broken fireing pin

[dodd3]

i have a friend that has a pedersoli sharps #3 rifle he keeps braking fireing pins,i read some where that you must pull the hamer back to half cock befor droping the block is this true if so it would explain the pins getting broken all the time.i did tell him to try it but he said i was wrong? am i rite in what i have read .i have shot one but never worked the action.
bernie

[ShortStake]

Bernie,

The Pedersoli Sharps is prone to broken firing pins.

For sure pull the hammer back to 1/2 cock prior to dropping the breech block lever.  Reasons are two fold;  with the hammer down all the way forward the firing pin is still protruding from the breech block, secondly by opening with the hammer down the firing pin drags across the brass and will for sure scar the head of the case.

More so the breech block when removed from the action will reveal the firing pin has probably managed to cause an outward dish around the circumference.   This can be a result of dry firing or through normal use.  That circumference protrusion will wreck havoc on the head of the cartridge case!  After removing the firing pin from the breech block, use the nose of a flat punch to resurrect the flatness of the breech block face.  Before you put all the parts back together try the firing pin fit through the resurrected hole and make sure it does not bind.  If so use the appropriate size drill bit to clean up the firning pin hole.

Look at the rear of the firing pin and you will notice that the firing pin has a very small tit where the spindle lathe cut if from the rod stock.  Good idea to dress the tit down flat.  Also check the firing pin transfer bar where it mates with the firing pin, it to probably has a divit in the face.  Might need dressing down with an Arkansas stone.....

Don't lose the small coil spring around the firing pin!

Lastly the question about firing pins breaking.  Consider annealing the very point of the firing pin.  Reasons why firing pins break, they are either binding or are too hard.  For sure a soft firing pin won't snap like a piece of glass!

Hope this has been of some use........       

[dodd3]

thanks ShortStake i thought i was rite i will print out your reply and show it to my friend not that he will take much notice of it he tends to be a bit of a no it all ,his money he is wasting not mine.i got some coex cartridge powder to day and just finished loading 20 rounds it seems to settle in the case nice will try them on saterday to see how it performs .
bernie

[ND Sharpshooter]

I have an older ARMI Sport Sharps 74 imported by Taylor and Company.  This model came out with a very thin firing pin--at least the part that actually hits the primer is very thin.  When mine broke I went to their web site and ordered 2 new ones.  What I got had a much thicker "pin".  One of their employees and I phoned back and forth about it---their gunsmith was supposed to call and never did.  Evidently ARMI i no longer makes the style firing pin my rifle needs.  I asked about drilling out the hole because the wide part of the pin fits the hole in the breech block.  Their smith said he wouldn't do it for me---so I did it myself in 64ths of an inch increments.  Wider firing pin works fine.  No more misfires.  Happy shooter!  The employee I talked with was very helpful.  He went out of his way to try to find the part I needed.  The smith is another story though.  If annealing works as ShortStake recommends, you're home free.  If it doesn't, check with a local gunsmith.  I should mention that I enjoy this sort of challenge but only on my own items so enlarging the hole was not much of a stretch.  (I apologize for mis-naming the manufacturer of this 74.  Don't know what I was thinking ---  must not have been ??)