Angled striker?

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WestKentucky

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Does anybody make a striker fired gun where the striker comes into the chamber at an angle? I know it’s not optimal in most situations, but I’m wondering if that might save a little space in a compact design. I’m not big on striker fired guns, but the thought ran through my mind. I know striker bolt actions and striker seiauto pistols are typically straight in line behind the chamber.
 
I don't think that this would be a valuable idea, because by the time one reaches an angle (like 45 degrees, or more) that would really gain some space, the ignition will become problematic. Not to mention other problems, like elongated firing pin holes, problematic firing pin to sear interaction and etc. That is if one wants to save space at the back. Saving space from the top of a handgun is limited by the barrel and locking mechanism and there is no real advantage to lower the breech area. Usually such designs are due to engineering requirements and limitations - like the firing pins on an O/U shotgun.
 
I would think you would end up with pierced primers if it came at an angle.
 
The limiter in my eyes to size is not the length of the striker, rather its the placement of the magazine. The magazine is in the grip, and the barrel has to be in front of that, so the amount of space used behind all that is pretty much fixed by that fact.
 
Considering the firing pin portion of the striker in a striker fired gun is maybe 3/16" above the internal bottom and maybe 3/8" below the top of its slide, the angle available in a compact handgun will be minimal. Since there has to be a spring around the striker, that is stout enough to fire a cartridge, the length of the spring and striker couldn't be shortened much at all with what couldn't be more than a few degrees of angle.

If one wants less slide length behind the chamber of an autoloader, one pretty much will get a hammer fired gun where the hammer spring is in the grip.
 
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Saving space from the top of a handgun is limited by the barrel and locking mechanism and there is no real advantage to lower the breech area.
In the Kahr pistols, they have offset the feed ramp to allow the barrel to sit lower in the frame.

The magazine is in the grip, and the barrel has to be in front of that, so the amount of space used behind all that is pretty much fixed by that fact.
What H&K did in their P7 was build around a vertical magazine rather than an angled one. This allows the barrel to be mounted further back. The chamber on the P7 is further to the rear than the front strap...when the squeeze cocker is depressed
 
Yes, I'm aware of that, but the feed ramp is not a striker. If one lowers the striker position he still has to deal with the fixed height of barrel & slide assembly, so the gain is really not worth it - the system will not become more compact by any practical means if one simply lowers only the breech area. As to the P7 barrel assembly - one still doesn't gain nothing from the back of the gun, because he is limited by the grip dimensions & beavertail and by the practical length of the striker itself. One still has to cover the magazine well, trigger mechanism and the space needed for the striker to be set to full cock.
 
A firing pin that strikes the primer at an angle doesn't hit as hard as one that is perpendicular to the surface of the primer. The force is proportional to the cosine of the angle off perpendicular. To make up for this, the firing pin has to be driven harder. This has ramifications for the rest of the design beginning with a stiffer spring to drive the firing pin.
 
A firing pin that strikes at an angle?o_O
What more could you do to ensure malfunctions?
Off center by just thousandths of an inch means your gun wont fire.
I had a customer return a Les Baer 1911 because it wouldn't ignite small pistol primers on some .45acp ammo. The firing pin was off center, but it did function with .45 large pistol primers.
 
9mmepiphany, OP was asking about an angled striker, so I assumed that we deal specifically with the back portion of a semi-auto.

dogtown tom - many weapons have angled firing pins: O/U shotguns, Side-by-Side shotguns, many revolvers... Done properly it is of no concern.
 
Now that is a layout I didn't think of. So, it's not a magazine fed gun?
No, The thought that led me to this concept was that I want a bolt or break barrel pistol that is both hammerless (no snag) and second strike capable. I like the look of a twist barrel percussion gun, but I want fixed ammunition, so that basically led me to this. My original thought was essentially this same setup but topbreak with latch mechanism like on a topbreak revolver.

I believe that this setup could be made quite small and potent as a trappers gun.
 
No, The thought that led me to this concept was that I want a bolt or break barrel pistol that is both hammerless (no snag) and second strike capable. I like the look of a twist barrel percussion gun, but I want fixed ammunition, so that basically led me to this. My original thought was essentially this same setup but topbreak with latch mechanism like on a topbreak revolver.

I believe that this setup could be made quite small and potent as a trappers gun.

Interesting. Second strike capable . . . does that mean you want the trigger to cock and release the striker with each pull? You wouldn't be counting on the break action to cock the striker?
 
It would be nice to have the trigger work as a DA setup, but it would increase complexity. First thought is to make it SA and just have a extension out the bottom of the grip to pull and cock. Essentially the same concept there as a lot of the cheap 22 single shot rifles where you manually cock the gun after the bolt is closed.
 
Second strike capable on a single shot... hard pass... like hardest pass ever...

What do you gain over a spurless cam hammer? Nothing I can see.
 
dogtown tom - many weapons have angled firing pins: O/U shotguns, Side-by-Side shotguns, many revolvers... Done properly it is of no concern.
I didn't say anything about an "angled firing pin", but a "firing pin that strikes at an angle".;)

The impact of the firing pin on O/U shotguns/SxS shotguns/revolvers is not at an angle but dead center on the primer at the moment of contact.

Still waiting to see what the actual need for an angled firing pin is.:scrutiny:
 
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