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Ok you smart guys !

Posted: Tue Dec 03, 2019 2:17 am
by mdeland
What is this part?

Re: Ok you smart guys !

Posted: Tue Dec 03, 2019 3:46 am
by Tomklinger
Ballard firing pin....

Re: Ok you smart guys !

Posted: Tue Dec 03, 2019 6:50 am
by MAH
Tom,
You nailed that, with out a problem!!

MAH

Re: Ok you smart guys !

Posted: Tue Dec 03, 2019 8:15 am
by John Bly
Yep, Ballard reversible firing pin to be more exact. Installed with the projection up it is for rimfire and with the projection down it is for centerfire. Quite often found broken but easily made.

Re: Ok you smart guys !

Posted: Tue Dec 03, 2019 9:27 am
by Trigger1212
And here my answer was going to be “rusty”.

Re: Ok you smart guys !

Posted: Tue Dec 03, 2019 2:14 pm
by mdeland
You guys are on your toes! Good job! I'd have been thinking,now where have I seen that before. I have to make a couple out of some stress proof steel I have in rod stock form which will have to have a flat stock milled out of for the job.

Re: Ok you smart guys !

Posted: Wed Dec 04, 2019 1:47 am
by mdeland
Do you guys know where I can pick up some of these double bitted firing pins for the Ballards? I bet they can be bought much cheaper than I will have to charge to make them of stress proof steel. Was told Numrich was out of them.

Re: Ok you smart guys !

Posted: Fri Dec 06, 2019 3:03 am
by mdeland
This is the new firing pin blank made from stress proof steel rod stock and the finished pin.
You can see the shorter pin on top for rimfire. Center fire small rifle primer needs .050 protrusion and the rimfire protrusion is .037 both are plus or minus .002.

Re: Ok you smart guys !

Posted: Fri Dec 06, 2019 8:04 am
by John Bly
Your pin is much more likely to break with the sharp corners in the cutout for the retaining screw. A basic study of strength of materials 101 will give you that knowledge. Also, only one projection is needed. The firing pin is reversible between rimfire and centerfire. The other projection on the front of the pin should only go to the face of the breech block.

Re: Ok you smart guys !

Posted: Fri Dec 06, 2019 1:54 pm
by mdeland
Thanks John, for the reply and corrective help. This is the first Ballard pin I've made and always like to learn and try new things which the pictures help with.
Makes sense come to think of it that the second prong should be flush with the breech face when the center fire prong is into the primer so as not to strike the barrel. I had a wrong concept of the firing pin design and how it operated. I was thinking they were purposely making one side for rimfire and the other for center fire as the recommended protrusions are different depths.
I am aware of square corner stressing and the ones pictured are not sharp but have tiny radius. I'll see how this works with the stress proof steel but think it will be fine. If it fails I'll make another with radius stops.
I did note that the hammer face is not flat but covex and put the same profile on the pin head so as to give more surface area of contact to lesson battering tendency. Pin head and prongs were chamfered around the perimeters.

Re: Ok you smart guys !

Posted: Fri Dec 06, 2019 2:19 pm
by Aviator
Perhaps the hammer end of the firing pin is what needs to be tailored to get the correct protrusion for the two configurations.

Re: Ok you smart guys !

Posted: Fri Dec 06, 2019 3:31 pm
by mdeland
In the action block, at the front of the firing pin tunnel, is a stop (in the firing pin notch) to limit how far the pin can move forward. It is hard to see in the pictures.
There is no cam or spring return for the pin, in these actions, the pin floats in the tunnel.
The hammer face is made to flush out with the block and rear of the pin at full protrusion. At the same time the stop in the tunnel at the front of the pin, should limit the depth of protrusion.

Re: Ok you smart guys !

Posted: Fri Dec 06, 2019 3:38 pm
by mdeland
The mid pin notches should not make contact with the keep screw at full protrusion. Their only function is to retain the pin in the block tunnel.

Re: Ok you smart guys !

Posted: Fri Dec 06, 2019 4:03 pm
by mdeland
I am curious as to why the need of a convertible pin if the action is not a switch barrel design? Where there some common, identical small cartridges used I'm unaware of , with the differing priming configuration, one rimfire and the other centerfire?

Re: Ok you smart guys !

Posted: Fri Dec 06, 2019 8:03 pm
by John Bly
Yes, Mike there were identical rimfire and centerfire cartridges in 32 and 38 caliber. You simply switched the firing pin to suit whichever you could obtain. You didn't even have to take the rifle apart to change the firing pin over. The 22 rimfire used a different firing pin that was thinner and only fit into the right hand breech block.