1911 sticking firing pin

[crabo]

I have a 1911 that the firinng pin keeps sticking forward and the spring does not return it so that the keeper has tension on it. Should I take it out and polish it a bit with some fine sandpaper?

Thanks,

[housedad]

Wait a minute. hold on the polishing for a bit.

Let's start with cleaning it out. Sometimes some real thick crud can accumulate inside that tube and cause parts to stick.

Take the firing pin out, clean the pin and spring, and use a pipe cleaner or long swabs with hoppes or your favorite solvent to clean out the hole that the firing pin goes in. clean all the way through. Inspect the hole to make sure there are no rust pockets causing a problem.



Reassemble the gun. Did that fix it?

If not, then inspect the tip of the firing pin. does it taper smoothly down to the tip and the tip is a hemisphere? There should be no rough areas around the last 1/4 in or so. If there is a burr or a small rough area, it could be a sign of something else. Inspect the spring to make sure it has not gone bad. Can it drop in and out of the hole without problems? If so the spring is probably good.
Do you dry fire the gun a lot? Has anyone else dry fired it a lot? Excessive dry firing can move metal inside the hole that stops the firing pin's forward movement. That metal can cause the hole to get smaller in one small area, and hold the pin. polishing won't fix it. you need a special fix for that.

Try the cleaning first. Let us know what happens.


Bion

[S.R.Custom]

I have a 1911 that the firinng pin keeps sticking forward and the spring does not return it so that the keeper has tension on it. Should I take it out and polish it a bit with some fine sandpaper?

Yup. But just a little bit --along the taper where it goes through the hole in the slide-- with some 320 or 600 grit wet-r-dry. And then don't dry fire it any more. ;)

[EMC45]

Clean the firing pin "tunnel" then see how she does. Also pull the extractor and clean that out too. Those get filthy!

[deltaenterprizes]

You may want to replace the spring also, cleaning should fix it.

[HeavyMetal]

Besides the main spring the firing pin spring is probabley the most worked spring in a 1911.

Dry firing is an absolute no no with this gun! I've seen 45 case's peened into the rifling, firing pin springs break and jam the pin a 1/4 inch into the chamber area, and firing pin stops that have dropped and locked everything up! All because of dry fire!

So my suggestion will follow along the lines of those all ready suggested, Clean it, check for burrs in the hole and on the end of the spring itself check the firing pin stop for a tight fit and here's my fresh idea: buy a new spring!

Springs can and do go bad so a fresh one, with maybe a little extra muscle, will not hurt you!

[hotwheelz]

crabo
I have a 1911 that the firinng pin keeps sticking forward and the spring does not return it so that the keeper has tension on it. Should I take it out and polish it a bit with some fine sandpaper?

Clean it up good first.




Besides the main spring the firing pin spring is probabley the most worked spring in a 1911.

Dry firing is an absolute no no with this gun! I've seen 45 case's peened into the rifling, firing pin springs break and jam the pin a 1/4 inch into the chamber area, and firing pin stops that have dropped and locked everything up! All because of dry fire!


I am no expert and have been way wrong before but I have dry fired my 1911's alot for years and never had an issue I just pulled mine down to see if there are any signs of burs or damage nothing I can see or feel. Is this just certian guns like series 80's or 70's ? Thanks
http://i380.photobucket.com/albums/oo241/Hothweelzz/Picture100.jpg

[HeavyMetal]

Back in the 70'd several of the "top" IPSC shooters of the day suggested that 100 rounds of "DRY" a day was the way to practise your "draw" and first shot sight alignment.

Sure enough a lot of guys went for the "hot tip" and shortly thereafter the issue's I prevously mentioned started to crop up everywhere!

At the time American Handgunner was flooded with ad's for several diffent types of "dry fire" assitance systems. These ran the gamet from plastic "shells" to pneumatic operted piston that fit in the slide to duplicate recoil and the action working.

Some time in the mid 80's people came to thier sense's and I haven't seen an ad for one of these things in years!

So if you only dry fire a few times a month you won't see many issues for a long time but dry fire a lot, like 100 times a day, and you will replace pins, springs and pin stops!

[S.R.Custom]

...I have dry fired my 1911's alot for years and never had an issue I just pulled mine down to see if there are any signs of burs or damage nothing I can see or feel. Is this just certian guns like series 80's or 70's ?

It's not so much an issue of certain guns and firing pins as much as it's an issue of individual slides. Yes, the smoothness/polish of the firing pin does have an effect on this, but not much. But it is the one aspect of the system that the shooter has control over.

The other two factors less easily dealt with are the hardness of the slide --which can vary greatly from gun to gun, even if the manufacturer is the same-- and the 'cleanliness' with which the slide was drilled out for the firing pin, meaning, is it a nice smooth hole, or is it full of machining burrs and striations for the firing pin to hang up on?

Machining quality and metal hardness aside, there are two other possible causes-- a buggered firing pin spring, which is easy enough to recognize, and a loose fitting firing pin retainer... With nothing in the chamber, the firing pin is free to poke waaay through the breach face, and in the process, it passes comletely through the retainer. If this retainer is loose, it will move a bit while the firing pin is in the forward position, thus preventing the pin from returning home.

All that said, the solution is like I mentioned before, make sure things are cleaned up and smoothed out to the extent possible, and don't dry fire the gun. ;)

[seabat0603]

I have to disagree with supermag on the dry firing of a 1911. I have been a pistol smith for a number of years and customized the 1911 only. Dry firing never hurt a 1911, the firing pin only moves a fraction of an inch to engage the primer. Outside of Fort Bragg in North Carolina, home of special ops, is where I worked on hundreds of these weapons and I have seen it all. Your problem most likely lies in a dirty gun that has been over oiled and crud has built up in the firing pin whole freezing the spring. That is an easy fix...Clean it! The only other cause would be a week or broken spring. Remember, when you put the spring back on the firing pin, use the tighter end of the spring over the firing pin. If you still have problems shoot me an e-mail and I'll trouble shoot it for you.

[Triggerhappy]

Depending on caliber and pressures it could be extruded primers shearing off and crudding up the firing pin hole. Have seen this in several instances with the .38 Super when used in an IPSC gun. High pressures actually extrude the primer back over the pin then the ejection shears this lip off and it stays in the firing pin hole next to the pin. Seen slam fires and locked up firing pins from it at times. Just needed a good cleaning.

Might also check that the pin hasn't become bent somehow. Simply roll it on a table and look for a wobble.

Just my .02.

TH

[crabo]

Thanks for the answers. I have several guns that need a good bath. I think after church I need to get the scrub brush out.

[Willbird]

Besides the main spring the firing pin spring is probabley the most worked spring in a 1911.

Dry firing is an absolute no no with this gun! I've seen 45 case's peened into the rifling, firing pin springs break and jam the pin a 1/4 inch into the chamber area, and firing pin stops that have dropped and locked everything up! All because of dry fire!

So my suggestion will follow along the lines of those all ready suggested, Clean it, check for burrs in the hole and on the end of the spring itself check the firing pin stop for a tight fit and here's my fresh idea: buy a new spring!

Springs can and do go bad so a fresh one, with maybe a little extra muscle, will not hurt you!

There is absolutely no reason not to dry fire a 1911, if that is happening to a gun from dry fire than there is something wrong with it. Match pistol shooters dry fire probably tens of thousands of shots a year on 1911's. The firing pin spring needs replacing now and then anyway. I did not dream the above ideas up on my own, the pistol smith who built my pistol told me so.

Bill

[nicholst55]

In a previous life I was the pistolsmith at the Ft. Hood, TX Marksmanship Training Unit - back when they shot M14s and 1911s. We routinely dry-fired our pistols thousands upon thousands of times a year, and never experienced this problem - or any others caused by dry firing.

I have seen commercial Colt firing pins mushroom from repeated dry-firing, but that was an exception. I agree with the clean-and-inspect fix recommended above. Also check the breech face for burs or any other problems. Replacing the firing pin spring is cheap insurance too.

[MtGun44]

+1 on LOTS of dry firing the last 30 years with 1911s, never a bit of damage.

Some of the guns have 100K+ rounds thru them and lots more dry fire, zero
problems with firing pins, ever. New springs every 60K rds whether they need
it or not. Clean them every 5k, even if the don't really need it. [smilie=1:

The only stuck firing pin I ever saw was due to very hot load extruding the
primer a bit and tiny shards of sheared off brass accumulating in the pin
hole. Clean it, lube lightly with thin SYNTHETIC oil (does not degrade to
goop with time or thicken to peanut butter in cold) and go on.

Put a wooden "lead" pencil with a rubber eraser down the bbl and then
dry fire. You'll be amazed at how far it flies! Some claim that aiming at
a dot on a white sheet of paper about 12" in front of muzzle with the
pencil will leave a "group" to show your quality of practice. Never actually
tried it personally.

Bill

[seagiant]

Hi Crabo,
Clean is good,but just for grins check and see if the firing pin stop is loose? If it drops down just a little the pin can't come back where its suppose to. EGW makes an oversize firing pin stop if thats the problem. Also you can take a 60 degree countersink and by HAND twirl it agaist the inside of the firing pin stop so the firing pin has a chamfer to go up against and center back in the hole easier. Just a thought!

[unclebill]

QUOTE
Dry firing is an absolute no no with this gun! I've seen 45 case's peened into the rifling, firing pin springs break and jam the pin a 1/4 inch into the chamber area, and firing pin stops that have dropped and locked everything up! All because of dry fire!

UNQUOTE



my S.A.1911A1 manual specifically tells the owner to dry fire the weapon to familiarize himself with the operation of the gun.

[crabo]

Well, the gun wasn't dirty, but the pin had a couple of problems. One was that it somehow had developed a ring where the spring hung up on the pin. I polished that out so the spring slid on easily and didn't bind. I put it back in and it stuck hard enough that I had to use the side of a bic pen to push it out. I chucked it back up in my cordless drill and polished the tip and now it works great agin.

Thanks for all the ideas.

[HeavyMetal]

One was that it some how developed a ring where the spring hung up on the pin.


This is one of those problems I mentioned in an earlier post and was told dry firing didn't cuase problems! Dry firing has "peened" the firing pin into the spring and you found out that caused it to stick through the hole in the slide!

I had this same issue crop up in a shoot in late 1978 or 79! Gun jammed, I did a tap, rack, bang drill and the gun fired the next two rounds, without me pulling the trigger, and then bent the firing pin and jammed on the last round in the mag! It was really locked up!
had to pull the barrel and bushing and drive the firing pin out of the slide!

I suggest you check your firing pin and see if it's bent, roll it on a flat surface and look for "wobble"!

If your pin is bent, ask yourself how that happened, as well as how the spring got peened up on the firing pin if dry firing is not hard on the 1911 design?

[MtGun44]

The firing pin spring is SUPPOSED to 'hang up on the spring". The spring
is tighter at one end and actually screws onto the firing pin and locks
to the pin. This is a design feature.

A rough pin and too tight firing pin hole in the breech is a pair of manufacturing
tolerance issues.

Bill

[Dan Cash]

This is one of those problems I mentioned in an earlier post and was told dry firing didn't cuase problems! Dry firing has "peened" the firing pin into the spring and you found out that caused it to stick through the hole in the slide!

I had this same issue crop up in a shoot in late 1978 or 79! Gun jammed, I did a tap, rack, bang drill and the gun fired the next two rounds, without me pulling the trigger, and then bent the firing pin and jammed on the last round in the mag! It was really locked up!
had to pull the barrel and bushing and drive the firing pin out of the slide!

I suggest you check your firing pin and see if it's bent, roll it on a flat surface and look for "wobble"!

If your pin is bent, ask yourself how that happened, as well as how the spring got peened up on the firing pin if dry firing is not hard on the 1911 design?


If the spring is properly installed, it will not "peen" onto the spring. As an earlier poster noted, small end of the spring toward the back of the firing pin. It does not just drop on but requires a small amount of twisting of the spring as if you are screwing it in place.

[HeavyMetal]

Yes the firing pin spring is supposed to be tight on one end and it push's up against a shoulder on the firing pin.

So far so good, we all agree!? What happens, when you dry fire a lot, this section of the firing pin burrs up on the shoulder area. This is caused by the spring itself "stacking" ( that means all the coils contact one another and make a solid piece of metal momentarly) this "Stacking", done repeatedly for long periods of time can, and will creat burr's on the shoulder the spring pushes up against!

The 1911 firing pin is an "enertia" type which means it is not long enough to go from the hammer to the primer! The hammer impact actually drives it far enough foward to fire a round. When no primer can be "touched" by the firing pin what happens? The firing pin goes all the way to the end of it's travel ( surprise! spring is stacking) and then bounces off the internal "wall" atthe end of the firing pin hole in the slide. This causes some peening. Sooner or later this peening will cause a problem.

To test this"firing pin travel" theory put a 45 case in your 1911 and drop the hammer on it a ten or twenty times! WARNING if you do this you will need a hammer to drive your slide back because the case will have been forced into the chamber / rifling!

For those of you who have not experienced this problem, count your blessings and maybe the tolerances in your particuler piece.

However I have had this particular issue bite me and have learned from the mistake. Now I rarely dry fire any gun and do routine checks on the firing pin and springs annually in all my 1911 designs.

This is my decision, based on my experience with the 1911. Others my do as the chose and I will respect thier decisions.

However I reserve the right to say I told you so in the future.