doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Broken firing pin

dumb mistake, I only loaded 1 chamber and then pulled the wrong trigger. Upon opening the gun I found a small piece fall away, luckily I found it, the tip of the firing pin. So this morning I sent both pieces to a friend, who happens to be a great machinist and gunsmith. Later while at the hardware store I thought of buying a drill bit of same diameter to cut off enough of the shank to make my own pin. Thoughts before I spend a bunch of time.

Micro TIG welding. Just spoke about it with my (young) gunsmith today. Totally feasible.

rarely happens...

what gun type wuz hit...

Many guns can be damaged by dry firing, but not an A H Fox.

In the article "Why Should I Buy A Fox Gun?", in Volume 11, issue 1 of DGJ years ago, Tom Kidd wrote (in quoting Fox literature), that it will in no way damage a Fox gun to dry fire it, because of the way the hammer is designed and the way it meets the rear of the standing breech. As I recall it was described as having a substantial boss for the hammer to meet, not allowing the rear of the firing pin itself to ever contact the steel around the firing pin hole, preventing any possibility of "mushrooming" the steel around the hole as is seen on so many other old doubles.

Not all steel is weldable. No steel is consistently hard after being welded on. No steel can be hardened without knowing exactly what it is, or, was, because once it has been welded it is not the same anymore.

Turning a firing pin out of a material like O1, and then hardening it, is probably a better idea.

Best,
Ted

Most shotgun firing pins aren't too complicated to make on a lathe, especially if you have the pieces of the broken original for correct dimensions. Depending upon the make, original replacements may be found from Numrich or other parts dealers for less than the cost of a machinist to make one.

I've made a couple using common O-1 tool steel, and then hardened and tempered them. Some say the hardening and drawing is not really necessary. But I've seen a number of pins that mushroomed on the rear end due to being too soft.

Others say they have successfully had broken firing pins repaired by welding. However, welding tool steel has the risk of soon cracking again due to the high carbon content. It's also likely the weld repair will need to be cleaned up on a lathe anyway. For that reason, I'd go with making a new pin if replacements aren't readily available.

I don’t see how that’s possible. I just completely stripped and cleaned two Fox doubles and nothing inside of there said to
me that dry firing would be a good idea. The tumbler/hammers on a Fox are massive, very similar to & about the same as a Greener FP tumbler/hammer, but I don’t see anything in the Fox action that would prevent the hammer assembly from smacking the front of the firing pin hole when loosed. I certainly wouldn’t recommend it.
Kind of off topic, but the Fox is kind of a [censored - come on man!] to disassemble and reassemble. That clevis pin/screw is a real piece of work(I guess Fox never thought these guns should be fully disassembled for cleaning or repair!!). Why they thought that should be peened over I’ll never know. Second thing is the mainspring plunger and yoke doo-hickey. What an idea. Pain the butt to put back together.

On the broken firing pin question….what make of gun are you talking about? Something with bushed or separate strikers/pins or a gun with integral pins with the tumblers/hammers?

Using a an old drill bit to make a firing pin. Sure it could be done. Gotta think about the hardness of hss, carbide, etc. and how it’ll affect that tumbler/hammer. If it’s too hard, it might break prematurely or it’ll start to peen the tumbler/hammer or worse yet, crack it. Probably best to use mild steel rod, turn a new pin and then properly harden and temper it.

I have tried a couple times to repair busted firing pins by drilling and inserting roll pins or drill bits shanks or other hardened steel rods into the old pin body. Though I cold make it functional I was never pleased enough to call it a final solution and found it easier to buy used pins off eBay.

the gun is a C Boswell pigeon gun. Similar to other Sxs pins I have seen with a notch for the retaining screw to keep pin from too much rearward travel.

Nitrah;

It will take a competent gunsmith an hour or less to make and fit a new firing pin using oil hardening drill rod for your Boswell. Contemplating welding the broken one is counter productive.

Regards;
Stephen Howell