Martini-Enfield Safety and Firing Issues

[Drachenblut]

I will post a picture tomorrow of the firing pin in the bolt block and outside of it. I did not know the rounds were safe to carry that way. Good to know.

[Drachenblut]

Well, here are the pictures requested, I took as many possible angles as I could to demonstrate. Opinions? Is the firing pin broken off? Anything unusual?











Drachenblut

[Patrick Chadwick]

Thanks for the photo, Drachenblut. Please, don't take it personally, but your firing pin looks horrible! Too short, asymmetrical - I think it has been fudged up at some time - it surely never came out of the arsenal like that. As I have never had to correct a Martini firing pin I am not going to speculate on how to go about it - but I am sure that DoubleD knows how to fix it.

Patrick

[Drachenblut]

Thank you anyways for the note Patrick. I'm not insulted. After all, this rifle only cost me just under a grand. Lovely to see it can't shoot. Really. Lovely. *Sigh* DoubleD I really hope you can help me out man.

[TheDoubleD]

Patrick has called this one, Yes horrible is a good word. But a simple fix and maybe even with that striker.

You will have a tough time finding another .303 striker, but one can be made from a .577/450 also. IMA sells replacement for the 577/450. British Martini-Henry Type III Striker: Unmarked - International Military Antiques

It should be a simple job for your gunsmith to turn one down to fit.

[Drachenblut]

I will need all the instructions please, that I can just take to my gunsmith and hand it over. If you could DoubleD, it is CherniakKoeck@hotmail.com for e-mail, if you could write up the instructions I would be really appreciated! I will see about getting the striker.

[TheDoubleD]

Get the striker from IMA and take to your gunsmith and have him fit.

If he can not fit it, go to Martini Related Links and look for gunsmiths... David Kaiser would be my first choice for this work.

Here are the instruction for adjusting the striker height.

MH, Block striker adjustments - Gunsmithing - Old Guns - British Militaria Forums - Message Board Yuku

[Drachenblut]

I live in Canada, he lives in IA, I do not think I can ship a gun part accross the border.

When you say "have him fit" I do not understand what that means... I would just take him the striker, and the bolt, and tell him "make this fit together please?

He would sand/shave the firing pin down in circumference?

If you could give me detailed instructions to give him, That'd be great! He's the sort who says "so what EXACTLY do you want me to do here"

[TheDoubleD]

You don't need to know what to do, the gunsmith does.

If your gunsmith has to have written instruction to figure out how to fit the part then you need to find a different smith.

He's going chuck it up in his lathe reduce the diameter of the tip so it fits your block.

As to adjusting the striker height, print out the instructions from the link I gave you above and take that to him. That he may not know how to do that unless he has done a lot of work with Martini's.

[Drachenblut]

Allright. Once the part from IMA comes in, I will take it to my gunsmith and get it installed, and the block fitted for firing pin. Hopefully it will not cost me over 200 dollars.

I'm going to be dealing with Wortner's in Chatham, if you've ever heard of them.