P-14 firing pin

[CZguy]

I have a P-14 Enfield that is having light firing pin strikes. I put a new firing pin (looks to be un issued, from Numrich) in and got the same results.

The strikes are hard enough to fire commercial ammo (comparing the cases to fired brass I had laying around) but don't work with the 1956 surplus ammo on the market currently.

Is there any adjustment to the firing pin?

What am I missing? I suspect it something obvious.

 

[rcmodel]

You might check carefully for packed dried dirt & oil & cosmolene inside the front of the bolt stopping the firing pin, or slowing it down.

Did you also replace the striker spring?
That would be the first place to start before replacing the firing pin.

http://gunsprings.com/RifleShotgun/Enfield_RsNF.html

Still, a striker spring would have to be pretty weak to cause mis-fires.

Firing pin protrusion through the bolt face should not be more then .085", or less then .058".

Excess headspace could cause mis-fires, but it would have to be really excess if your firing pin protrusion checks out within spec.

rcmodel

 

[Jim K]

Could you just be having misfires with old ammo?

We are used to looking at the dent left in a primer that fires, but that deep appearance is partly the result of pressure within the primer forcing primer metal back around the firing pin. When the primer doesn't fire, the dent appears quite shallow and many people think the strike is too light.

Jim

 

[CZguy]

You might check carefully for packed dried dirt & oil & cosmolene inside the front of the bolt stopping the firing pin, or slowing it down.

Did you also replace the striker spring?
That would be the first place to start before replacing the firing pin.

http://gunsprings.com/RifleShotgun/Enfield_RsNF.html

Still, a striker spring would have to be pretty weak to cause mis-fires.

Firing pin protrusion through the bolt face should not be more then .085", or less then .058".

Excess head space could cause mis-fires, but it would have to be really excess if your firing pin protrusion checks out within spec.



rcmodel

Good things to check rcmodel,

I have throughly cleaned the inside of the bold body. I did replace the striker spring, but it was with a used one from Numrich. The head space checked good, using go, no go gages. Tomorrow morning I'll check the firing pin protrusion.

Could you just be having misfires with old ammo?

We are used to looking at the dent left in a primer that fires, but that deep appearance is partly the result of pressure within the primer forcing primer metal back around the firing pin. When the primer doesn't fire, the dent appears quite shallow and many people think the strike is too light.

Jim

Jim,

Misfires with old ammo could be a problem. I guess after I measure the firing pin protrusion, I'll buy some commercial ammo and give that a try.

Thank you both very much, I'll post what the results are.