Are floating firing pins safe?

Everybody knows that don't they?

Please link the video or article that claims dropping the firearm will cause a floating firing pin to discharge the firearm .

The fact the inertia of the FCG closing on an AR will actually bump/set back the shoulder of a case when chambered with out discharge the firearm . Says to me you could not drop the gun hard enough to force the floating firing pin to discharge the weapon .

Now there may be other firearms out there with different designs that have more potential but it still seems very unlikely .

Not enough firing pin mass, nor long enough travel to set off a primer. It designed that way = physics.

In theory, yes. In actual practice it's very rare. John Browning's first Colt pistol (1900) had the feature, and he retained in in his 1911 .45 platform. The U.S. military services used it until 1982, and in 1939 rejected an effort by Colt to switch them to a positive block system.

If someone is concerned (the Old Fuff isn't) they can change to a Titanium (lighter weight) firing pin and a heavier strength firing pin spring to reduce the already remote danger. Or of course you can buy a pistol that has a positive block or lock. The disadvantage is that it may be another that that can go wrong.

Beard dude is way wrong on a lot of theories. Real life is soooo different.

I think the most important thing we can take away from that video is an opportunity to restart the war regarding reloading from a side saddle by using the support hand or the shooting hand.... or maybe we can have a debate about the wisdom of teaching people via the internet a technique which requires pulling the trigger to set it up... because that could never, ever go bad.

I think both of those topics have more salient points than the possibility of a floating firing pin touching off a round on it's own.

Lucky gunner the second video guy

chopinbloc said:

This is the video to which I was referring. Apparently not everyone knows that.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyqy8AC3uPQ

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oh god.....that entire video was nothing but bad information.......

1) cruiser ready is a bad idea.....no only is your gun "not ready to use".....you are also limiting your capacity by 1
2) downloading mag is a bad idea.....why purposely reduce your already reduced capacity?
3) making unnecessary noise, or trying to "scare them off" is a bad idea........if someone is in your house with the intent to harm you, why let them know where you are?

I did not see him talk about a floating firing pin ???? What time stamp does he do that .

Went back and watched again . Not once does he reference floating firing pins or anything that would suggest the topic of this thread had any relevance to his points .

But hey misunderstand what the guy said then dropping your firearms barrel first on to steel then letting them fall to the ground seems like a great idea anyways .

He did mention shotguns and maybe only referring to the one in the video . That when the safety is on it only stops the trigger from being pulled . meaning if dropped the hammer can still drop and hit the firing pin . I believe that was his point , that the safety does not block the hammer or the firing pin in at least the shot gun in the video .

Any trigger I've installed ( Timney , Geissele ) You are to give them a good bump on the stock or even simulate a drop to be sure you don't have the trigger adjusted to light . If you don't have a firing pin block and the hammer drops or the striker is released . The gun is going to discharge .

I agree that most modern well maintain firearms in good working condition should not have any issues being dropped . Including ones with floating firing pins

I've ran a few test seeing what effect loading a round in an AR by letting the BCG fly home from the locked back position . I have seen the shoulder get set back as much as .0025 from being chambered only once . If the BCG can essentially resize a case in the chamber just by the force in which it slams the case hard against the chamber shoulder . Yet not cause the firing pin to discharge the round tells me you can't drop an AR hard enough to cause the firing pin alone to set off the primer .

Between 1:05 and 1:10 he mentions that most shotguns are not drop safe.

I imagine with enough force any free floating firing pin could set off a firing pin. The $100 question is how fast would the firearm have to be moving in order to cause the firing pin to set off the primer. Would a 100 foot drop allow the firing pin to build enough energy to set off the primer? I'm guessing that most guns would reach terminal velocity before hey would allow the primer to be ignited by the firing pin. The chopping block video proves a coupe foot drop is not sufficient for most guns, but at some point there would be a risk, however unlikely that scenario would be.

Generally speaking, free-floating firing pins are safe. The only risk occurs if you allow gunk to build up in them and bind them, which can result in the pin becoming stuck forward. This rare and dangerous situation can result in a slamfire when the bolt or slide is closed.

Basically, don't be stupid, and occasionally take the time to field-strip your guns. If the firing pin moves freely, you're good. A bit of CLP in the firing pin channel can help, but DO NOT use grease or anything else designed to stick to surfaces.

Food for thought: Cruiser ready serves two purposes. The first is it prevents multiple light strikes on the chambered round from driving around in a cruiser all day. I don't know if it would actually matter or not (suggestion for next video chopinbloc!) but I'd also like to not find out either (Chief would be angry!).

The second is intent and liability. By removing the rifle from the rack and chambering a round, or shotgun from the rack and chambering a round it shows a level of fore thought. It requires an active decision to remove said firearm and put it into action. It's one extra way to either remind the officer to think about the actions he's about to do or one extra way to prove the officer intended to proceed with malice in an unjustified shooting.

As for the Lucky Gunner video... to each their own. I leave my rifles in cruiser ready but my handgun in my nightstand is loaded with the hammer down (Beretta M92A1) and the "safety" on.

Had a Franchi 48AL, chambered a round let the bolt go forward under its own steam and it fired, was pointing down range of course.

Took bolt apart and the firing pin retaining spring was broken allowing the firing pin to free float.

Tried it later with empty primed hulls and it lightly marked the primers, didn't always fire but once was enough for me.

Why would your home defense shotgun be secured in a way where it could fall 3 stories and land on the muzzle?

The only thing I can offer on the subject is that we were taught in the SF weapons course that the makarov pistol isn't drop safe, and that if there is a round in the chamber and the weapon is on fire and gets dropped landing on the hammer that it can discharge. Not into Makarovs, never really messed with them much myself, just know how to take it apart, put it together, load/clear, shoot.

If someone is concerned (the Old Fuff isn't) they can change to a Titanium (lighter weight) firing pin and a heavier strength firing pin spring to reduce the already remote danger.

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I think the OP is talking about guns that don't have a firing pin spring like the AR and AK and SKS.

It has been a problem with the SKS -- not from being dropped but from having FOD jam the firing pin forward so it slamfires and usually runs away until the mag is empty. Its happened enough with the SKS that people sell a kit that alleges to solve the issue, although thoroughly cleaning the cosmoline out of the surplus guns would have prevented it.

I've never head of a firing pin "sticking forward" and slam firing in an AK or AR.

It could be an issue if the wrong primers are used -- sometimes if you eject a fired round from a AR or AK you can see a little mark where the firing pin touched the primer when locking up

Having lost a cousin to a "hunting accident" (they violated the unload your gun before crossing a fence rule) from the discharge of a dropped shotgun, I've never ever considered shotguns of any make to be "drop safe".

The Makarov and TT33 pistols have a firing pin the protrudes into the primer space when the hammer is down -- definitely not safe with the hammer down on a chambered round -- like the original Colt SAA pistols. The TT33 half cock is the safety and it has a firing pin spring, the Mak slide mounted safety if I recall blocks the firing pin and moves the hammer back a bit when applied.

I didn't watch the videos. But most long guns will fire if dropped with sufficient force and if they land just right. Nothing new about that. Most handguns are designed so they won't.

From what I remember it happened several times to Marines in Desert Shield. The Army was not carrying chambered and shot no one. If you take a hunters safety course they will tell you to unload the shotgun when climbing over a fence. I keep my long gun for home defense cruiser ready.

Colt was worried enough about it that they came out with the Series 80 with their 1911s which had a reputation for going off when dropped.

By the way the you formated your poll makes it about useless. The title of the thread was are "free floating firing pins safe?" I answered no. Only a moment later did I realize the poll was, Will the drop cause the firing pin to hit the primer herd enough to set it off?

My long guns are stored in a cruiser safe manner. If I need a self defense gun in a hurry, that's what my pistol is for (it lives chambered in a holster). If I have time to choose to go to a rifle or shotgun option, odds are strong that I also have time to chamber the weapon.