What do you folks think about the one piece firing pin? Is it worth it? does it realy make it THAT much smoother?

While I have your attention, what do we think about Wild West triggers for 336 or 1894's??

One piece firing pin in what rifle?

AllanD

are we talking about Marlin's?

quote:

Originally posted by Rusty Marlin:
are we talking about Marlin's?

That's what I wanted to know, because the segmented firing pin is a significant portion of the marlin's safety system.

AllanD

well lets assume, right wrong or indiferent that he is.

The one piece firing pin for the Marlins is a gimick designed to separate you from 30 bucks. It was developed with the premis of faster lock time and and a smoother action because the bolt lug doesn't have to push the rear pin up into alignment; the cowboy shooting market jumped on it. It also defeats a saftey device that marlin put in the actions way back in 1893 because there was a problem that needed a 2 peice pin to be corrected. As a cource of businiess I will not install them and I won't ship your gun back to you with one in it.
Injury Lawyers suck don't they.

I can run my 1894 at 4 rounds per second and hit all my targets, so the lock time argument is busted as far as I'm conserned. There may be some improvment to lock time, but not in practical application.
As for smoothing the feel of the action, Yes it does this on guns where the clearance notch in the locking lug is cut too shallow and causes the rear firing pin to bind on the bolt body. This binding will also cause long lock time and misfires with lightend main springs. The cure for this is to fit the firing pin clearance slot properly.

I have done a couple of hundred Marlin 1894s for the cowboy market. Fitting the bolt lug to the firing pin is standard. When done right you can't feel the diferance.

Wild West triggers are a very nicly made unit, precision made and high quality. I have installed several of them for clients that spent the money on them before calling me. All the units I have put in were not "drop in" though and required carful stoning of the sides to get them to fit in the floor plate. The trigger pull is greatly improved over stock, but still not as good as my standard trigger job using the factory parts.
They are designed for the DIY market and they are a great unit, just not custom tuned.

Sorry guys...what is obvious to one...

Yes, I was talking about a pre-safety 1894 in 357 Mag. I think I have been sucked into the CAS shoot bubble by a friend.

Rusty,

Your comments are pretty much what I thought. That's why I asked. I'm having loading gate problems and I'm going to do a tear-down and polish those things that should make things move easier and see how it works. It's funny (not really) that the gun will feed 158 gr .357 Mags. but not 150 gr SWC .38 Spl. The trigger is crisp, but breaks at 7 lbs.

I'm very impressed with 4 rounds per second out of a lever gun.... I can't do that with my M4gery on a good day!! I guess I need a lot of practice!!

I may need to let the gun visit you for awhile.

The older Marlins that are marked .357 and .44mag have carriers that are timed for the longer magnum cartridges. Have no fear though, these carriers can be re-timed to feed pretty much whatever your heart desires. .38 wadcutters are tough to make feed smooth, so lets not go that extream.

The stock Marlin trigger parts are a joy to work with, I have set triggers as low as 18oz for some top shooters (mine is 22 oz) but by and large most shooters want 2 3/4 -3 pounds to start out.

If you want me to go through it for you just send a PM and we can discuss the particulars.
Rusty

I think I know more about guns than computers...how do you PM?

how to do it is easy: just click on the person's name you want to send one to and when thier profile comes up click "send private message".

Now that I've educated myself.
If you go to the top of the page just above the "thread" there are number of pick buttons.
click the "go" button and follow the cues.