Why the firing pin change on S&W?

[Tamara]

Frame-mounted pins belong on "Brand X" revolvers, like Taurus, Colt, and Ruger...

 

[Guy B. Meredith]

Cheapo,

The force necessary depends on the primer. ICORE competitors use Federal primers exclusively for their revolvers with light mainsprings. On the other hand I shot a light springed M66 recently and had full ignition with the new surface WSP which surprised the owner.

Check out the following threads at the ICORE site for some indirect information. Haven't done a search here, but did remember Paul Hara, owner of above M66, writing a couple of threads on the ICORE board.

http://talk.shooters.com/room_34/901.cfm
http://talk.shooters.com/room_34/940.cfm
http://talk.shooters.com/room_34/889.cfm

 

[VictorLouis]

General Tso, yes you can

You just have to make sure the frame is designed for that style of part.

Frame-mounted pins belong on "Brand X" revolvers

Tamara, how would I shoot my S&W .22s without them?

 

[skeeter]

Watson was the only one who answered the post question. MIM parts made it a requirement to use a broad, flat hammer. Puting a pin in a MIM part of the size of the hammer would make it too weak both because of the thin walls and the holes for rivet. SW freely admits MIM parts are weaker to about 98% of the forged parts. That is assuming no voids or stress cracks which are very unlikely for forged parts. A little less reliability for the customer and a lot more profit for SW.

 

[jmlv]

BUT ONLY IF YOU BUY A NEW S&W

If you stick with the older guns you wont have this "problem"

 

[MR.G]

Does anyone make a reduced tension firing pin spring for the S&w ?
I have used the reduced tension hammer springs in the S&W frame mounted firing pin guns with no problem, but would feel better if I could also reduce the tension on the pin.

 

[VictorLouis]

Jim said,

It would be difficult or impossible to make a mold with the narrow slot and perpendicular pinhole for the hammer nose firing pin.

Skeeter said,

MIM parts made it a requirement to use a broad, flat hammer. Puting a pin in a MIM part of the size of the hammer would make it too weak both because of the thin walls and the holes for rivet.

Actually, I don't think that's the case. That's exactly how the rear of the MIM trigger is molded, complete with the pin holes for the hand pivot pin to pass through.

Mr. Herb Belin of S&W said,

Special attention was given to their endurance when used in our very light Magnum J frames such as the early prototype 340 & 360 Sc's. None of our revolvers work their components harder than these small magnum revolvers. Throughout this testing MIM held strong and finally we determined that this change judged on the basis of durability and feel was a good one.

and

Currently S&W is paying about $1.20/Lb for stainless steel barstock. Raw MIM stainless steel injectable material costs $10.00/Lb.

It's rather obvious that the cost savings lies elsewhere, such as machining labor, and fitting.

Keep in mind that flat-faced hammers and frame-mounted firing-pins have existed for decades in S&W's .22LR revolvers.

 

[Jim Watson]

I have doubts, but I can be educated. I would sure like to see the mold used to make a MIM part with intersecting holes and slots. In the meantime I will continue to assume they drill the REQUIRED holes and engineer out the unnecessary ones, like for hammer noses.

Comparison of the price of bar stock, which can leave 70%-90% of the steel as shavings on the floor with molding mix which has very little waste doesn't mean much. I figure many of those strange little flutes and clearances are to save a little molding mix. And I bet their molds' connections are figured with a very sharp pencil... uh, computer... to save more goo.

Nothing wrong with a frame-mounted firing pin as in K22, Jet, Python, Ruger, etc., etc., but no reason for them to try to make an economic change for them sound like a positive favor to me, either.