Winchester 1892.... firing pin broke.

Well folks, the dread firing pin broke issue hit my new 1892

Called up Browning/Winchester.

Me: The rifle wont fire, I highly suspect the firing pin is broken.
Them: That is almost impossible
Me: With the lever open, pushing the firing pin fully forward, I can't see a tip on it
Them: You wont, its rebounding.
Me: But I'm pushing it as far as its limit of travel will allow....
Them: Its locked in place until the trigger is pulled <<-- A BALD FACED LIE!
Me: Ok then, my rifle won't fire, you folks figure it out. Its a month old, I'd like a label.
Them: We can do that
(he takes my info)
Me: If I wanted to buy a firing pin as a spare, how much is it?
Them: Eighty six dollars plus twenty five dollars shipping, when we have them in stock. Currently they're back-ordered.
Me: TWENTY FIVE DOLLARS SHIPPING?
Them: We're required by law to send the part via next day service << -- A BALD FACE LIE!
Me: Ok, I'll get the rifle sent out Monday or Tuesday

I didn't have the heart to ask if its almost impossible to break one (another lie, the net is full of stories about broken 86, 92 and 94 firing pins) why the shortage! He also knew the firing pin status as a point of conversation, no lookup needed, so I suspect the issue is more common than they let on.

He did quote turn around of 6 to 12 weeks normally, but it may go longer than that due to the pandemic. Jeeze.

You can bet I'm taking a picture of screw, every surface of that rifle. Its unblemished in all regards, it needs to come back that way.

Browning/Winchester certainly ain't no Ruger, that much is certain.

Yup

October 26th shipped, ain't gotten to Arnold Mo yet. UPS says "picked up, in transit" but no scan into local depot, which is usually seen when tracking.

They got it November 10..... I guess UPS is running behind.

Brand new rifle. Pin is $92!!!!!

They said no to that. I tried!

In fact, they were a bunch of pretty hard nosed SOBs to reason with.

Somehow I think this is gonna be a long long wait.

Called Winchester today. No expected repair completion date.

These people are full of themselves, and full of horse apples.

I called again today. Rattled off my serial #. We don't have that rifle, they said. I told em, the tag YOU emailed me was received BY YOU over three weeks ago. What is your zip code? I tell 'em. Please wait I'm told. A long wait. Ok we have your rifle, its not in our "system" yet. I ask, its not logged in? Its waiting to enter the system, they say. Will be "assigned" to a gunsmith some time after its logged in.

Wait a dad burn second. It is in violation of ATF rules to not log in a repair that will not be out the door the same day. I know this. I was in the trade for over a decade!

Still clueless with Winchester....

Correct on Ruger. Dare say that Charter Arms has exemplary service as well. I've calls more than once I've spoken to Nick Ecker himself because he answer the phone!

Got it back, finally. Cant open the box, it was shipped to my workplace. More to come.

I guess they made their 6-12 week window ok too.

I thought I'd bring this little saga full circle, since I got the rifle back today.

First, let me commend Browning/Winchester for doing very clean work. No scratches, dents, bubba'd screwheads, it all just looks as it should for a new rifle. Second, let me commend them too, for actually getting the rifle repaired, in light of what they said to me on the phone....

Me: The rifle wont fire, I highly suspect the firing pin is broken.
Them: That is almost impossible
One the invoice..... Parts usage: Firing pin assembly

Me: With the lever open, pushing the firing pin fully forward, I can't see a tip on it
Them: You wont, its rebounding.
Well it is rebounding, but on the returned rifle even with finger pressure on the open bolt, there's the tip of the firing pin stickin' out.

Me: But I'm pushing it as far as its limit of travel will allow....
Them: Its locked in place until the trigger is pulled
No, its not. I was thinking that perhaps the ejector had something to do with locking the firing pin, but.... Before the rifle broke, I remember that I tried pushing the firing pin forward, and observing the tip. And sure enough, the same is true on the repaired rifle.

So we're back to square one. Not sure if I'll shoot it. If I decide to, I'll get a pin from a 3rd party (and damn they're expensive), as they seem to be pretty fragile. May just sell it, get perhaps not as pretty, but more true to original clone. Dunno. I still want a Rossi too, so we'll see what happens in the marketplace.

MEHavey said:

Why wouldn't you test/shoot it before doing anything else?

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As it stands the rifle is officially "unfired". I mean... sure, they're all fired at the factory, but folks tend to dismiss that. So to have an unfired rifle, that perhaps I'd want to sell... better to keep it unfired. I know the firing pin works, so that's not really an issue at this point. I also knew it was broken... so if I keep the rifle, I'd like to have at least one spare.

Frulk said:

Stories like this make me appreciate my gunsmith. Approx 40 years as a machinists. His motto is “if I can’t find the part I’ll make it”. Looking around his shop at the milling machine and various other equipment he’s not kidding.

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And that's how I was. I had full use of vertical Bridgeport, 10" Jet Lathe, no name surface grinder, belt/disk sander, EDM, and a very gun friendly micro-welding expert . All sort of tooling, fixtures, cutters, grinding wheels, you pretty much name it, the shop had it. So I could make my own fixtures and jigs, or easily grind a new firing pin from hardenable S7 material. There was a heat treat shop just down the road too. Hell, we had a plating shop down the road too, and everybody traded jobs. These days, its all different, different shop owners, businesses moved or closed... I mean we're talking 80's thru the 90's it was a while ago. I made .50 muzzleloaders from cheap single shot shotty's, made "bench rest" .22 pistol's that were Ruger and Beretta models weighted up to about 5 or 6 lbs. Rebarrels, new SA cylinders. And regular stuff too.

Just sort of pisses me off that Winchester has such lousy service. I mean... if they'd have said, "we agree, sounds like a firing pin, but it might take a while", it would have been an easier pill to swallow. To just out and out fabricate.... they treat the gunowner like he's an idiot. Contrast Ruger... contrast even Charter Arms where Nick E himself handles calls directly.