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05-23-2013, 03:03 PM
The firing pin on a third generation Colt New Frontier broke on me. Until I looked at the parts breakdown I didn't realize that these newer Colts had a rebounding firing pin with a tiny spring and two tiny little balls. I ordered the parts, and when I started to replace the firing pin spring I lost it. I don't understand what this spring and the two little balls accomplish, or why they are needed. I set the new firing pin in the hammer without the spring and the balls, holding the new firing pin in place with a tiny punch used as a slave pin. When I compared the play in this firing pin with another 3rd generation Colt, I couldn't feel any difference.
I put the new firing pin back in the hammer and fired it. I had a very solid center hit on the primer, and I could detect no problems. Immediately afterwards I fired the Colt with the original hammer parts and I noticed that it didn't hit the primer quite as hard, but this Colt I used for comparison has a slightly lighter hammer spring.
Did I make a mistake? Should I set this Colt up until I get a new spring or does the Colt even need these parts? My first impression is that if I can simplify a gun I rely on, I am better off, but when I think about the design of the hammer the only way the little spring and the two little firing pin balls could get into the action would be if the firing pin is already broken, and the gun is already out of service.
Please don't think I look at myself as a gunsmith. I am a farmer with a broken firing pin, and I know there are things I don't understand.
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I put the new firing pin back in the hammer and fired it. I had a very solid center hit on the primer, and I could detect no problems. Immediately afterwards I fired the Colt with the original hammer parts and I noticed that it didn't hit the primer quite as hard, but this Colt I used for comparison has a slightly lighter hammer spring.
Did I make a mistake? Should I set this Colt up until I get a new spring or does the Colt even need these parts? My first impression is that if I can simplify a gun I rely on, I am better off, but when I think about the design of the hammer the only way the little spring and the two little firing pin balls could get into the action would be if the firing pin is already broken, and the gun is already out of service.
Please don't think I look at myself as a gunsmith. I am a farmer with a broken firing pin, and I know there are things I don't understand.
40-82