Lengthening a Firing pin

[dverna]

I have an old Anschutz repeater. Firing pin indentation is weak and I am getting a number of FTFs.

Soaked the bolt and scrubbed the firing pin. That helped a little but still having issues.

Anschutz no longer has parts so I need to repair what I have. Would welding a small bead on the tip of the firing pin and filing it down work? TIG?

I have thought about heating up the shank and peening it to lengthen but worry about the heat treat.

[country gent]

Building the tip up might help there should be a stop surface that limits travel also. Check the firing pin and bolt for burrs wear and kicked up metal. Dosnt sound like you need a lot. Also check straightness of pin. A bowed warped pin will be slightly shorter than the straight one also

[Der Gebirgsjager]

I don't know what your pin looks like, but sometimes the answer is to cut off the tip, drill a hole in the remaining shank, and insert a properly sized pin and adjust to length. How does the pin protrusion look through the face of the bolt when it is in the un-cocked (fired) position? Also something to check-- chamber wear. How does the face of the rim of the chamber look where the pin impacts against the cartridge rim? Lots of dry firing can have an eventual effect on reliability.

[LAGS]

A friend found an Anschutz single shot in the trash at his apartment complex.
It was in pieces and missing the firing pin and springs.
I made a new firing pin just from pictures off the web.
I used a drill rod spun in my Poor Man's Lathe ( drill motor clamped in a vise) and a File.
It took some fitting because I did not have a part to copy.
But the rifle now works fine and he competes with it around once a month from what I hear.

[dverna]

Here are some pictures.

As suggested I measured the pin protrusion and it is .030". Does this seem adequate?

I appreciate the ideas and think I will try to get the tip welded up first as that would be the simplest and easiest to do. If that fails, or does not last, modifying the pin like DG suggested would be my next step.

BTW, this is the second rifle I owned. Given to me by my dad 55+ years ago. It will still shoot 1" groups at 50 yards with cheap Federal bulk HP's but is needs some stock work. Stock is split between the magazine and trigger wells. I Acraglassed it 40 years ago to address the split. Ugly little gun but going to fix it up.

Thanks again for the recommendations.

[M-Tecs]

I would replace the firing pin spring first.

[wonderwolf]

I have done at least 1 firing pin repair that I can remember by rolling the pin on a strike plate (or flat anvil, emphasis on flat) and gently GENTLY hammering it to stretch it out. This is of course assuming the pin is a straight pin with no strike shoulder at the front. I would work the shank so long as its not threaded. No heat needed iirc. but that pin may be hard.


Recommended RF firing pin protrusion that I have in my notes is .028"-.035" so yours is a bit on the short side. I would examine the firing pin channel again and make sure there is no deposits or build up.

The spring would be my next stop. Its always good practice to work with the cheaper parts first and go from there, your firing pin being hard to replace but not impossible to reproduce is a good example. chances are there is a spring out there that will work in your rifle as a drop in for >$5

[dverna]

Agree M-Tecs and wonderwolf. Will try to find a spring first. After 50+ years the spring may have succumbed to old age. It will be a cheap fix but finding one will be a bit of a challenge. I can try winding one if I need too... have done that before but never on a critical application.

[akajun]

.030 is plenty, any more is gonna cause problems, the rim on a rimfire is only .043 iirc.
First suspect is to check inside the bolt and get some type of scraper tool in the bolt and clean anything in the firing pin channel / hole. Solvent isn’t enough. Check your work with the firing pin and see if it slides freely in the channel and “ clinks” when it hits the bottom. If not you still have trash or a burr.
Next check the chamber mouth, is it in good shape or eroded not giving the brass a hard surface to sit against.
Last replace the fp spring. You may have to make one but killoughs shooters supply may be able to put you in touch with someone that has one.
Is your gun a 64 action or 54 action? If you don’t know you need to find out that’s what Killoughs will want to know

[Clark]

I have done at least 1 firing pin repair that I can remember by rolling the pin on a strike plate (or flat anvil, emphasis on flat) and gently GENTLY hammering it to stretch it out.

My father got an Iver Johnson model X 22 single shot bolt action rifle when he was a little boy in the 1930s. When I was a boy in the 1960s I dry fired that rifle until there was no firing pin. My father heated up the firing pin and hit it until there was a tip again.

In 1984 I made a firing pin for a break action shotgun, from a nail, using a vise, a file, and a drill.