I just opened an order for Midway including a Colt Firing Pin. For some reason, I did not notice was made from stainless steel in the product description until I opened the package. I probably assumed it’d be titanium. I’m not unpleasantly surprised, but somewhat surprised nonetheless. It leads me to a few questions I was hoping to have answered. Any relevant technical input is quite welcome.
1-What material have firing pins traditionally been made of? I assumed they were titanium at this point. I distinctly remember hearing that they are made from titanium during a rant from a Drill Sergeant. (Specifically because I had asked “why titanium”… it didn’t end well for me )
2- Was there a switch to titanium at some point, or is that a niche part of the market? A search at Midway show SS from almost all makers.
3-Does it matter? I’d assume no. I thought a switch was made specifically to using titanium at some point, but I don’t have any reason for that thought.
Why do I see stainless colt firing pins if the mil-spec is hard chromed carbon steel??
I never thought of Colt as a company to do ANYTHING different, or to stray from the TDP in regards to AR parts.
Or is stainless appropriate also??
Milspec firing pins are made from AISI 8640 steel & hard chromed. Only reason for titanium firing pins is in theory for faster lock time. Service life of titanium is less than 1/2 of steel components. Not worth the trouble or hype.
Like most of them, your Drill Sergeant didn’t know what he was talking about. I remember one talking about how aligning the gas rings was important, and silly little barracks lawyer anecdotes that somehow made it through onto the trail.
Agreed. My favorite one was when one of them explained trajectory to us. “The bullet exits the barrel and gains speed up to about 175 meters, getting higher as it gets faster. Then it starts to decelerate and falls back to earth…That’s why it’s easy to overshoot the 150 meter target.” I wasn’t foolish enough to ask a second question.
In fairness to them, it’s probably what they were taught, and they had their hands full of enough other things I would never hold it against them. When my father was a DS, he counted the days to getting done with it.
)
I wasn’t foolish enough to ask a second question.