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Firing pin crud!!!!
- Thread starter Timothy
- Start date
Firing pin bore. With slide removed from frame look at the back of it. Push end of firing pin in with small punch and slide retainer plate out of channel(to bottom of slide). Careful, firing pin may procede to poke you in the eye at this point. Remove firing pin and spring. On the right side of the back of the slide there is a circle, that's the back of the extractor. Carefully hook a small screwdriver in the retainer plate groove of the extractor and pull it to the rear and out. Clean both of these bores. I prefer Q-tips and solvent of choice, occasionally use a scribe in the extractor bore.
The firing pin area doesn't get too dirty, the extractor is a crud magnet, and if you let it build up you will eventually have extractor related feed problems. Clean the extractor itself, paying particular attn to the fwd face of the claw which in most guns is polished and should be shiny. Then the claw groove where the case rim rests, much crud here. Get all crud off the thing.
Get reasonably dry too when done. I made a bone-headed move recently while giving one of mine a CLP bath. When I unchambered my carry ammo that had been in there for about two weeks, the case head was covered with oil that had penetrated into the firing pin bore and not been wiped off. Primers don't like oil. I test fired that one today and the round fired, but felt more like a normal load than the killer +p it was.
NOTE: Dis-assembly given was for 1911A1 style guns which in Colt terms translates to pre-Series80, which means no silly firing pin safety. None of my guns have one. If yours does seek other help here, I don't know the particulars on that one. Also when you say "1911" its kinda like going to Subway and saying I want a Sandwich. 1911's range from sublime to sub-standard, some stuff JMB probably wouldn't use for a doorstop. Mentioning your Mfg. and model can help figure some problems out.
Also, the true believers that gather here: http://www.1911forum.com/ will always help.
The firing pin area doesn't get too dirty, the extractor is a crud magnet, and if you let it build up you will eventually have extractor related feed problems. Clean the extractor itself, paying particular attn to the fwd face of the claw which in most guns is polished and should be shiny. Then the claw groove where the case rim rests, much crud here. Get all crud off the thing.
Get reasonably dry too when done. I made a bone-headed move recently while giving one of mine a CLP bath. When I unchambered my carry ammo that had been in there for about two weeks, the case head was covered with oil that had penetrated into the firing pin bore and not been wiped off. Primers don't like oil. I test fired that one today and the round fired, but felt more like a normal load than the killer +p it was.
NOTE: Dis-assembly given was for 1911A1 style guns which in Colt terms translates to pre-Series80, which means no silly firing pin safety. None of my guns have one. If yours does seek other help here, I don't know the particulars on that one. Also when you say "1911" its kinda like going to Subway and saying I want a Sandwich. 1911's range from sublime to sub-standard, some stuff JMB probably wouldn't use for a doorstop. Mentioning your Mfg. and model can help figure some problems out.
Also, the true believers that gather here: http://www.1911forum.com/ will always help.
40ozflatfoot
New member
The firing pin and its whatchamacallit, aka the firing pin stop, usually don't need cleaning very often. Some folks, like LennyJoe like to clean the FP channel, FP stop, FP and spring after every session, and that's fine. Individual preference.
I field strip my 1911s for cleaning, but I usually don't go beyond that because the need isn't there. I do a complete teardown for cleaning and inspection 2-4 times a year under routine use. I'll clean out the FP and extractor areas on the average of once every 3 or 4 sessions otherwise, or as needed, if I'm experimenting with load variations.
I would advise a c lose watch on the crud buildup in the areas of concern, along with conditions that produced it, and plan your cleaning/maintenance program from that.
I field strip my 1911s for cleaning, but I usually don't go beyond that because the need isn't there. I do a complete teardown for cleaning and inspection 2-4 times a year under routine use. I'll clean out the FP and extractor areas on the average of once every 3 or 4 sessions otherwise, or as needed, if I'm experimenting with load variations.
I would advise a c lose watch on the crud buildup in the areas of concern, along with conditions that produced it, and plan your cleaning/maintenance program from that.
You do need to pull the firing pin and blast out the crud on a Colt Govt Model every thousand rounds or so. You could grow potatoes. I recommend solvent and compressed air or a product like gunscrubber. There collects enough unburned powder and other crud in that narrow channel to jam up the pin, usually sticking out of the breechface. Luckily JMB foresaw this and the next ctg will not load. The space is too short.