I recently worked on a Model 48 S&W that would not fire reliably, maybe two out of a cylinder full would go off. I suspected that the firing pin might have been hanging up and not always moving forward enough so I took all the insides out and drove the cross pin out that I thought retained the firing pin. The firing pin would not come out of the frame but still moved back and forth with spring pressure driving it back to the unfired position. I really didn't have a good way to measure protrusion but it looks like it could use a few more thousands of an inch. I tried a small punch from the breech face but was cautious and it was is if I was putting the punch to an immovable object. Is there a trick I am missing or is the firing pin really stuck in there? Thanks for any comments!

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Gazz

Look in this thread, scroll down and there is a section on firing pin removal.

FAQ

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John. SWCA #1586

Thanks for that! That is a thread worth knowing about.
The revolver I worked on was slightly different in that the cross pin is visible without removing the side plate - Model 48-4. I did remove the cross pin but the firing pin would not come out. I think that I needed a very long punch that I could run through the bore and hammer on it at the muzzle. Maybe the revolver had been dry fired a bunch and now the fp was severely upset preventing its easy removal.

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Gazz

I think your revolver has the older style frame mounted firing pin that was only used for rimfire revolvers. I believe that to remove those firing pins you need to remove the retaining pin and then press the firing pin forward. Then the firing pin and bushing will move forward into the cylinder window. This method is very different from removing the firing pin on modern MIM revolvers. I will admit that I have never done this work on an older revolver, but my understanding is that some caution is required.

This issue is discussed briefly in this thread:

Model 17 Question - Firing Pin