SAM 1911 Firing pin tidbit

[Colin]

Had a stuck firing pin on my fairly new SAM 1911 while dryfiring (with a snap cap) A good tap on the muzzle with a rubber mallet freed it. Took it apart found lots of crud in there, likely from when it was made as I only have about 100rds through the gun. Was going to replace the pin with one from my Nork, but the SAM pin is different, it looks like this

The Nork pin looks more like this

 

[Showcase]

The top picture looks like series 80 fireing pin. The norc one is a series 70. You can swap in an 80 pin into a 70's gun but not the other way around. My SAM is a series 70 and came with a 70 pin. Is your gun a nib or had a previous owner? Make sure the length of the two are the same. Also is your 1911 a 9mm or .45? Also what caliber is the norc?

 

[MTLGUN]

Personally I haven't worked with the SAM's so I'll offer some generic advice. Up to @ 1990 1911's were pretty straight forward. You needed a firing pin, you ordered the one for your caliber, and that was that.

After that however stuff got a bit more complicated. Colt Mfg's Series 80 change was wide spread, but only with them. Every other person who was copying the design pretty much stuck with the old pin blue print.

Mid 1990's though saw a bit of innovation/change in that a couple high end people tested and found that the 9mm/38Super pin worked on the 45 cal just as well as the 45 did with the advantage that pin speed,

bounce, and lifespan were all improved, and inventory of only 1 type of firing pin was needed. This has slowly carried forward on a number of newer guns. Along with small primer 45 ammo from quite a few factories

this has made the 9/38 firing pin at least as common if not more so than the older 45 pin. Thus, to be safe, you need to measure your firing pin prior to swapping or replacing it or the spring. Hope this helps a bit.