1911 firing pin issues

ChrisC · Jan 3, 2011

I have a brand new STI Trojan 1911 in .40SW This past weekend I installed a new magwell and had the lower half of the gun disassembled. No real issues assembling and disassembling a 1911. I have never disassembled the slide of any of it's components past field stripping. I noticed today while dry firing at the office that the fireing pin was trough the breech face as the slide was going back forward. I discovered that the tip of the firing pin was bent, not allowing it to return to proper operation.

Any idea of what caused this? I did use a dummy round in it this weekend while doing reloading drills but i don't see how that would effect it.

The gun may have 50 rounds through it.

mike cyrwus · Jan 6, 2011

Murphy got it.
It could have been and already bent pin, some grit in the hole, the hole being too small, the bomar set screw cranked down too deep so that it caught the fp and the spring, the fp stop on the back could have slipped down, lots of things. Get a new pf and check it out,inspect the hole , the breechface, and the fp stop; youll be able to see something out of the ordinary if it wasnt the bent pin in the first place.

When you get a new fp, put it in the slide w/o the spring and see that it will go fully forward through the breechface, push on it a little with a punch to see if it sticks in the hole. see if theres any burrs, etc on the back side of the fp stop, and if the aft end will fit in the stop hole.

mike cyrwus · Jan 13, 2011

well, spanky? what did you find?

buzzdraw · Jan 24, 2011

Okay, dumb question. Sure you put the firing pin spring back in the hole with the pin? The pin flipping back and forth as slide cycles note makes me wonder.

I have seen firing pins bent, both new and used. Take the pin and roll it on a flat surface while looking for run out.

I've also seen slides with the FP hole incorrectly machined.

In a 1911 the FP needs to be a pretty close fit to the hole, especially for the 9mm, .38 Super (+ related), & 40 S&W.

rehi · Jan 24, 2011

In the olden days a 1911 fp was a 1911 fp. In other words you just bought one and it fit.(mil-spec)
However in todays guns a lot of mfgrs. are making different sized pins for different calibers.
Especially 40 and 10mm due to the higher pressure I would guess.
Yours could have come with the wrong size pin. Got stuck and bent.
Or it sounds like you got one that made it thru without being heat-treated properly.
Check with STI before putting in a new pin.
Companies mess up sometimes. When Springfield first came out with their 1911 many years ago the first batches had sears and disconnectors that were soft as butter and went FA in the first 100 rds.

buzzdraw · Jan 24, 2011

Another thing to check is to see if the firing pin spring is trapped by a piece of debris. If the firing pin doesn't have that neat springy action, then something is amiss.

ChrisC · Jan 24, 2011

the firing pin bore isn't centered, probably a f up by STI. the dummy rounds i used didn't have primers and the firing pin struck the primer pocket and caused it to bend. I have some spent brass and the dimple is not in the center of the primer. I have intentions of photographing it and sending the picture to STI.

according to dave dawson himself there is only one firing pin for the gun, well two if you count the extended...

either way the gun is running well now..

ChrisC · Jan 24, 2011

greygoat said:
Okay, dumb question. Sure you put the firing pin spring back in the hole with the pin? The pin flipping back and forth as slide cycles note makes me wonder.

I have seen firing pins bent, both new and used. Take the pin and roll it on a flat surface while looking for run out.

I've also seen slides with the FP hole incorrectly machined.

In a 1911 the FP needs to be a pretty close fit to the hole, especially for the 9mm, .38 Super (+ related), & 40 S&W.

it was bent to the point i had to use a dowel to beat it out of the gun.

Bubber · Jan 25, 2011

ChrisC said:
it was bent to the point i had to use a dowel to beat it out of the gun.

Chris, I ain't a gunsmith and I don't stay at the Holiday express or nuffin. If you were using dummy rounds with out anything in the primer pocket the firing pin could have been travleling further down the channel and caused it to stick forward. It could have been stuck for while. If you chambered a round after that the case could have bent the FP. Back in the day there were problems with the Ti FP and problems using lighter FP springs. Now how to fix it? Got no clue but use dummies with something in the Primer pocket of a different color to ensure it ain't a live round. Just stuff to think about...while you are shooting...I need the edge. Different note, I got the official results form Old Fort and it is what I figured it was. later rdd

mike cyrwus · Jan 25, 2011

and why use dummy rounds at all? I only use em for reload practice.

buzzdraw · Jan 25, 2011

Off center firing pin hits on the primer are usually caused by the way the barrel is fit to the particular slide; lots of variables there. Off-center primer hits rarely are a problem to ignition.

A bent FP, if hung in the fire position, can cause a 1911-type to fire full auto until the mag empties. This is an experience best left to conjecture and not your real life.

It is somewhat difficult to accidentally bend (in normal use/cleaning) a properly heat treated pin. Not so for an untreated one. From a strength standpoint, a .090 pin can be used as an emergency pin punch to remove the mainspring housing pin. I don't advise the same with a .068 pin.

Titanium firing pins are best removed from the 1911 and replaced with quality steel (SS or carbon)ones. Ti pins will cause failures to fire with harder primers and less-than-perfect reloads.

A-Zoom dummy rounds have a polymer material in the area of the primer. They last 1000's of snaps. Alternatively a chunk of leather or neoprene can be cut to fit (rectangular shape) the slide recess where FP stop sits. The "chunk" snap cuts the hammer snap noise down, while cushioning everything, for wear reduction purposes. Now a fellow has to remember to yank the thing out before you go shootin' real ammo.

Bubber · Jan 26, 2011

Chris, I just ran across a similar discussion on Brian's page. It may interest you. Bent FP Hope this is helpful. later rdd

ChrisC · Jan 26, 2011

mike cyrwus said:
and why use dummy rounds at all? I only use em for reload practice.

that's what I was doing... I was practicing emergency, or reactive, reloads..

ChrisC · Jan 26, 2011

Bubber said:
Chris, I just ran across a similar discussion on Brian's page. It may interest you. Bent FP Hope this is helpful. later rdd

yep.. thanks Roger...

apparently several folks have bent their firing pin using the same thing I did... funny how it's never happened to my revo

KurtM · Jan 26, 2011

I really recomend what Greygoat says, get rid of those darn Titanium Firing pins...and now!! Put them in a bubble wrap envelope and send them to me for propper disposal...I will save you all! :lol:

After wearing out two 40 barrels in my good old 6" Fat Free, I have yet to have any of the problems with a Ti pin Greygoat indicates and I know quite a few "upper end" shooters that run them as well with no problems, and most of these guys shoot around 25,000-40,000 rounds a year.

Ususally a bent firing pin will either cause a jam when the next rounds rim hits it while feeding, or the rim shears it off and then it won't go bang. 99.9999% of the time.

This pin got bent when it got stuck in the flash hole of the empty round he was using and then the slide was cycled vigorously...bends them everytime.

Off center primer hits are a matter of barrel to slide/ underlugs to slide stop pin fit and nothing to be concerned about. KurtM