Just bought very used Davis PPC on model 10. It has broken two firing pins in about 1,000 rounds. Both pins had easy movement up and down in the hammer. Both pins broke dry firing. No marks apparent on sides of hammer or frame. Frame hole perfectly round.

Is there a fix or is this just like the biggest coincidence ever. (I don't believe in coincidences)

Is there an expert out there who can tell me a fix?

The fix is to stop dry-firing the gun! Even though many believe this does no harm the first thing to break is usually the hammer nose! There is a thread titled something like "Has anyone seen a firing pin broken from dry-firing?" There is a poll. You can vote that yes, you have had personal experience!

It is supposed to move freely, this is a design feature of the gun.

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Gunsmithing since 1961

If you are going to dry fire the gun, use snap caps of some sort - you probably won't break another one. At the very least, use once fired brass and change often while firing.

Dannej.....
Another thing that will extend the life of your hammer nose is to install a replacement that is spring loaded. The spring will hold the hammer nose slightly forward and down.....and away from the top of the frame cutaway as falls forward and enters the frame. If you look on the top edge of the rounded edge of the frame opening, where your hammer enters the frame, you may see a shiny spot or small "dent" at the 12 o'clock position (the very top of the hammer frame opening) This is an indication that the hammer nose has been impacting this spot.

What frequently happens is as the hammer travels forward, the unsprung nose is pushed back and slightly up by the inertia of the hammer movement forward...and consequently the end of the nose sometimes lightly touches or impacts the frame. This impact can actually damage or break the hammer nose itself. Installing a spring loaded hammer nose eliminates this problem.
If you can't find a hammer nose with a slot cut for the spring you can cut the slot yourself. The attached photo will give you an idea where the slot is located, and the width and depth of the slot. I've found that the Dremel cutoff wheels are very close to the right width for the cut. If you use the cutoff wheel, use caution and go slowly so that heat buildup is held to a minimum and you don't damage the part....and wear safety glasses.

Attached Images

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Ret. LE, FA Instr, S&W Armorer

If the firing pin is hitting the top of the frame opening, then will it matter if the OP is dry firing or live firing?

In all my years shooting S&W revolvers I have never seen a firing pin break except when dry firing without some sort of snap caps.

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I had to replace my 'ole M&P firing pin with the newer spring loaded version and have never had a problem since!

This is by no means an answer. I don't know enough to give answers. I've had only one gun, out of more than a hundred, that ever broke a firing pin. That was a C*** Diamondback 2.5", and it did it twice. IIRC, the second time wasn't when dry-firing. The first may not have been, but if it was, it was with snap-caps. Both times, I replaced the hammer nose itself, which is fairly easy on a C***. I read and re-read Kuhnhausen, and probably Gunsmith Kinks, and looked for any evidence of improper contact. I don't know what a pro would have learned from that, but I learned nothing. The second time, I bought a whole new hammer, because the original hammer was bobbed, and new replacement parts were still reasonable (late eighties?). I sold the gun, with a new hammer, and kept the bobbed and repaired hammer, which I eventually installed in an Agent. Never gave any problems.

???

S&W's can start breaking firing pins when a hammer is installed that is other than the hammer that came with the gun from the factory.

At least that's how I managed to break a firing pin on my Model 64.

I modified it from SAO to SA/DA.
Had to replace the SAO hammer with a SA/DA hammer.

The new hammer didn't match the firing pin bushing just perfect.

Started dinging the bushing at 12 o'clock.



Pretty soon, this happened:

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WWSSD?
What would Skeeter do?

I "solved" the problem by wallowing-out the bushing enough that the firing pin no longer had to absorb the full force of the hammer crashing into the frame.

You need to figure out how to cause something other than the firing pin to be the contact point to absorb the force of the hammer during dry-firing.

The firing pin needs to "float" during dry firing.

If I had known in advance what was happening, I might have changed-out that bushing before breaking a firing pin.

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WWSSD?
What would Skeeter do?

The biggest reason this happens , especially with some custom guns where guys change hammers is that the wrong hammer/firing pin is being used in their model gun. Revolvers made after 88 or so had a very different spring loaded hammer/ larger spring/slightly different profile.
Sometimes different hammer/firing pins work/ sometimes they hang up, then seem to work and end up breaking. Best to stick with the original style hammer/pin.
In almost 40 years , Ive dry fired ppc and other competition type model 14's and 19's probably a million times ( WIFE swears more than that) both with and w/o snap caps , and have NEVER had a broken firing pin nose , just my experience. Good luck Bob