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Regarding WW2 cocking pieces, I had one of the slab sided cocking pieces in my old Maltby, it failed on the range one day (sheared off) while a friend was using it, allowing the f pin to rest fully forward.
Luckily this was noticed before the bolt was closed...
Have no fear Clarkie. You couldn't exert enough forward pressure on the bolt to fire the weapon off in that example. It is another mechanical safety called diminished force of blow
Good to know Peter, still wouldn't want to put it to the test though!
I have come across more than one cocking pieces, particularly long Lee Enfields, that have had the half cock notch ground and finished to the same shape as that of the bent on the nose.
This allegedly was done on some target rifles as part of a 'trigger job', the half cock bent giving a faster lock time.
Dogs dinner, I would call it! It is repairable in that I usually end up re-cutting the half cock safety notch to make the thing functional again.
So many times if something is amiss with the half cock, it is because of Bubba efforts to 'improve' something.
A broken off cocking piece nub in the bolt's cam track can defeat the half cock too and allow the bolt to be popped open.
As far as safety goes, the half cock, cocking piece and safety catch must be 100%.