Firing Pin Striking Incorrectly, Should I Be Concerned? PICS

Sam54 said:
I clean my firing pin, spring and chamber with methyl hydrate as suggested by Hickok 45
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This is one time that Hickock doesn't have a clue. Which is still a darn good track record. He's normally really good on this sort of thing.

Methyly hydrate is an alchohal. As such it's a polar or non polar solvent (I don't recall which at the moment) instead of the opposite type such as acetone, xylene, brake cleaner, mineral spirits and other more normally used solvents used for cleaning guns. The alchohal won't do much more than water when it comes to cosmoline. On the other hand the other type of solvent melts the cosmo and other greases like snow in a bucket of hot water.
 
I shot a Tok last night(two of them were being used) and none of the primer strikes looked like this.

However, my brand new Ruger SR9 does something slightly similar.

even the test casing from the box had it.

Its only slightly like the one from the OP, but there is something like it.

My striker channel is smooth and clean, the firing pin tip is smooth, round and straight. Its all factory inside.

Sorry to sort of half derail this, but I am kinda worried about it.
 
My TT 33 does the same, firing pin is free and clean - this is not the problem. A weak recoil spring may be the culprit according to this; www.kegisland.com/firing-pin-wipe.html . I have a new replacement on the way from Wolff, will have to wait to see if it helps.
 
Slight bent firing pin, clean it good rove it and look for any damage to the pin or pin housing sounds like something in there that shouldn't be or you have a defective or damaged pin and spring possibly even a broken spring
 
John_in_BC said:
I shot a Tok last night(two of them were being used) and none of the primer strikes looked like this.

However, my brand new Ruger SR9 does something slightly similar.

even the test casing from the box had it.

Its only slightly like the one from the OP, but there is something like it.

My striker channel is smooth and clean, the firing pin tip is smooth, round and straight. Its all factory inside.

Sorry to sort of half derail this, but I am kinda worried about it.
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Supposedly, this is normal in Striker fired guns. I checked into this on other sites. My new SR9 has faint "drag" marks on the primers as well.
 
Actually, this isn't unusual - it's called firing pin 'wipe' it's caused by the slide unlocking early due to high pressure ammo. It's nothing to worry about, it may shorten the life of the firing pin, but not drastically. The old CZ75's were infamous for this.
 
I don't think so, it's something that doesn't really affect the pistol - but increasing the recoil spring really does affect the pistol and can cause reliability issues, if it goes bang and puts holes in stuff, i'd leave it as is (in fact I did).
 
so, it should be ok to continue to shoot this pistol like this?

if i need to change the firing pin down the road sometime, i can live with that, but is there a chance the channel the pin rides through could get reamed out or distorted?

thanks

enefgee said:
I don't think so, it's something that doesn't really affect the pistol - but increasing the recoil spring really does affect the pistol and can cause reliability issues, if it goes bang and puts holes in stuff, i'd leave it as is (in fact I did).
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What BC said; you've got a lot of pin drag there. The gun is unlocking before the pin can rebound. This amount of pin drag could eventually damage your gun. If all is good with clearances and there are no obvious tooling marks on the pin that could cause drag, you might consider a heavier recoil spring and/or firing pin spring.
 
I have 3 toks and they all do that to the primers????????? Most of the other empties, they can't all be mine have some major, like yours, or minor variation of that pattern on the primer.
Have never used commercial ammo so maybe the primers are a lot softer than the surplus/ Sure looks like a very firm,deep, strike
 
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For the cost of a new recoil spring it would be nice to try.

Matching the recoil spring to the power of the cartridge is a wise thing to do with any of this delayed blowback style. We want as strong a spring as we can get away with for any given ammo. The test of it being correct is that empties should still be thrown out with enough power to arc a good two feet to the side. And the slide should still lock back consistently at the last round.

If this results in reducing or even eliminating the amount of primer wipe then that's a bonus. It shows that we've reduced the side loading on the firing pin.

It could also be that the firing pin is extending too far from the face of the slide. If the FP comes out too far and sets more deeply into the primer than what is required to reliably fire the gun then it can become stuck in the primer until it's jerked loose so it can retract. This could be another cause of this primer wiping seen in those pictures. I don't know what the proper FP protrusion numbers are but it would be worth checking. In addition to the spring pressure a FP should have a solid stop that limits the protrusion amount.

I've got one of the M213's in 9mm. It's never produced this sort of FP wipe on the primers. I'll dig it out and check the amount of FP protrusion and get back to this.
 
I remember reading somewhere that some of the surplus 7.62x25mm is loaded hotter for use in sub-machine guns. Could that be it? Too much power?

Just a thought....
 
i'm shooting selliot & bellot, isn't that factory ammo?

as far as ejection of cases, it's throwing the brass at least 8'......measured horizontally. that's something that stood out to me and some other shooters at the range that day.

not sure if that makes a difference.

i took the firing pin and spring out last night and neither is broken, or burred. the pin appears to be true, but i only eyed it.

if i do need replacement parts, where can i get them?

thanks again for all the input!
 
I just had a look at some of my fired cartridges from my new Polish Tokarev.

I was shooting two types of 7.62x25mm , “PRVI PARTIZAN, PPU 7,62 mm Tokarev FMJ 5,5g/85gr Bullet“, according to the box. This ammunition produced a noticeable muzzle flash.

The other was 1954 Czech 7.62x25mm surplus ammunition, steel cases, lacquered coated with steel bullets.

In both cartridge cases, some of the primers are perfectly round and some show slight drag marks of varying degrees.

My main compliant was how far the PVRI was scattered when I went to collect it. At the PoCo range, which has a roof, the brass was scattered about 10 feet left and about 15 to 20 feet right.

Is the wide scattering of the brass normal ?
 
I just looked at the primers from my Polish Tok. With milsurp the primer is hit hard and has a big drag mark.

I was testing my 1911 with the same ammo and got 90% misfires. Those primers are hard. With a 9mm barrel in it the same spring is 100% ignition.
 
I have similar issue with my Polish TT-33. It's much worse with S&B commercial than with surplus. It's not something I'm gonna worry about. but I did sourced out replacement firing pins ;)
 
All my TTs do that: multiples of Polish, Soviet early and late (I don't have Chinese — yet). However, yours is far more pronounced than I have seen.

You're using modern ammunition, not surplus. Military primers are harder, and this military pistol is designed with a firing pin force and protrusion for that ammo; perhaps this is expected, and the softer brass won't put too much strain on the tip of your firing pin. I've only shot surplus (well, I do have multiple crates of the stuff to get rid of).

Don't recall checking my Tokagypt in 9mm; maybe I'll take her out today and see what she does to regular primers.

Anyway, you've been given good advice about the possibility of replacing with brand-new Wolff springs, and especially cleaning. If you didn't clean it when received by tapping out the retaining pin to take out the firing pin and spring, and blasting some brake cleaner down the hole followed by a good pipe cleaner scrubbing of the firing pin channel, there will be Cosmoline in there. The Polish pistols may have been steam cleaned by the exporter, but this channel will be the last place grease hides out.
 
disassembled, cleaned......shot, disassembled, cleaned with remington action cleaner, reassembled.

there was no cosmoline in the action at all when i took it apart. it was spotless.

so, any help on where i can get a pin and spring, just in case?

i've got some surplus ammo here too that ill be trying out.

ill post the results.
 
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