This is what happens when you try to make your own firing pin.

[Speedo66]

As a broke college student in the mid '60's, I made a nail firing pin for my $15 used Monkey Ward 12ga single shotgun. I may have actually improved the gun.

 

[SilverCat]

You mean behind the slide? Or along side it, as with riding the safety on a 1911?

You can actually hold a pistol slide completely closed without injury. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVtXPIjM3jQ

Yeah, I was taught to shoot with my thumb riding the side of handgun slides from the beginning.

 

[limpingbear]

A guy I worked with made a firing pin from a finishing nail for his Winchester model 12 and it worked fine for years. Bear in mind he is an aircraft mechanic and is mechnicaly inclined.

 

[rodregier]

Firing pin protrusion is a critical dimension for those that didn't get the memo...

Brownells makes a nice tool to accomplish that measurement

http://www.brownells.com/gunsmith-tools-supplies/measuring-tools/firing-pin-protrusion-gauges/centerfire-rimfire-firing-pin-protrusion-gauge-prod867.aspx

 

[hdbiker]

A friend gave me a nice old Stevens .410 single shot that had a broken fireing pin. After studying it for a while, I went to the hardware store and bought a grade 8 bolt, and after a couple hours in my recliner and Dremel Tool watching the Packers play,I cut out and fit a new pin that is still working great today. Under a buck and the nice old Stevens is as good as new. hdbiker

 

[skoro]

This is what happens when you try to make your own firing pin

Stupid hurts.

You probably see more of that in your profession than most of us do, doc.

And yes, dumb people do dumb things and suffer dumb consequences.

I've been dumb a couple of times (maybe more) and learned some things the hard way. But even I wouldn't try the nail = firing pin trick.

 

[LRShooting]

Dumber than that is making a nail gun out of bb gun barrel. Hook it up to compressed air and wallah, you have a gun that shoots nails. Stupid part came when my cousin put his finger in front of the barrel because the nail got jammed. Of course it unjammed after he hit the air a couple of times and sent it straight through his finger...Idiot.

 

[hentown]

Someone will recall who this story is about: Few years back a well-known competitor was killed when he shot an improperly-headspaced old military bolt rifle.

The bolt went into his forehead, deep into his brain.

 

[horsemen61]

That is why I can admit that if I don't know how to do it I'll pay somebody to do it who does

 

[epoletna]

I've always thought we in this country are blessed with an inordinate amount of ingenuity, and it is certainly not outside the realm of reason to hear of someone fabricating a gun part out of whatever piece of steel is handy. I made a lever for a Mauser set trigger out of a chunk of steel, a drill, some files, and a charcoal brazier (to harden it). That said, it would be possible to make a firing pin out of a nail and leave it too long. The question is, why not measure a few times before trying it out? It almost certainly was not a question of taking an original nail and sticking it in the bolt -- firing pins are not simple straight pins -- they're stepped down on each end and probably rounded on the front. If you're going to go to that trouble, why not measure the length too?