Yes, we’ve received considerable Bad Press in the last few months, and well deserved unfortunately, as our Firing Pins have come to have a reputation of breaking. We apologize to all customers that have had this problem; and they have received free replacements; but rest assured, we have been addressing the subject.
We sent broken firing pins, and intact firing pins to a Metallurgical Lab and the test results indicate the following:
1-While the material met current minimal ASTM standards, it just barely met those minimums. Apparently we were sold some 3rd world country material from a new supplier and not only did they supply inferior material, but it was bent upon arrival at the machine shop, making it difficult to feed through the machine.
2-We had sold more FPs than usual during a particular time period, and that caused us to rush to get material to get the next batch ready for delivery to customers. Because of the rush, we accepted their word that the material was good. We apologize for rushing the procurement of raw 420 SS stock.
3-The heat treating company we have used for 25+ years did not temper the firing pins correctly. Using standards set by the industry, but not tempering specifically to allow for greater impact resistance, left them at the correct Rockwell hardness, but somewhat brittle in nature. We apologize for not being more specific in our heat treat requirements.
4-The machine shop did not machine the correct radius at two locations on the firing pins, and stress risers were created as a result. While they have made several thousand of these in the past, apparently a small change was made, and it went unnoticed by us. We apologize for our in-house QC not catching this sooner.
First, we have changed the type of material we are making them from, and changed sources. Seems the 420 SS was not acceptable, especially when all that is available is “poor quality” stuff from a 3rd world country. Our next batch of FPs are being machined from 17-4 SS, and from this point forward we expect to stay with that material. And material specs have already been verified.
Second, we have chosen a specific heat treating temperature, and a specific time & temperature for tempering. This will afford us the ability to supply the best we can manufacture. And the Company now doing this supplies actual photo evidence of the processes.
Third, we have addressed the machining aspect with the machine shop, received samples proving they can hold the tolerances necessary, and set up new QC controls in our shop to verify.
Fourth, we have discontinued shipping these to customers and the remaining balance of the 420 SS Firing Pins have been scrapped.
We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience to our customers, and assure you we are doing all we can to remedy the situation, and make sure it never happens again. As always, our products are 100% satisfaction guaranteed, but we prefer to supply a product that never causes the customer to need that guarantee. While it is going to cost us a little more to manufacture these from 17-4 SS, our price to you is going to remain the same.
This new batch of 17-4 SS FPs should be available sometime during the last two weeks of January. Please let us know if this has affected you and we’ll do our best to resolve the issue. Unfortunately there is no way to accurately predict whether the firing pin you may have already purchased is defective or not, as the problems are extremely random, but there should be no safety issues, as when the FP breaks, the gun simply quits working.
As our Aeronautical Engineer of 26+ years told us, all 4 things combined to create the “Perfect Storm” of events, but the 3rd world manufacture of the material contributed greatly to pin failure.
Thanks,
Ben Murray
edited 10-29-14 Problem Solved!! See our post on page two.