Firing pin for J. Stevens Arms single shot

T

Tido4570

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I have a J. Stevens Arms 12 gauge break-open single shot that the firing pin is broke on. There is no model number on it. On the left side of the reciever it says "Stevens The Fully Guaranteed Single Gun". I have ordered 5 different firing pins from gun-parts corp with no success. I thought if I finally called them with dimensions of the pin they could find it that way but, no they need a model. The only marking on it that resembles a serial number is 766HA which is located on the barrel cradle of the reciever. Can anyone help me out on a model of this or maybe have a firing pin with dimensions of 6.3mm in diameter of the main body x 18.3mm in total length, with the cut-out on the main body.
Thanks
 
I could be wrong but !!!

Back during my high school days, most of us kids, started out with single shot shotguns. One thing they all had in common, was what happened to the firing pin when dry fired. You would literally hear the end of the pin roll out the barrel. Now, if yours is like ours use to be, you had a retaining screw on top that fit into a flat, on the main body of the firing pin. Then you stepped down at a radius where you have the actual pin.

OKAY
Back then you would just go to your local GS and he had a drawer full of these and charged you about three bucks for one. I suspect most smiths still have a bunch on hand so just take whats left of yours and give them a try. Forget about a model number as it may not work on these old shotguns. :mad:

OPTION;
Our wild bunch was not into trendy stuff and tried to save all our buck for shells that we could hunt with on Saturday. We didn't even like paying the three buck for pins so I started making then out of screw-driver shanks. Mostly drill press and file work. We got pretty good at it as well. My dad didn't even miss his screw-driver. .... :)

Good luck and;
Be Safe !!!
 
Let's be careful about what we make firing pins out of. Saw a deal some years ago where the guy made one from a common nail. It was too long, punctured the primer, blew the FP out and "nailed" the guy dead center in his forhead. DRT. Ya'll be careful, ya hear! GW
 
I would say that the problem with that firing pin was not that it was made from a nail but that it was made by someone who had no idea what he was doing.

Actually, a nail is not a bad replacement for a gun that will be fired only a few times. Of course, the nail is only the base part; it still has to be properly shaped and fitted. The better approach is to make the firing pin out of drill rod. Then you can harden it or not, depending, again, on the expected use.

But using the best quality material is no guarantee against ignorance and stupidity (or an extra hole in the head).

Jim
 
Common sense is not so common !!

Let's be careful about what we make firing pins out of.
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You are right, GW and suggest, you not try this at home. I did list it as an option and if an adult or anyone isn't comfortable trying it, then by all means, don't. I was 14yrs. old at the time and pretty handy. ..... ;)

Be Safe !!!
 
Saw a deal some years ago where the guy made one from a common nail. It was too long, punctured the primer, blew the FP out and "nailed" the guy dead center in his forhead.
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How did the 'firing pin nail" get out of the gun? Did the pierced primer blow the gun apart?

Sounds like BS to me, only firing pins I've ever seen leave a gun in over 50 years of intense shooting is the firing pin on a 1911 if the firing pin stop falls out for some reason.
 
If you have the original/correct FP, with just the tip broken, there's two alternatives:

1) Repair- Grind the front end flat/square, center drill the now flat front face with small sacrificial drill bit which will have it's shank either epoxied or soldered in it's own hole, checked & altered/filed for proper shape/protrusion.

2) Make a replacement - Match a sacrificial drill bit (or some drill rod) to the FP for the same diameter, cut it 1/4" longer than needed and grind out the retaining flat before reducing the diameter of the nose, leaving the reduced diameter overly long for later shape/protrusion checking/altering, as above.

If you're not confident in your ability to do either of the above, anyone who calls himself a machinist should be able to do either step for you in under 30mins.

.
 
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In 1982 an immigrant moved into a rental and there was a Stevens 20 ga break shotgun all rusty left behind. It was illegal for him to have a firearm and I got it for free.

The firing pin was broken.
I took it apart, looked at what was left of the firing pin, and made a new one with a framing nail chucked up in a drill while I attacked it with a file.

That nail firing pin helped me and others to kill birds and varmints with that shotgun.
 
45 and Clark, nails are made out of the softest steel around. Overlength, punctured the primer, pressure blew the FP out the rear past the hammer and killed the guy. To quote Elmer "Hell, I was there!" GW
 
This is an Alex adapter.
The old guy with two old lathes in MT, I fear is dead.
The link to his web site has been dead for many years:
http://alexcartridge.com/

But it is the softest steel I have seen to make a firing pin.
It is so soft that the firing pin in the rifle will not be damaged when it hits it.
It gets a dimple in the rear.
It is magnetic, in an Aluminium carrier.

MacFarland in his gunsmthing book does not like firing pins made from nails. He was a smart old guy, but I know I have found fault in his action vise and improved on it. Anyway, he says he likes drill rod for making firing pins. When he fixes firing pins, he Silver solders them, which I guess might leave air hardening rod still hard.

I buy a lot of drill rod from Enco, they are generally the cheapest:
http://www.use-enco.com/cgi/INPDFF?PMPAGE=781&PARTPG=INLMK3&PMITEM=619-1610

I buy metal from Speddy Metals too:
http://www.speedymetals.com/search.aspx?SearchTerm=drill+rod
 

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IMO: Best material for making simple firing pins are engine pushrods. i'm partial to the pushrods from 30s-50s Chevy engines. Pushrods are harder than nails but soft enough to file or turn on a lathe.
 
Overlength, punctured the primer, pressure blew the FP out the rear past the hammer and killed the guy.
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So the pierced primer blew the firing pin out the back hard enough to re-cock the hammer and let the firing pin clear it? I've seen a LOT of pierced primers on S&W's, Colts, and Rugers with the firing pin mounted on the hammer. Never seen one move the hammer back even one notch.

To quote Elmer "Hell, I was there!" GW
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Elmer was also known to frequently "embelish" the truth when it added to the story. Since you were there, can you provide even an approximate date and location? Surely there would be some notice in a local paper of such a horrific accident.
 
I have a J. Stevens Arms 12 gauge break-open single shot that the firing pin is broke on.
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Do you have the original firing pin? I own a machine shop, it'll be simple to make a new one out of a scrap piece of tool steel (drill rod) as Clark says if you have the dimensions.

Last one I made for a Stevens was about 20 years ago. I inherited a 311 double barrel with only one barrel that worked when my father died. He used to talk about hunting with it when he was growing up back in the 1930's with the one working barrel. Turned out it needed a firing pin. I try to take it out shooting with my kids a few times a year in his memory.
 
firing pin

if you have the old pin take a pic and email it to GunParts. they will make every attempt to match it up. Ther is also JackFirst 1-605-323-9544 Fax 1-605-323-9420
 
Making a firing pin for one of those old shotguns or rifles is one of the simplest and easiest of gunsmithing jobs. But you do have to know what you are doing, no matter what material you use.

A word of advice. In many cases, the firing pins of those guns were removed or broken deliberately because a smart ancestor realized the gun was dangerous to fire and deactivated it. I have refused to replace firing pins on junker twist barrel shotguns because they would have been dangerous if fired, and been berated by "customers" who demanded I fix the old gun so they could go duck hunting using 3" Magnum shells.

Jim
 
45, I've been wrenching of guns over 40 yrs, and I've never been called a purveyor of untruths in a nicer fashion. I find that, as the old saying goes, some people learn by instruction, some learn by observation, some just have to pee on the electric fence anyway. JMHO. I'm outa here. Goat
 
Fp

How did the 'firing pin nail" get out of the gun? Did the pierced primer blow the gun apart?
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Questions that I was asking myself. I am having a hard time with the concept, that the bogus pin could make it past the hammer, that there was enough pressure bled off to cause this to happen and that the pressure could be maintained after escaping the primer hole, entering the FP hole and then expanding inside the rear of the slide, blowing out the FP stop....with a bullet going out the other end. Trouble imagining the physics of it all.
Pete
 
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