No. 4 Firing pin question

JSnover · 11-22-2007, 06:58 PM

Folks, I have a sporterized Lithgow MkIII* with a bent firing pin. The rifle was converted to .45-70 by Navy Arms. It shot fine for several months. I was cleaning it yesterday after coming home from the range and the very tip of the pin is bent. It should be easy enough to buy a new one. So I have two questions. First, What might cause this? I do not fire max loads and even if I did, the .45-70 generates about 5,000 cup less pressure than the .303 Brit. The bolt head looks fine, compared to my other original Enfield. Second, how much firing pin protrusion should there be and how far oversize should the hole in the bolt face be? With the other bolt removed, the lugs aligned and the pin in the fired position, there is about .050" protrusion. There were no pierced primers or other signs of pressure and both rifles were checked by a gunsmith after I bought them. Any thoughts?

11-22-2007, 06:58 PM	#1
JSnover Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2007 Posts: 186	No. 4 Firing pin question Folks, I have a sporterized Lithgow MkIII* with a bent firing pin. The rifle was converted to .45-70 by Navy Arms. It shot fine for several months. I was cleaning it yesterday after coming home from the range and the very tip of the pin is bent. It should be easy enough to buy a new one. So I have two questions. First, What might cause this? I do not fire max loads and even if I did, the .45-70 generates about 5,000 cup less pressure than the .303 Brit. The bolt head looks fine, compared to my other original Enfield. Second, how much firing pin protrusion should there be and how far oversize should the hole in the bolt face be? With the other bolt removed, the lugs aligned and the pin in the fired position, there is about .050" protrusion. There were no pierced primers or other signs of pressure and both rifles were checked by a gunsmith after I bought them. Any thoughts?