GunLab (KnownHost) » firing pins

Weekend update for 5-18-15

Chuck — Mon, 18 May 2015 08:00:51 +0000

Well it started raining on Friday and continue through Saturday morning. With everything being so muddy it was time for another game plan. I spent the first few hours doing solid works and taking pictures. Then it was out to the wood shop and spend some time with the cnc router. It was noon before we got the problems sorted out with the router, a post for tomorrow. By this time it had started to dry out and out I went for some fun in the fab shop. By the end of the day the cherry picker was back up and running.

Then both Star pistols had new firing pins and had been test fired and the third star was found to use a different size firing pin. Started working on getting the Model 1930 pistols back together, but did not finish that project, I will complete it next weekend. Sunday it was time to have fun pouring more concrete and the slab for the A/C unit was completed. But first the pad had to be prepped and the rest of the rebar set.

Then 9 80# bags later this was the finished result.

Went to the fab shop next. I needed to set up a place for my metal casting furnaces.

So more footers were dug.

Enough fun and I am done for the day.

Gun Lab update

Chuck — Wed, 13 May 2015 08:00:50 +0000

Not a big post for today, just an update on the projects we are working on.

First and most important is the VG1-5 project. I received a call this afternoon late that the firing pins can be picked up from the heat treating firm. With this last piece we can send the second rifle to the ATFE for final testing. The second item on the VG project is that all the receiver flats are in the spot welding room and as soon as we modify the spot welders they will be on the line to finish. That will be this week.

The drawings for the MP-44 trunnions are solid modeled and material is ordered so we can finish that project.

The Japanese type 96 and 99 magazines have taken a step back. The first two stamping dies did not work as planed and we needed to send the magazines back. They are still on the drawing board as I need them for my own guns.

The AR-16 is still being solid modeled. We are getting closer but still more time is needed to finish this project. I only work on it when I have spare time and we know how that goes.

A member of our family here at Gun Lab located me an isolation transformer and with that I hope to get the wire edm powered up.

We have been doing a reverse engineering project on a German WW2 machine gun which is coming along nicely and I hope to have drawings in the near future and a solid model shortly after that. This project has been a real ball buster, but with the use of the schools cmm we are getting close now.

I am currently work on a few write ups for the site. Part 2 of the Winchester self loaders should be dome this week, a friend , O.H., is sending me some interesting photo’s and scan’s on a few weapons to post and the third installment on the Bushmaster pistol is in final editing.

This should answer all the questions that have shown up in my in basket. If there are any other question please feel free to drop me a line.

I do need help with a project though. I need manuals for the wire EDM. I am concerned that the batteries have died in the controller and I am going to have to reset the parameters. This machine came with no manuals at all. Here are a few pictures of the panels and model numbers.

Xerox copies are fine. I just need to learn about the parameters and set up of this machine. Thanks everyone for helping.

With nothing else going on I am going to hit the rack, tomorrow is another fun filled day for me.

Making the 1930 Sauer firing pins

Chuck — Wed, 29 Apr 2015 13:39:24 +0000

I went to do a little shooting on a few weapons in my collection that I have never fired only to find out that the firing pins were broken. In this case the pistol that I had taken out was a Sauer model 1930 32acp pistol. For some odd reason I happen to have three of these cute little pistols and two of them had broken firing pins. Now it was off to the computer to design up a new firing pin. Getting into this project it was determined that with three of the same pistols that there were 2 different sizes of firing pins. This is a video of the making of the firing pins.

Here is a picture of the firing pin prior to milling it.

This is a solid works look of the part.

The firing pin after completion in the milling machine.

Sunday answer 4-12-15

Chuck — Sun, 19 Apr 2015 15:32:45 +0000

Sorry for the late answer to this Saturday what is it.

It is the brreechblock from a Sauer & Sohn model 1930 pistol. This is a copy from NRA firearms assembly 2, A book you should have in your library, showing the components of the pistol. It is part number 7.

This picture shows the pistol down to it’s basic field stripping.

This shows how the breechblock fits into the slide

To assembly the pistol the slide goes over the main spring and barrel, then the breechblock is slide in from the back and the slide cap is screwed on.

A couple of views of the assembled pistol

This whole project started because I just received a second pistol but the firing pin was missing. Having a shop and a second pistol I decided to make a new firing pin. Same model pistol with only a few hundred difference in serial number range. However the firing pin from my first pistol is to large for the second pistol. In fact there a number of parts that will not interchange between the pistols. Still the firing pins turned out nice and I will change the necessary dimensions to make new ones for the second pistol.