Behold the slayer of pins

[oafpatroll]

Not long after this little pin killing escapade I picked up a minty Hi Standard 12G riot pump on a road trip back from setting my daughter up at Stellenbosch. Not 10 minutes after getting my sweaty mits on it I broke the firing pin while dry firing it on a chamber flag equipped snap cap. I'm pretty sure that the chamber flag which is secured by a tab that does double duty as a firing pin buffer allowed the gun to fire just barely out of battery which in turn allowed the firing pin to over travel and smash into the firing pin retaining pin. Took some detailed measurements and will try to rustle something up.

 

[oafpatroll]

With the benefit of some of the wine that returned on the trip and some ceiling staring I reckon the pin broke from a restriction of travel rather than an excess of the same. The snapcap I used has a rubberish flag pinned in the position of the firing pin which stands a half mil or so so high of the shell face. I think when I smashed the bolt closed and pulled the trigger the firing pin didn't get to clear its normal range of motion and was moered kwaai on the rear of the retaining pin slot by the firing pin retaining pin.

[Ds J]

It happens to most fathers who have to leave their daughters in big, bad cities to fend for themselves

Seriously though, I hope you find replacement spares.

[janfred]

You should probably write nelow the sketch, "Drawing not to scale".

[oafpatroll]

You should probably write nelow the sketch, "Drawing not to scale".

Yip as well as 'and dimensions not to be trusted'.

I'm sending the original to the smith to duplicate.

[janfred]

Do you even need a snapcap for dry-firing the high standard. i know the Ruger Mk IV it is not necessary. The pin cannot impact anything hard if the chamber is empty.

[oafpatroll]

Do you even need a snapcap for dry-firing the high standard. i know the Ruger Mk IV it is not necessary. The pin cannot impact anything hard if the chamber is empty.

The broken pin isn't from a hi standard pistol it's from one of their 12G pump actions. I also have a hi standard supermatic citation .22 pistol and if you dry fire it without a snap cap it impacts the rim recess which I confirmed with some carbon paper. I have a bunch of solid brass snap caps in its bag. My rule of thumb is to use snap caps with anything that isn't of fairly recent design as support for dry firing without damage wasn't a given even into the 80's. Half of my guns predate me so I use a lot of snap caps.     

[oafpatroll]

I contacted a gunsmith who I've used with success over the last 25+ years to quote me on making a new pin after I found that importation was going to be way too much PT. Their price was stiff but able to be swallowed with a bit of a whisky chaser so I sent the broken part to them. On following up yesterday they bombshelled me with an expected delivery date 'hopefully by the end of March'. Bloody hell it must be nice to be that busy! 

[janfred]

It helps to have a tame machinist in your rolodex.

From the little experience that I have, the best gunsmiths started as well-trained machinists.

[oafpatroll]

It helps to have a tame machinist in your rolodex.

I had one but he passed away some time back. Also had an independent one man band gunsmith who would have knocked this out in a few days at most but he emigrated to the US. I've always wanted a lathe and this was very nearly the trigger for it but I spent more money on my daughters varsity expenses to make the feeling pass.