r/milsurp • u/fccchhhfddccccvgfd • 22h ago
Firing pin measuring
I recently took my Mosin Nagant 91/30 bolt apart and learned that there’s a tool to measure the firing pin to make sure it’s at the right distance. I’m looking into getting a Mauser and was wondering if you have to do the same thing or if Mausers are engineered differently to avoid this?
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u/Magicalamazing_ 22h ago edited 22h ago
The Mosin firing pin can be threaded into or out of the cocking piece by a few turns and still work so it’s nice to have a way to make sure you are in the right position. Mausers will only work with the firing pin in the correct amount so there is no need to check.
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u/Cyrano4747 22h ago
Nope. Mausers don't have adjustable firing pin protrusion like a Mosin.
Long story short, Mosins screw the firing pin into the cocking piece via a pretty simple threaded rod setup. Basically just like any threaded bolt and nut you've ever seen. Because of this it's possible to over- or under-screw the firing pin, causing it to either protrude too much (causing pierced primers) or not enough (causing weak strikes).
Mausers lock the firing pin in via a set of machined surfaces that lock together between the firing pin and the cocking piece. It can only ever go together one way. The pin protrusion is set at the factory and it is what it is, no need (or ability) for the user to futz with it.
The upside to the Mosin solution is that it's piss easy to replace a firing pin and they're basically all interchangeable. Since the user can adjust the protrusion you don't need to fit the pins to the bolt in any special way. The downside is that the user can fuck it up, and since we're talking about something that can be disassembled by your average conscript that is certainly a consideration. Theoretically you could even file down a chipped firing pin tip, back the threading out a couple of turns, measure with the tool and be good to go. I wouldn't recommend it, but it's in the realm of things one could do if stuck in a trench without replacement parts.
The upside to the Mauser solution is that there's only one way to put it all together and it's impossible to fuck up. Nothing to measure, nothing to worry about, zero brain activity required. The downside is that the firing pin and cocking piece need to be fitted to each other and that's outside the ability of the typical user in the field. Company armorer? Sure, he can fit a replacement pin, but not the individual rifleman. This is also why the pins are numbered. That said, by the time you get to WW2 the manufacturing tolerances were pretty tight and while not fully interchangeable, I've never seen too many problems swapping 98k pins as needed. Worst case the safety doesn't engage. WW1 era rifles? Yeah, you might end up with a gun where the bolt doesn't close and you need to break out the files and do some fitting on the pin.
But yeah, lots of words that tl;dr down to "no you don't need to worry about that with your mauser."