TargetTalk

Turns out I'm not great at counting my shots, mind elsewhere I guess. Thinking about it I would often pull the trigger after the slide locked back on my Nelson. So to avoid the eventual breaking of a firing pin from the "6th" round dry fire I was looking into the magazine mod to hold back the bolt on the last round.

Has anyone done the mod and does it damage anything like the bolt, other than modding the not so cheap magazine?

- Dave

Forget about the mod, and buy a spare firing pin.

Irishshooter wrote:Forget about the mod, and buy a spare firing pin.

Yep that's the conclusion I made based on the feedback I got on my dry fire question. Sounds like many have never had one break, and yes they can break but not all that often plus they are simple to swap out. Emergency repair kit arriving tomorrow.
I've decided it is a non issue, nothing to worry about.

Thanks,
Dave

I bought an older model SP last year and read about the last round hold open to, but decided against it as well. The only mod I did was to the magazine to increase the round count to 6.

Irishshooter wrote:I bought an older model SP last year and read about the last round hold open to, but decided against it as well. The only mod I did was to the magazine to increase the round count to 6.

Interesting, I'm over worrying about it, but you provide an interesting option. A #6 dry fire round only used if I miss count, then simply ejected it and it is first to be loaded in the next magazine.
- Dave

A spare firing pin is still a better option, load your 5 rounds and fire them and forget about it, by doing anything else your bringing something new into your pre shot routine which you don't really need,
What happens when you forget to load your blank 6th round and you remember after 1,2,3,4 shots your thinking of your blank round when you should be thinking of your shot process.

I bought 3 mags when I got my SP and decided to try the bolt-hold open modification. It worked, BUT, I did not use sufficiently hard steel; the vertical piece that catches the bolt after last round began bending forward over time. Rats. Another issue is screw size; tiny screws are needed to attach the metal piece to the follower. I ended up ordering some really tiny screws about 0.7-inches long to hold the vertical bolt stopper to the follower. I abandoned bolt hold open mod and restored the mag to normal and it functions fine.

It then occurred to me that anyone with moderate machine skills could make a replacement follower that incorporated the vertical piece in its design; see link for illustration:http://www.targettalk.org/viewtopic.php ... ne#p271408. To my knowledge, nobody has made one. Because of the increased weight of a steel follower, I imagine one would have to experiment with a longer magazine spring to make it work.

I bought a second firing pin shortly after I got my pistol because I'm not always aware how many shots I've fired and drop the hammer on an empty chamber. However, I can not detect any wear on original firing pin and that's after ~4 cases of 22s. dipnet

#6 dry fire round only used if I miss count, then simply ejected it and it is first to be loaded in the next magazine.
- Dave
That is illegal according to the rules of ISSF.

j danielsson wrote:#6 dry fire round only used if I miss count, then simply ejected it and it is first to be loaded in the next magazine.
- Dave
That is illegal according to the rules of ISSF.

Lucky I don't shoot ISSF, probably illegal in bullseye too.

In the last 500 rounds I only dry fired it twice, both times I had forgotten to rack the bolt!! My counting to 5 in sustained fire is near perfect now, so the fact I rarely miscount and the feedback on not to worry that is my plan not to worry about it and keep a spare firing pin.
- Dave