Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Gunsmithing 1891 Mauser protruding firing pin

Bought a nicely sporterized 1891 Argentine Mauser from a coworker. It was left to him by his father; no history available. The Argy is not my first Mauser, but it's my first "cock on close" Mauser. I loaded some cast bullet plinking loads over Unique just to start off easy. I tested the first completed round for chamber fit, and when I ejected it, there was a noticeable dimple in the primer (which was more than a little disconcerting since I was testing in my basement!). I visually examined the face of the uncocked bolt, and sure enough, I could see and feel the end of the firing pin. Does the firing pin normally protrude from the face of an uncocked bolt? What should I do to test or alleviate this concern, which doesn't seem normal to me? Thanks for your thoughts.

The firing pin protrudes on all bolts when they're uncocked- - - -no matter when the firing pin spring gets compressed. The round wouldn't fire otherwise. If you want to check chamber fit safely, remove the firing pin first.
Jerry

Thanks for that. I just don’t quite understand how that primer got dimpled!

If one was to hold the trigger back while closing the action, the sear will not grab the firing pin. A neighbor once told his kid that method was a safe way to ride around in his rig with a round chambered. Put a round through the floor or his Suburban. Most of the damage was to the passenger's ears.

That's a good example of [bleep] that can go wrong. Let's say that I did that or something similarly stupid for my first ever chambered round in my Argy....and luckily got away with it! Thanks for the lesson. I won't repeat the mistake.

My bench primer put a slight dimple on the primers.

It id on the seating tool.

Makes no difference primers still go bang.

+100

Anyone stupid enough to ride around with the muzzle in the floorboard dirt should not be allowed to reproduce...

I can verify from embarrassing experience that my 91 Argentine will catch just enough of the cocking piece when closing the bolt with the trigger depressed to fire a round. Fortunately, all I did was put a .311" diameter hole in my front yard the one and only time I tried that!
Jerry

I’ve seen that often enough to believe it is common practice.

Not calling it uncommon... calling it stupid. Just tried to remove some shotgun choke tubes the other day and the barrel has rolled enough over the end of the tube to make removal impossible without trimming or rolling back the burr.

Happens here too. A cousin who's dad taught him to do that was having trouble with his deer rifle. Fixed that and checked the crown while going over the rifle. Ye gads! Managed to get the divots out while giving the rifle a recessed crown. Might help for the future but old habits die hard. Anyway he thought I was a wiz for improving accuracy so much.

Driving around with a loaded gun muzzle down in the passenger side foot well is a common practice in Iowa. There are lots of used pickups with repaired holes in the passenger side foot well or in the transmission hump.

My floorboard is clean NO dirt.. so why is your floorboard so dirty?

"A gun is ALWAYS loaded!" Someone gifted me a German made Weatherby 7MM mag. with a stock broken in two at the wrist. I repaired and reinforced it, and scavenged up a set of loading dies and some new brass. I checked the first round I loaded for cycling, and as I started to lift the bolt handle and eject the cartridge the gun fired and ventilated the roof of my gun shop, destroying a fluorescent light fixture on the way out. It tuned out that the die cast trigger housing was warped, and simply moving the bolt handle a fraction of an inch with a cartridge chambered would drop the firing pin. The rifle has been fixed for several years, but the hole in the ceiling is still there to remind me not to take anything firearm-related for granted!
Jerry

You must hunt alone. My hunting partners seem to track dirt on the passenger side of the floorboards.

Yes. Given the crown is my last contact with a fired slug, I'd never risk dinging it up by any means. Still though, I frequently see muzzles resting on floor boards.