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Clipped Firing Pins
Encountered a clipped firing pin in an 1889 Swiss at a gun show on Saturday. I guess I can get why some people do this to some rifles but an 1889 Swiss? Rifle was in otherwise good shape, excellent bore and action. Some finish wear but otherwise fully functional.
I bought a Vetterli Italian a year ago with a clipped firing pin and haven't been able to find a replacement. Have someone who's going to try to add a tip to it but that could be a while.
Now the Vetterli I can understand a bit more. It is a carcano conversion and as such a bit sketchy.
If you are going to own and fire one of these old rifles, you should know the proper ammo for it. I've heard the arguments "I know not to use modern loads but my kid, brother, future owner, etc may not know that"
Aggravating in my humble opinion
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I had occasion to purchase a beautiful N4 Long Branch many years ago from a dealer locally. He's also a gun guy so this should never have happened...I took it to the range and set up, loaded...and squeezed off the first round. Click...wait, again. No mark on the primer. The firing pin had been cut off just where it starts to taper. Now THAT made me cranky...