Have installed a new firing pin on my rifle and it strikes the primer just off center, is this something to be concerned about?

Not really, off center pin strikes are pretty common. Did the pin you replaced strike off center? A round not perfectly centered in the chamber will exhibit off center pin strikes, pretty common in factory rifles.

Don't worry about it. As stated, not all are perfectly centered. I assume the original one was the same; after all it is the hole in the bolt face that is off center, not the firing pin.

You are welcome; they have to be way off center to cause problems and if they are that bad, well, it is hard to actually make one off center that much. Except on single shots where the breech block might raise and lower more or less depending on the linkage; I did have a Sharps repro like that and I had to make a new lever link for it.

I too wouldn't be too concerned. I wil ladd however that a weak firing pin spring that can cause inconsistent strikes is viewed as a problem by the accuracy aficionados, so an off centre hit would potentially concern them too if it were extreme. Maybe shoot it and see if your SD's look suspect and call it good if they look ok.

It is unlikely that your firing pin hole is off-center. The cause of off-center strikes is usually a chamber that is overly large. The smaller cartridge sits in the bottom of the chamber which places it slightly out of alignment with the centered firing pin. Once the cartridge case is fired in the off-center position it pretty much stays that way, so when reloaded, even if it is inserted 180 degrees from the way it was originally fired, the firing pin strike will still be off-center a bit.

Hard for a smaller cartridge to sit at the bottom of a chamber when the extractor is pushing it to the left. There is more than one reason for this happening; none of which matter in a hunting rifle.

quote:

Originally posted by dpcd:
Hard for a smaller cartridge to sit at the bottom of a chamber when the extractor is pushing it to the left. There is more than one reason for this happening; none of which matter in a hunting rifle.

True, but the chamber must be somewhat larger than the cartridge for it to be out-of-center, whether it is pushed to one side by the extractor or sits on the bottom of the chamber due to gravity in a rifle where there is no extractor pressure.

Again, most firing pins are pretty well center-of-chamber, but the chamber is large enough that the cartridge head does not center in the chamber thus creating a slightly off-center strike.

As to whether it "matters" in a hunting rifle, that would depend on whether the oversized chamber effects accuracy. If the chamber is large enough that the cartridge sits in significant misalignment with the bore, then accuracy certainly won't be enhanced (though accuracy may be sufficient for a given task). But in terms of ignition, no, a slightly off-center primer strike will not compromise the ignition (and therefore performance) of a round.