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1911 titanium firing pins failure

kuhlewulf
I have a custom 1911 I built that I carry and shoot my own handloads through. I generally load as hot as I can and shoot 900-1000fps through a machined stainless barrel. My problem is that the hammer end of my firing pin has mushroomed and locks up inside the pin stop. Any ideas why? Is this common? would I be better of with a steel pin? I know I hammer my 1911 hard, but everything was built tough and all the rest of it holds up and works perfect. Any thoughs would be appreciated.

Whats next? A ban on automatic transmissions?
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Comments

5 comments

Date Votes
  • R-C-NO
    Is this the only pin that has done this? About how may rounds with this pin? Does the hammer show any marks? Steel hammer ans ti pin the hammer should be marked.sping for hammer to hard? Pin to long on back side?
    these are only some of the probs i can see other than pressure probs from "as hot as you can" loads.
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  • p3skyking
    Personally, I think the superduper add on junk is just that. The pistol made it just fine through WWI, WWII, Korea, and Vietnam without titanium. Steel is as strong as steel.

    ...honor is important only when dealng with honorable men.
    You asked if I have reverence? I have reverence for truth, but I do not know what truth is. I suspect there are many truths, and therefore, I suspect all who claim to have THE truth. L'Amour
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  • jsergovic
    The pin should be moving through inertia. If the spring was giving extra resistance countered by a heavier mainspring, perhaps it would mushroom. It might more likely mushroom if it was machined too wide in diameter, but then you would be experiencing misfires. A lot of them.

    If the cartridge casing was consistantly a hair too long and the primers extra hard...

    My only experience with titanium firing pins was one on which the tip chipped when almost new.

    california_bf_lg_wht.gif
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  • Supreme One
    Hello, Wilson Combat Bullet Proof firing pin. The only one you need.

    Michael

    Paranoid keeps you alive, worry just gives you stomach problems.
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    If "con" is the opposite of "pro," then what is the opposite of progress?
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  • 5randall45
    Titanium does not deal with impact very well. If you carry this pistol for anything, stay with steel. The only thing a titanium firing pin will do is decrease the lock time of the pistol. However, the only people who benefit from the amount of time saved are the top 1% of the action shooting crowd, IDPA,IPSC,Steel Challenge,etc., where a 100th of a second can mean the difference between 1st and 2nd.
    Titanium firing pins don't have any place in a pistol used for self defence, that gets shot more than a little bit or is subjected to heavy loads on a regular basis.

    Hope this is useful to you,
    Mike

    Big and slow is better than small and fast.
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