[Stuffy 25th IA]

I bought a nice used PPS 43C from a board member here, cleaned it up, checked it over. No problems found at that time.
Took it to the range today to check it out, had almost 30 light primer strikes, fail to fire. Those that did go off, the primer looks like it is about to blow out. Any ideas as to what I should do? Only had one type ammo, with me, it was Romanian.

 

[pgaplayerless]

romanian x25 has fairly hard primers.

 

[turbodan]

Looks like the firing pin may not be coming up flush with the bolt face. I'd remove the bolt and see if its moving freely all the way forward.

 

[Stuffy 25th IA]

Removed the firing pin, gave it a good cleaning, made sure it moves free. To me, it seems as thou it is to short, when the rear of the pin is flush with the bolt, it doesn't stick out the bolt face any. I have a few rounds of S&B, I will give them a try. Is the polish ammo any better?

 

[turbodan]

Thats your problem right there. Not really an easy fix unfortunately. Can you post some pics of the firing pin? You may have to do some welding depending on the type of firing pin you've got.

 

[richarduk]

this thread should help you out

http://forums.gunboards.com/showthr...ew-extractor-(UPDATE-Repacement-digests-all-)

regrds

Richard

 

[Stuffy 25th IA]

Has anyone here tried using an AR-15 firing pin? I have read somewhere that this can be done, but they don't say what has be be done to the pin to make it work. I've got over 2500 rds of Romanian that needs to be run run this thing....

 

[Stuffy 25th IA]

I'll try to get a couple of pictures today, I can remove the rear firing pin, but the front pin doesn't want to slide thru the bolt body, after removing the shell extractor.

 

[budliteguy]

That could be the problem, They could be some machine burrs in the drilled through part of the bolt.or the hole is not drilled exactly straight and the pin is in a bind. Is this an early model PPS or the newer production. The 1st ones that came out had trouble with broken firing pins and a binding front pin would cause that. In its original configuration the bolt does not have a firing pin, but just a solid pin machined into the bolt face. These were never designed for semi-auto guns. The firing pin problem was fixed "supposedly " on the newer guns. I have one and have had no problems with it and it is the one with the fixed pin. Cannot lay my hands on it right now to give any information about it The only ammo I have shot through mine is some old Norinco I had. I bought some "New" imported Bulgarian Surplus but have not tried it. Hope someone could give some feedback on it, How good it is working out in them.

 

[Stuffy 25th IA]

The front pin will drop back into the rear part of the bolt, but it will not come on out, might be it is egg-shaped, or has a burr on it.
This is the updated model, PPS 43C. Took a picture of the bolt with it standing on end, so the firing pin would be pushed thru the bolt to fire the weapon.
Having never seen one of these before, my guess is, the firing pin is to short. Does anybody have spare parts for these for sale?

 

[DK PHILLIPS]

head space?....
on light strikes that go off, primers backing out trying to hit up against bolt face? just my turn on it...
not an expert...but?

 

[Nirvana]

Blowback operated guns don't have headspace. I'm guessing hard primers have a lot to do with this, or a sticky firing pin. Call up royal tiger, they have spare firing pins.

Its funny, radom made these guns to shoot surplus military ammo made with hard primers. When the guns shipped over here, people tried shooting them with commercial stuff, and found out that the soft primers and heavy firing pins meant the guns would slam fire, to the point of burst firing. Well, they modified the guns to use light two piece firing pins, and it turns out people aren't using commercial ammo. So yea, soft strikes..... irony...

 

[AndGunsForAll]

Check out my post on the semi auto forum, IO did right by me, worse come to worse you might have to purchase a new firing pin set if it aint in warranty, my replacement gun still has a two piece firing pin. I had a freak accident where the extractor assembly flew off almost brand new, but the replacment gun fired all ammo instead of denting the primers, after I informed IO, by the way, especially that the bogus instruction for the supposed improved firing pin design was wrong and didn't pertain to the firearms, and they are a wonderful company and boards sponsor. Interesting, another posters says another company sells a firing pin, ....one piece?" A great pistol design to begin with, unsure what knuckleknobs were complaining when shooting commercial primers mucking up everything for the other 99% of us, some people never learn about semi automatics/commercial primers.
Well, when IO sent me my replacement, I ran to the box and opened it up, was like being a kid and christmas, been like years since I had that feeling, casue they gave me a few things I didn't have like a sling and a few other things.

 

[Stuffy 25th IA]

I have orderd a couple of AR-15 firing pins, they are cheap to buy. Will try to modyfie one of them to use. In the mean time, I have put a small spacer between the firing pins to take up the space, will be trying it out later this week.

 

[AndGunsForAll]

I have orderd a couple of AR-15 firing pins, they are cheap to buy. Will try to modyfie one of them to use. In the mean time, I have put a small spacer between the firing pins to take up the space, will be trying it out later this week.

By the way, the look of those primers is normal for these guns, its the way they're made into semi auto that allows the brass to form into the massive firing pin hole, more with those without enough firing pin protrusion. Also, from what I was seeing, you can't just put in a spacer cause the rear firing pins' retaining groove would have to be cut more forward, cause you see, its like the front firing pin is "too short". I was able to see more inside once my first one's extractor assembly proved to be faulty and flew off(it didn't look right out of the box), and it looked like the front firing pin was restricted from too much forward travel, likely would have been fine if they hadn't had the tip ground down. The whole problem is up front, or maybe just a phone call away, if I were you, I'd call and ask if your pistol is still in warranty, or if they have for sure any "unmodified" polish pins.
I really worry about what happens if my firing pins break, ha, good gosh, what to do then, in a couple or more years or more or if I burn through all my hard primered surplus ammo finally, guess I better not "wear it out", or get me one of those home min lathes for projects just like this whole mess.

 

[Stuffy 25th IA]

Went to the range after work yesterday, took my PPS 43 that I had redone the firing pin on. Still doesn't like the Romanian ammo, but it sure loves the S&B... Dang thing, but I'm not done messing with it yet.

 

[HillgerRomak84]

Are these things C&R or do they have to go through an 01 FFL?

 

[hershmeister]

Are these things C&R or do they have to go through an 01 FFL?

They're not c&r as they are new manufacture

 

[Stuffy 25th IA]

Another update, made a new firing pin for the PPS 43, this time I hardened it using Kasnite compound, then I tempered it. Took ,it to the range after work and tryed it out. It worked great, put over 100 rounds of the Romanian thru it, with no troubles at all. Now to see how long it last's.

 

[AndGunsForAll]

Another update, made a new firing pin for the PPS 43, this time I hardened it using Kasnite compound, then I tempered it. Took ,it to the range after work and tryed it out. It worked great, put over 100 rounds of the Romanian thru it, with no troubles at all. Now to see how long it last's.

Wow, that's great.