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August 16, 2015
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Gents,
Curious if anyone has ever run across this before? Purchased a 1894 Short Rifle at a local gun store this past weekend. She was pretty rough looking and extremely dirty. I did a full disassembly to get rid of the hardened grease and dirt and to do a thorough inspection. Once I got the bolt out, I noticed the firing pin was stuck inside the bolt. I had to use a small punch to push it out through the small hole in the bolt face. I also decided to remove the ejector so I could clean underneath and once I did, I found this damage to the bolt. Didn’t find any metal inside the gun, so this one has me a bit curious.
Once I got the firing pin out, I noticed the damage to the beveled end, apparently from the trigger striking it really hard. The end of the firing pin tip was also bent slightly, so that explains why it was stuck. The only thing I can think of is that the dirt and grease caused the firing pin to bind inside the bolt. Still, it would have taken a lot of force to cause damage like this. I supposed the other possibility is that the bolt was defective from the factory, but I would have thought their quality control would have caught it, especially when the bolt was assembled.
Thoughts?
Chris
November 7, 2015
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I suspect you are looking at the result of a case failure, I would take a close look at the chamber and barrel. Obstructed barrel may also have been involved. Not much telling where the displaced metal went but I’m glad I wasn’t shooting it at the time.
Mike
August 16, 2015
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Thanks Mike,
After some additional thought, I suspect you may be right. I’ve still got to clean the chamber and bore and will inspect both of them very closely as I always do with these old guns. I don’t see anything obvious yet, but you never know until you inspect things closely.
I’ve experienced a case rupture due to bad headspace, while qualifying on an M4 when I was on active duty. It wasn’t fun and resulted in a trip to the ER. Thank goodness I had safety glasses on at the time. Even with the safety glasses on I ended up with junk in both eyes. Could have been much worse! Because of this experience, I always take this stuff very seriously. You can’t be too careful if you want to shoot these old guns, especially since you never know what someone might have done to them in the past.
Chris
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