1892 firing pin broke!

[John Y Cannuck]

Well, I have had a few fail to fire in the past few shooting sessions, I figured the firing pin must be getting a tad gummy, so I decided it was time for a complete tear down, right to the last pin.
That's where it starts to get interesting. The firing pin broke. But just the tip broke off, It broke off in such a way that it could not fall out the hole in the bolt.

Anyway, the hunt is on for either a replacement, or a fix.

A friend fixed the bolt on his '94 but drilling and tapping the bolt face, installing a grade eight bolt, and then shaping that back to the original tip size. He's a machinist, way more skills and tools than me.

But I was looking at the bolt and I'm not sure it could be done that way anyway, the pin sits too close to the edge of the bolt.

The other issue, is apparently there are two 1892 bolts/firing pins. One is black powder, the other smokeless. Black powder pin having a larger tip diameter. My luck, yes, I have a BP firing pin. .106 pin diameter. Mine is actually a hair bigger than spec.

I have no metal lathe, but the bubba in me has a notion to try and make one of these pins with files and the drill press.

They are not that expensive. But when you get down to the shipping part, to Canada, the price doubles, even more from some places, and some refuse to ship across the border at all.

I have a number of emails out, including to this sites sponsors. So far not looking good.

Ideas??

[AJMD429]

When I was a kid, a neighbor of mine made an 1893 Marlin firing pin for me that broke in about the same place. He was an ex-felon who got arrested for filing fake 'silver dollars' out of scrap-metal and inserting them into change-machines at laundry-mats, so my mom didn't encourage me to hang out with him, but he knew cool stuff like how to field-dress groundhogs (and trap them), and tell what species (not just 'oak' but 'white oak') a piece of seasoned firewood was. Naturally I spent lots of time there.

Anyway, with nothing but a hand-file he made a new firing-pin 'tip' for me and flattened the front of the original to match it so the length(s) were right. The gun worked flawlessly for the next 30 years until I ordered a true replacement off a guy I heard about on this forum (Weisner's I think). The front piece was cone-shaped and would only protrude enough to detonate a primer when hit by the rear (original) portion of the firing-pin. I suppose the setup was fine unless debris got into the firing-pin channel and potentially bound things up (which would be an issue anyway) or served as a 'spacer' between the two pieces so a lesser-hammer-blow would potentially cause it to go forward enough to fire a round (I think that would be highly unlikely). In fact, since the heavy part of the now-two-piece firing pin was the rear portion, I could even see that in a dropped-on-muzzle accident, the lesser inertia of the front portion might reduce accidental discharge (never tested that).

Anyway, in a "must get gun functional" situation, you DON'T need a lathe or machinist's tools or even extraordinary skills. On the other hand, I'd look on Numrich or Weisner's and get the appropriate replacement asap.

[earlmck]

With just the tip broke like that I'd be tempted to build the length back with a little weld and file to fit.

[williamranks]

Homestead has them in stock.
http://www.homesteadparts.com/shopcart/ ... r_1892.htm

In addition BP pins had a long protrusion. I reduced the end length of mine and posted here; (scroll down to read the result and final protrusion length)
http://www.levergunscommunity.com/viewt ... =1&t=32746

The pin centers in the bolt face because of the cone shaped section behind the tip. If its too long it won't center and may break off the tip from not having the support.

[crs]

John,
This happened to me twice with my 100 year old 1892 .357 rifle a few years ago and I finally gave up tinkering with it and shipped it off to a competent Texas gunsmith(recommended to me by 86er) who solved the problem. He fixed it and the rifle is back in action again.

If you continue to have such problems, Joe or I can provide you contact information to get yours fixed once and for all.

[J Miller]

williamranks,

Thanks for the Homestead parts link. They got lots of goodies for the pre-64s in there.

Joe

[John Y Cannuck]

With just the tip broke like that I'd be tempted to build the length back with a little weld and file to fit.

The tip as someone else mentioned, is quite long on a 92. I'm not a great welder either. But it is an option if I get desperate. I think I'd try staking tack welds on scrap for quite a while though. I've not attempted that since my college days.

[John Y Cannuck]

Homestead has them in stock.
http://www.homesteadparts.com/shopcart/ ... r_1892.htm

In addition BP pins had a long protrusion. I reduced the end length of mine and posted here; (scroll down to read the result and final protrusion length)
http://www.levergunscommunity.com/viewt ... =1&t=32746

The pin centers in the bolt face because of the cone shaped section behind the tip. If its too long it won't center and may break off the tip from not having the support.

Thanks for that link! I will try there first.
That coned section is the area I feared trying to duplicate the most.

[John Y Cannuck]

John,
This happened to me twice with my 100 year old 1892 .357 rifle a few years ago and I finally gave up tinkering with it and shipped it off to a competent Texas gunsmith(recommended to me by 86er) who solved the problem. He fixed it and the rifle is back in action again.

If you continue to have such problems, Joe or I can provide you contact information to get yours fixed once and for all.

Shipping the rifle back and forth through the bureaucracy on both sides of the border will be an absolute last resort. There was a time not long ago when it was pretty easy. Not so now, too many idiot hoops to jump through for me. If it has to cross the border, it will have to wait until I have reason to accompany it myself.

[John Y Cannuck]

Thanks everyone for the help, I just completed the order with Homestead. Just short of $38 with the shipping. Well worth it to keep the old girl going, and my frustration level (trying to make one) to a minimum.
Now, if it will just skate through customs...
This is what it looks like right now. Only the stock, and the receiver are original. Everything else is stuff I cobbled together from various places. The barrel is from a '94 Winchester, the cartridge lifter is one I had to modify myself to accept the 44WCF cartridge length. The bolt I think was Ebay. The locking bars and cartridge guides I got from a gun show. I think the lever was with the receiver now I think about it.
The original barrel, was a pitted mess (inside and out) with very little rifling. The receiver was also pitted. Some of those pits remain, the rest I was able to draw file out.
The hot tank home blacking job is mine. I think it was supposed to be blue, but it ended black, and that was fine with me, it's a hunting arm.
It has successfully taken a number of deer, and one black bear to date. Nothing huge, but no tracking jobs either, all just fell over.