[Shadow 7D]

I have a Romanian .22 trainer that is missing it's fireing pin, and I decided to cut one out of a old Chinese stainless steel stead knife, its the right width.

But now that I've dulled two drill bits and spent quite a lot of time cutting it, I wonder if it's not too hard and might cause stalling on the striker and chamber face?

Can somebody with more experience help me, should I use this, or just junk it

[navyretired 1]

Aneal it or use a dremel tool with cut-off wheels. 30 years ago I made one from an old file, ground most of the teeth off and shaped with a saw sharpening machine by hand. It worked so good I made another, drilled a hole under the butt plate and stored it there.
I would think that the original temper would be good, just grind it to shape without burning and ruining temper.

[mbopp]

As far as drilling it you could try a cobalt bit.

[Shadow 7D]

Thanks, don't want to screw up the bolt striker or bolt, would also like to not ding up the chamber face... next time I refinish a gun with some bake on, I'll though this in, really is tough for stainless, but then again don't think I want a FP made from mild steel.

[rcmodel]

A Chinese S/S knife blade would be about the worst choice of steel you could possibly make.

You are working with an unknown alloy, that may or may not be air hardening, which means it only gets harder when you get it hot trying to drill it.

Annealed tool steel flats & drill rod are readily available from Brownell's and other places that are easily hardened & oil tempered to the proper Rockwell for a firing pin after you get done shaping it.

rc

[highorder]

rcmodel is right. This is a job for tool steel.

A good pin made from O-1 will last forever, and O-1 is easy to work with.

[Shadow 7D]

Looking for it on line, guess I'll have to talk to my neightbor and see what he says, after all he is a techinical inspecter (welding inspector) sucks cause I spent so much time hacking that damn blank out.

[highorder]

I spent so much time hacking that damn blank out.

That's because stainless is stringy and a pain to work. Carbon steel is free-machining and far better suited to the task.

[Zeke/PA]

High -Carbon oil hardening (O-1) is probably the best choice for fabricating a replacement firing pin and it is normally available at your local neighborhood machine shop.
For a round firing pin, oil hardening drill rod is hard to beat.
Hardening by "eye"?
Only the ends of the firing pin must be heat treated>