Had a short firing pin...

[Telecomtodd]

Here's some info from an e-mail I sent to someone this morning - anyone else see this problem before?

"This note is to let you know what happened regarding the “short” firing pin on the A-1913.

I called on Saturday about the short firing pin in my son’s new 1913. To review, the rifle was misfiring very consistently with different brands of ammo including SK Match and R50. Three tries on one round failed to detonate the primer. A friend looked at the extended pin and realized it looked a little short. The angled part of the pin extended just below the bolt face. I think that the pointed end of the pin was ever-so-slightly rounded after running a couple hundred rounds through the action, and it took the pin out of tolerance.

I disassembled the bolt and took a closer look at the firing pin assembly on Monday. As you know, if you hold it upright, it goes back to a vertical tang that both slides into the bolt groove at the bottom and into the trigger firing sear at the top. The part where it rides the bolt groove was interesting – there was a slight indentation about 5-6 mils back from the edge. It looks like the part might have been slightly mis-stamped, and the indentation was obvious. I used a grinding bit from my Dremel tool to carefully burnish the edge back a bit to the indentation. I buffed it and cleaned it, and then reassembled the bolt. When extended, the pin reaches out to the point that the angled part of the pin meets the bolt face like it should.

While charged, the bolt traveled fine, but when fired, the bolt was very difficult to open. I disassembled the bolt again and looked at the sear contact area, and realized it needed to be burnished a little to match the intended dimensions. 5-6 mils later, the bolt travels perfectly, the pin is extended perfectly, and after 100 rounds, no misfires.

So – not sure if it is worth mentioning to Anschutz, but sharing my experience might help you or others in the future. A replacement pin isn’t always the answer – this was quicker and cheaper!"