610-3 firing pins

Wilson Custom Guns · Jan 24, 2023

Hi gents,
I've had a 610-3 come in with light strikes, especially with 40S&W brass. The only thing I can see that is out of the ordinary is the firing pin.
It's one of those hollow ones, but the tip is chamfered not domed.
It's also about .007" shorter than the standard solid ones I hold as spares.
Is this a variation I've not seen before, or has somebody been whittling in their lathe?
Any help appreciated.

Shrek Of The Arctic · Jan 24, 2023

It has been my mere and humble experience that S&W has a real bad habit of sending short firing pins. I have a 325 TRR that gave me hell with light strikes. Checked the strain screw a dozen times, swapped for the stoutest hammer spring I could find...nothing. i finally came around to the firing pin. It measured .478. Come to find out, it was the result of some bizarre California drop test where a gun had to be thrown from a sky scraper and land barrel first without discharging. S&W shortened their firing pins to placate California, and of course the rest of us got stuck with it.

I swapped in a Power Custom firing pin at .515 or so as I recall, and the gun hasn't missed a luck since. Now, unfortunately, it's kinda just what I do with my new Smiths. For $15-$20, it's good peace of mind. Bearing in mind, this isn't a gawd awful epidemic I'm speaking of. I don't want to overstate the case. The 325 is the only one I've had that awful. The minimum suggested is .490, I think?

I seem to recall having heard that S&W has more recently tweaked the overall designs of their firing pins to a more "pointy" design. Emerging MIM technology, I suppose?

Protocall_Design · Jan 24, 2023

As nearly as I can determine, .495 is the shortest you want to go. The Power custom ones are in the .505 to .510 range and work very well.

I've had many factory firing pins in my guns that were well under .495. The short ones need a sledge hammer hit to set off primers reliably. All of mine have been changed out to PC firing pins with great results. I'm running DA pulls of 6 to 6.5 lb that end at around 3 lb. with my RevUp Action hammer and Federal primers. Very smooth, very light. The RevUp hammer kit comes with a PC firing pin and spring.

jdlii · Jan 24, 2023

I experienced the same problem with my 610-2 and was advised to use on Federal LP primers. While that worked, I couldn't accept the fact that I might not be able to use other LP primers. Certainly S&W didn't intend for that to happen!?!?

A friend of mine helped me change out the firing pin to a longer one and the springs. Since that time, it has been 100% reliable.

cometpx4 · Jan 25, 2023

610

I had the same issue with the last 610 I owned. It really was a disappointment. I love that model revolver and especially the fact I could shoot .40 out of it as well as 10mm. At the time I didn't know about this whole firing pin length issue. I just got frustrated and traded it off for a Glock 29. Maybe its time I look for another one and just resolve the issue with the info from this thread.
Its just so unbelievable to me that S&W would sell revolvers that don't actually have the capability of setting off the round when the trigger is pulled unless they are modified.

shawn mccarver · Jan 25, 2023

I find it awful that a standard firing pin has to be replaced just to make the gun fire. I don’t recall this ever being a problem when S&W used the hammer nose riveted to the hammer. And, under the old arrangement, you had complete drop safety. Now, you have a hammer block that still blocks the hammer, but not the firing pin. In effect, S&W has an inertia firing pin that can dent a primer hard enough to fire the round unless it is shortened enough to make it unreliable. Why should we have to choose between drop safe and unreliable when we did not have to with the old design?

Nightowl · Jan 25, 2023

shawn mccarver said:
I find it awful that a standard firing pin has to be replaced just to make the gun fire. I don’t recall this ever being a problem when S&W used the hammer nose riveted to the hammer. And, under the old arrangement, you had complete drop safety. Now, you have a hammer block that still blocks the hammer, but not the firing pin. In effect, S&W has an inertia firing pin that can dent a primer hard enough to fire the round unless it is shortened enough to make it unreliable. Why should we have to choose between drop safe and unreliable when we did not have to with the old design?

You are absolutely right. I never have had issues with the hammer nose design, except when messing with the main spring!! My 5 inch 610 fires every time. The smartest thing Smith could do would be to go back to the hammer nose and old style frame!!

Tanners Owner · Jan 25, 2023

For those who use the PC firing pin, did it come w/ the spring? If not what spring did you use?

610-3 firing pins

Wilson Custom Guns

Member

Attachments

Shrek Of The Arctic

Member

Protocall_Design

Vendor

jdlii

Member

cometpx4

Member

shawn mccarver

SWCA Member

Nightowl

Member

Tanners Owner

US Veteran

Similar threads

Latest posts