Any Tikka T1X owners had a firing pin break ? Mines not broken but I have seen posts here and on other sites where a few owners have had them break.
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Tikka T1X Broken Firing Pin Poll
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I’ve been shooting mine for well over a year now with no issues. I remeber a flurry of reports of broken firing pins when the T1x first launched…I was kind of concerned when I first got mine. It’s been a complete non-issue for me. But if it does happen, you can buy the parts from Beretta.
Mine did by dry firing it. I was adjusting the trigger. I knew better than to do it without a empty case in chamber but did it anyway. Easy fix once I got the new part. To be honest I had dry fired it many times. Now I get nervous when it drops on a empty chamber during a match.
Mine did, after 2 years and 1 month.
Probably 10,000ish rounds through it.
It broke when a friend was dry firing it and ended up peening crater in the back of the barrel.
Sent it back to Beretta NZ who repalced the firing pin and cleaned up the crater.
Probably 10,000ish rounds through it.
It broke when a friend was dry firing it and ended up peening crater in the back of the barrel.
Sent it back to Beretta NZ who repalced the firing pin and cleaned up the crater.
Imho pins only break from the accumulated stress of dry firing.
One of the very few design 'flaws' of T1x is the firing pin has over travel, and will strike the back of the barrel chamber.
Dryfire 'practice' requires using some kind of barrier to prevent contact between the hardened steel pin and the steel barrel.
At 10,000+ rounds i can also imagine enough 'empty mag' dry- fire / pin drops could start to add up as well.
Its only a negative in that the t1x is otherwise so no-nonsense, i could see it being used for decades without really having a hiccup other than that.
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Thanks for all your replies gentlemen, keep them coming. I know I always really watch about dry firing, when I do use the mag I always check when I get close to the mag being empty, I keep fired cases from my rifle for trigger work.
I have about 1500 rounds through my T1X without any problems. I do not dry fire my rim fire rifles withouta spent round in the chamber
At least 10,000 rounds. I don't dry fire intentionally. I doubt I've had a dozen accidental dry fires. I didn't know broken firing pins was a thing with the T1Xs.
I haven’t kept a log in over a year but at that point it had 3500 rounds through it.
With the shortages of good 22 ammo I haven’t shot it near as much in the last year, been playing with steel challenge pistols and bull ammo a lot more but still probably 5k total through mine. Bolt and receiver are still original and never had an issue.
I don’t dry fire it but it’s probably had the trigger pulled on an empty chamber a few dozen times accidentally.
With the shortages of good 22 ammo I haven’t shot it near as much in the last year, been playing with steel challenge pistols and bull ammo a lot more but still probably 5k total through mine. Bolt and receiver are still original and never had an issue.
I don’t dry fire it but it’s probably had the trigger pulled on an empty chamber a few dozen times accidentally.
Have about 2500 rds down mine plus lots of dryfiring (testing my flat faced trigger) and no issues.
I had probably 10,000 or better on mine with quite a bit of dry firing. I had cut down on the dry fires after hearing the problems people were having. But I dry fired It one to many times adjusting the trigger. And the end just popped off and fell thru the mag well. 4 days before a match. Luckily I found and got a new one in time to get it running. But of course now I cringe every time I drop it on a empty chamber in a match. So I think it pays not to dry fire it too much.
Mine broke around 8K rounds. Only dry fire was dropping on an empty chamber before putting away. Nope, not doing it anymore. The Canadian distributor wanted me to send the rifle to them and wait. Considering the postage would have been 40% of the cost of a new firing pin, I bought the last 1 in Canada a couple months ago.
My buddy broke his T1x's firing pin before he even got to the range iirc. To be fair, he had been drying firing a bunch. Guess he didn't see the warning in the manual. He also somehow broke his AOD bolt handle. Not sure what he's done with the rifle at this point.
I've had mine for a couple years now. Probaly 2000 rounds thru it. Firing pin still going strong.
I started tracking when my T1X mag went empty when my firing pin broke about 7K rnds in. I bought the last one in Canada.
I'm knocking on 10k on the original firing pin also, only dryfire accidently when I can't count to "10" at a match. My gun is an early one also, 4 years old I think. I got
B14r a couple months ago and have been shooting it a bunch lately.
Mike
B14r a couple months ago and have been shooting it a bunch lately.
Mike
Yep, I was the engineer who did the design/material/HT specs on that project. I've got one in my personal T1x.
Ti generally has no benefits over a properly made steel firing pin. A Ti pin with an O2 steel tip press fit into it (like the one that was available on the RFC classifieds for a while) sounds like chamber damage waiting to happen if/when the tip decides to creep forward when dry fired (intentionally or otherwise). The steel of firing pin tips fail under dry fire conditions, so expecting a press fit to stay put under the same conditions is probably overly optimistic.
Thank you for this detailed reply. Nice to have the context from an actual engineer.
I wish we could too without all the expense of going though our exporter, but such is life. We're hoping to find a Canadian shop to be a distributor to ship to in bulk, but so far we have not found any shops in Canada that are interested.
So far, we have had absolutely no issues with the O1 tool steel tips creeping out of our titanium firing pins. I have dry fired one of our titanium firing pins thousands of times with no measurable difference of the tip moving. Our tips are far less likely of breaking then any one-piece steel firing pin available as well. Some may be worried about a lighter pin having less inertia but with the design of the fairly large striker in the T1x the actually firing pin has little effect of that. One other feature of our titanium firing pin is the shape of the tip and how much it strikes the rim. If you notice in the picture the strike is within the rim of the case and doesn't smash the rim too much similar to how a lot of the BR guys prefer.
If anybody has any question about our titanium firing pin, please don't hesitate to ask.
Thanks guys
Chris Zajic
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Hi Chris,
I would just like to know how to get one of your firing pins. My firing pin broke before I even got a chance to shoot it. I was dry firing it to smooth out the action and noticed the breech face was impacted by the firing pin. When I took the action out to adjust the trigger, I noticed a cam pin dropping out of the action. I was trying to find the place where the cam pin went when I realized it was the tip of my firing pin. What a shit design. To not be able to dry fire any rifle made during the last 50 years is just nuts and huge design flaw!!! There is no reason a firing pin would ever need to travel far enough to impact the breech face under any circumstance. Had I known this, I would have never purchased the Tikka and would have gone with CZ instead.
Thanks,
Graham
I would just like to know how to get one of your firing pins. My firing pin broke before I even got a chance to shoot it. I was dry firing it to smooth out the action and noticed the breech face was impacted by the firing pin. When I took the action out to adjust the trigger, I noticed a cam pin dropping out of the action. I was trying to find the place where the cam pin went when I realized it was the tip of my firing pin. What a shit design. To not be able to dry fire any rifle made during the last 50 years is just nuts and huge design flaw!!! There is no reason a firing pin would ever need to travel far enough to impact the breech face under any circumstance. Had I known this, I would have never purchased the Tikka and would have gone with CZ instead.
Thanks,
Graham
This is not typical, contact Tikka and report it.
Can anyone point to an example of a two piece press-fit firing pin that has a history of reliability? I think inconsistent surface finish and/or improper heat treat is the main issue with the stock pin. The factory pins are heat treated in the blue brittleness zone (marked by a blue oxide layer from the temper). I do not know what grade of steel the factory pin is made of, but blue parts after HT intended for impact use is usually a bad sign...
I believe Jerry Stiller presses the tips into his 2500X actions, probably one of the most accurate rimfire actions ever made. I'm sure the factory pins are made from 4140 or something similar but I am unsure of their exact heat-treating process but it's very likely the temper is more than that (Straw yellow 430 Deg. F) and then black oxide coated (blued)
The only way to improve the stressed area of the one-piece firing pin is to increase the radius between the tip and the firing pin body but if you go to much that is where the direct impact will be when it strikes within the bolt.
Here's the oxide layer color chart and corresponding temperatures:
The stock pin has a generous radius, but a poor surface finish. This plus the blue oxide layer means it's embrittled and thus compromised and I'd expect it to break prematurely. Hopefully Tikka can get those two issues resolved and then I'd expect stock pin breakage will become a problem of only very heavily used rifles with high round counts.
My opinion, YMMV, etc.
I'll say. Stoeger charges $95 plus shipping for the firing pin assembly and won't sell the pin by itself. Was not expecting that.
More than 20,000 rounds and original firing pin is still in place. I've never had a reason to dry fire. I've developed such a feel for the rifle that I know when I'm extracting the last round of the magazine. So I've only had a few accidental dry fires.
They're like $80-ish as well from what i've seen, but like you say its a complete assembly not just the FP. That being said, its probably also not a bad idea to swap out the spring as well, if at 10k round-mark or whatever. The part that's hard to swallow is if you are a looking for a spare...I'd much rather do a FP only sku thats say $30 with no extra parts or $ cost as dead weight in everyday range bag, etc.
