap at rest, still the intertia of the bolt slamming the primer with the pin's point could cause firing. Without the sear holding back the entire pin when the action closes, you have a dangerous situation. But if the pin were broken in half, with the break in front of the spring cup, and the gun went into battery with the sear holding the back of the pin as it is supposed to, there might not be enough inertia for the front half of the pin to fire the gun. Maybe that is how your pins broke, and why the gun did not fire.