Marlin 1894 25-20 (Firing Pin Spring ????)

[Tom Myers]

I discovered that the front firing pin in my 1894 25-20 was broken into 3pieces.
When ordering a new pin from Numrich Arms, their schematic shows a flat firing pin spring.
There is-was no spring in my Marlin.
Is this an add-on or was there a spring in the origional old models?
I went ahead andordered it as it was only an additional three or four bucks.
The thing is, I can't figure out just where the spring would fit into the bolt.
Anyone know something about this?

124284 124285

Thanks.

[skeet1]

I think my .44 mag has that spring. The angled end of the spring fits into a slot on the firing pin if I remember correctly.

Ken

[Tom Myers]

Thanks skeet1.
I have since learned that there should be a spring even in the older models.
The spring is used to tilt the rear firing pin down until the bolt is all the way closed and the breech block is all the way up, forcing the rear firing pin up into a position where it can transmit the inertia of the hammer to the front firing pin.

I had always assumed that gravity dropped the rear pin down when the bolt was retracted and also assumed that, if one held the rifle upside-down while working the action, the rifle could conceiveably fire while out of battery.

Well, now I know and will certainly install the new spring along with the new firing pin.

I can also imagine that the spring action, holding the two pins from bouncing around in the channel, will perhaps eliminate the inevitable broken firing pin syndrome which has plauged this particular rifle throuthout the last 100 or so years.