How common are broken AR9mm firing pins

[Sarge]

1 hour ago, Alvin said:

Had exactly the same problem with a new Taccom firing pin.  Ordered two to replace the orginial pins in two of my Taccom Extreme bolts....one is fine. The other one got beat up and kept "catching" on the firing pin hole.  Pulled it out and this is what it looked like.  Tried cleaning it up, but still have problems.  Waiting on Tim to get some new ones in.  Sometimes things happen and they slip past the inspectors....I'm a patient guy

That’s a junk part right there.

[wyliearms]

I may soon have a resolution for the breaking of the firing pins. If I do, and its viable, I may hand out a few to the guys on here as a test to get your feedback if that's alright.

[Piracy85]

What Primers are you guys using who are breaking firing pins under 2000 rounds?

[sbpt1911]

I'm using CCI small pistol primers

[Xanatos903]

S&B Primers for me. Since I first posted in this thread, I broke another one a few months ago. First stage of the day and the gun wouldn't fire. Took it apart and found a firing pin broken in half.

However, I can pretty safely attribute my breakage to dryfire. During that time, I was actually dropping the hammer during dryfire, and I'd been hitting it hard the week before the match. I'd done nothing else with the gun between matches than dryfire. 

[L9X25]

13 hours ago, Piracy85 said:

What Primers are you guys using who are breaking firing pins under 2000 rounds?

 

WSP

[Patrick Scott]

Hiperfire ECL with silver springs, WSP primers. I have not broken a pin since I changed how I dryfire. I use a spare bolt with an already broken pin for dryfire now. 

[1981Shooter]

18 hours ago, wyliearms said:

I may soon have a resolution for the breaking of the firing pins. If I do, and its viable, I may hand out a few to the guys on here as a test to get your feedback if that's alright.

I'd love to help you test that in my PSA.  I have three PCC matches coming up in a month and have spare parts just in case something breaks.

Edited April 13, 2018 by 1981Shooter

[wyliearms]

14 minutes ago, 1981Shooter said:

I'd love to help you test that in my PSA.  I have three PCC matches coming up in a month and have spare parts just in case something breaks.

As soon as I get them, I will post and get some out to you guys. We are about 2 weeks out...

[BartCarter]

1 hour ago, wyliearms said:

As soon as I get them, I will post and get some out to you guys. We are about 2 weeks out...

Looks like your timing will just miss my 3-day PCC class.  Guess I will have to take a spare. 

[MikeRush]

Anecdotally it seems like a lot of guys are destroying firing pins with the Hiperfires. It could also be that a lot of people are running Hiperfires so you see more examples of breakage, but it seems like dramatically increasing hammer energy isn't helping any.

 

I've got well over 10k live fire rounds and a decent amount of dryfire accross a couple of different bolts and I haven't broken a pin yet, but I've been using an ALG trigger with JP reduced springs for most of that. The CMMG bolt had no issues in the time I ran it, and the QC 10 bolt looks great after a lot of abuse. 

[L9X25]

I assumed the same correlation with Hiperfire myself, then broke mine with a JP trigger with a reduced power hammer spring. 

[Piracy85]

47 minutes ago, MikeRush said:

Anecdotally it seems like a lot of guys are destroying firing pins with the Hiperfires. It could also be that a lot of people are running Hiperfires so you see more examples of breakage, but it seems like dramatically increasing hammer energy isn't helping any.

 

I've got well over 10k live fire rounds and a decent amount of dryfire accross a couple of different bolts and I haven't broken a pin yet, but I've been using an ALG trigger with JP reduced springs for most of that. The CMMG bolt had no issues in the time I ran it, and the QC 10 bolt looks great after a lot of abuse. 

I've been seeing the same thing. I currently have close to 5k+ rounds with an Elftman AR9 trigger and my firing pin looks great.

[gahunter12]

On 4/11/2018 at 5:34 AM, Alvin said:

Had exactly the same problem with a new Taccom firing pin.  Ordered two to replace the orginial pins in two of my Taccom Extreme bolts....one is fine. The other one got beat up and kept "catching" on the firing pin hole.  Pulled it out and this is what it looked like.  Tried cleaning it up, but still have problems.  Waiting on Tim to get some new ones in.  Sometimes things happen and they slip past the inspectors....I'm a patient guy

 

I have two of the Taccom pins as spares. Tried one today just to make sure it worked. I got 5 rounds off, the. It started hanging up inside my bolt. I think I will just pick up a few CMMG pins for spares. My OEM pin has about 7,000 rounds through it .  I’m using the Surmount Defense bolt 

[Flatland Shooter]

9 hours ago, MikeRush said:

Anecdotally it seems like a lot of guys are destroying firing pins with the Hiperfires. It could also be that a lot of people are running Hiperfires so you see more examples of breakage, but it seems like dramatically increasing hammer energy isn't helping any.

 

 

I now have just over 10,600 rds through my original PSA PCC with Hybrid bolt.  Before it ever made it to the range I installed a Hiperfire 24-C.  Early on the same bolt got a lot of dryfire practice but now have a dedicated bolt for that.  It has the original firing pin and firing pin spring.  Its cleaned regularly and is kept well lubricated.

 

I have a total of five 9mm bolts and so far not a single broken firing pin.  I don't know what I'm doing right but hope it continues.

[MikeRush]

2 hours ago, Flatland Shooter said:

I now have just over 10,600 rds through my original PSA PCC with Hybrid bolt.  Before it ever made it to the range I installed a Hiperfire 24-C.  Early on the same bolt got a lot of dryfire practice but now have a dedicated bolt for that.  It has the original firing pin and firing pin spring.  Its cleaned regularly and is kept well lubricated.

 

I have a total of five 9mm bolts and so far not a single broken firing pin.  I don't know what I'm doing right but hope it continues.

 

Might be a good time to buy a lotto ticket!

 

I think the added energy is a contributing factor but by no means guarantees a broken pin. I know there are a few aftermarket pin solutions, but I haven't seen a whole lot of positive feedback on them yet.

 

I think the third piece of the puzzle (and maybe your bolt supports this thought) is the bolt itself. If the bore or internal features are not machined properly it could be contributing to failure. It seems like there are some bolts that break multiple firing pins and some that break none. Maybe it's not a pin problem (or at least exclusively a pin problem)?

[sbpt1911]

6 hours ago, MikeRush said:

 

 

 

 

I think the third piece of the puzzle (and maybe your bolt supports this thought) is the bolt itself. If the bore or internal features are not machined properly it could be contributing to failure. It seems like there are some bolts that break multiple firing pins and some that break none. Maybe it's not a pin problem (or at least exclusively a pin problem)?

 

Agreed

[Aircooled6racer]

Hello: We had one break today on a AR9. They are all breaking in the same spot, so it looks like a design flaw to me. It should have a nice radius there or and long taper. Thanks, Eric

[sbpt1911]

I installed a new Wilson combat firing pin before my  match on Sat, and then I stayed and shot the rest of my ammo - 300 rounds total.

I cleaned the gun on Sunday,

the Wilson combat firing pin looked brand new. Not a mark on it! The tip looks perfect. So, we will see....... 

 

Edited April 16, 2018 by sbpt1911

[Vanniek71]

I have had 3 pins chewed up now since I built my PCC. I am using the Taccom Extreme bolt and the Hiperfir 24c 2#.  First pin was the one that came with it, I contacted Taccom and Tim said it looked like blow back from the primers getting pierced. I also had an issue with my barrel that Tim fixed. He was nice enough to give me a new firing pin as well. Took it out and tested it, maybe ~150 rounds and the tip of that one was chewed up as well. I had purchased one of the new Taccom firing pins and put that in just this weekend before a Super Classifier match we had out here. The match was under 120 rounds. Just pulled that pin and the tip is all chewed up as well. My pins aren't breaking, just the tips are getting chewed up. 

 

I am wondering if Tim theory of pierced primers is right? Does anyone run small pistol primers for their PCC ammo? I will say I have been running my pistol ammo which has Federal primers, so maybe that is part of the issue?

 

All I know is I am not going to keep stuffing $20 firing pins in my PCC every time I shoot a club match, and 2-3 at a major match....

[M1A4ME]

So far, we've not broken a firing pin (three 9MM AR's in the family).

 

I believe, based on limited experience, some components are not compatible.  

 

After reading about all the issues I bought a couple spares just to be sure we had them.  My nephew immediately replaced the stock firing pin in his PSA bolt with the new Wilson Combat firing pin.  I went ahead and replaced the firing pin my Faxon bolt with my new Wilson Combat firing pin.  I took my wife shooting a few days later and my carbine was 100%.  No change from the stock firing pin.  But my nephew took his home with him and was going to show his dad how accurate it was and it failed, completely.  Multiple attempts to get it to fire and it only had very small/slight marks on the primers.

 

When he got back down here we compared the firing pins and both the Wilson Combat pins are identical.  Looks like they work in the Faxon bolt but not in the PSA bolt (bolt face thickness differences??).  We compared the tips of the PSA factory firing pin to the Wilson Combat firing pin and the Wilson Combat pins have a visibly shorter tip.  We put the Faxon firing pin in his PSA bolt and did a pencil test and got a launch, so it may be okay with the Faxon firing pin.  Still need to get it to the range to be sure.

 

I bought a couple Taccom firing pins as more spares but have not yet tried them in my Faxon bolt or my PSA bolt (the 3rd AR 9MM).

 

Could be, with the length of the PSA firing pin and the Faxon bolt you might get perforated primers due to the longer tip length on the PSA firing pin.  Maybe not, but I might have to try it to see.

[Gregg K]

16 hours ago, M1A4ME said:

When he got back down here we compared the firing pins and both the Wilson Combat pins are identical.  Looks like they work in the Faxon bolt but not in the PSA bolt (bolt face thickness differences??).  We compared the tips of the PSA factory firing pin to the Wilson Combat firing pin and the Wilson Combat pins have a visibly shorter tip.  We put the Faxon firing pin in his PSA bolt and did a pencil test and got a launch, so it may be okay with the Faxon firing pin.  Still need to get it to the range to be sure.

My PSA 9mm broke it's firing pin the first 500 rounds. I replaced it with a Wilson Combat and it has been working great the last 2K rounds

[JZELEK]

On 4/13/2018 at 8:22 AM, Patrick Scott said:

Hiperfire ECL with silver springs, WSP primers. I have not broken a pin since I changed how I dryfire. I use a spare bolt with an already broken pin for dryfire now. 

I have a 2018 Hiperfire Competition trigger and it only comes with red (2.5 lbs pull) and green springs (2.0 lbs pull), never heard of the silver ones.

What pull weight does that give you?

Edited October 24, 2018 by JZELEK

[Nonka106]

So I finally had my firing pin issue. At Optics Nationals I kept having what I assumed were light strikes (last 1/3rd of the match, total of x3 incidents) bc I was too busy trying to haul ass that I didn’t go back for my rounds. Needless to say after swapping out bolts completely (I bought a spare early in the season) everything came to life. I saw someone had the firing pin retainer pin break and that’s part of my problem bc now I can’t remove the firing pin. Any suggestions w/o destroying the bolt carrier?

[RaylanGivens]

3 hours ago, Nonka106 said:

So I finally had my firing pin issue. At Optics Nationals I kept having what I assumed were light strikes (last 1/3rd of the match, total of x3 incidents) bc I was too busy trying to haul ass that I didn’t go back for my rounds. Needless to say after swapping out bolts completely (I bought a spare early in the season) everything came to life. I saw someone had the firing pin retainer pin break and that’s part of my problem bc now I can’t remove the firing pin. Any suggestions w/o destroying the bolt carrier?

 

Not sure what kind of bolt you have...  I have a Taccom Extreme bolt and the firing pin is held in by a standard AR cotter pin...  I assume your FP retention system is different, otherwise you could just push the cotter pin out.