Broken Firing Pin on 1958 Model 15

[SAvulgarghost]

I recently did a bit of dry fire and reloading practice with snap caps for my pre-model letter 1958 S&W M15 and afterwards noticed that the tip of the firing pin had broken off

It's too late for me to call S&W tonight, which I will do first thing tomorrow, but I saw on their website that they have a variety of replacement parts for the M15, would they have a firing pin for one this old? Is Smith usually good about servicing guns this old? Also, if I can get this fixed, is there anything to look for to make sure that this won't happen again?

Just kinda worried about the old girl, it's been a great old revolver in the time I've had it and it would be a shame to have to get a replacement, and I'm just wondering what I can expect.

Regards,
VG

 

[Jet22]

Any local gunsmith would fix it easily. If you send it to Smith, they commonly want to replace the cylinder on older guns. Even if they just replace the fireing pin, it could cost over $100 when all is said and done. A local gunsmith should do it for less than $30.

I should tell you what happened to a friend recently. He is an FFL dealer. He is not real knowledgeable on the workings of guns, but he does very well buying collections and selling the guns off. He had sold a nice Model 19 to a friend of his. Over a short period of time, the gun started opening harder and harder. Then it would not open hardly at all. He sent it back to Smith. They sent him an quote for something like $250 and that included replacing the cylinder. They told him it had a bulged cylinder. He had gotten the quote the day he talked to me about it and was unsure what to do. He was ready to just give his friend his money back and eat it. Well, I'm sure all you S&W fans out there know what I told him:

First, I told him I bet there was nothing wrong with the gun, just that the ejector rod had unscrewed. I told him there was a 99% chance that was what the problem was and a 1% chance that some crud had gotten behind the ejector latch mechanism inside the gun.

Second, I bet him there was nothing wrong with the cylinder. He had told me the gun shot mostly mild 38 Specials its whole life and wasen't shot much at that! I told him to take a 38 S&W cartridge (not 38 Special) and try to chamber it. It should not chamber unless the chambers were oversize.

He called Smith and asked them how they checked the cylinder. They told him they used a Shadowgraph! He told them "That would be like the GM Proveing Grounds pulling an engine with a chain fall under an oak tree". The S&W man then told him it was common for them to replace cylinders on all oder guns because of their age. This gun was a -2 and is less than 40 years old!! He told them not to touch it and to send it back to him!!

When the gun came back, he said it opened fine. He did this and compared it to his own model 19 and told me the 38 S&W cartridge went in about the same distance in both guns and would not chamber in either.

As this is being written, the gun is still being shot, is in mint condition, and nothing is wrong with it.

Send my gun to Smith?? I think not!

 

[SAvulgarghost]

Thanks for the advice, I'll take it into the gunsmith tomorrow and see if they can help me out. Should they have a replacement firing pin or would I have to wait for them to order and get one?

 

[Jim K]

S&W hammer noses do break from time to time, and replacing one is no big deal, though I don't think it is a DIY job for most folks. I used to do it without even removing the hammer from the gun. Gun Parts Corp sells them for around $10.

Jim