a friend got a hungarian 9mm makarov that fires when you chamber it. i looked in the chamber and the firing pin is sticking right out at all times. is replacing the spring something you can do yourself without much difficulty, or should i just take this thing to a gunsmith for him?
gunsmith
cool, thanks.
sure thing. guns are like electricity that way. its always better to let the pros handle any problems that come up
and there's also the fact that i'm only slightly more mechanically inclined than your average purple-assed baboon.
the Makarov does not have a firing pin spring like other pistols. I'm pretty sure about this because my fiancee has one and I stripped it and it didn't have one... kinda like Kalashnikovs.
Maks are not hard to strip down and the firing pin shouldn't be a problem. I bet there is just a bunch of crap in the firing pin channel and it's seized the pin up. I'll check for disassembly instructions for ya.
Cool... here ya go.
http://makarov.com/tech/assembly.html
If the firing pin channel is clean, from looking at those instructions it looks like there is some type of interaction between the safety and the firing pin? Might want to check the contact surfaces there too.
Make sure that after you get it back together you use a pencil with eraser down towards breech (put pencil in barrel with tip facing up). Engage safety and pull trigger to make sure that the firing pin is not moved forward to verify safety is working. Then remove safety and pull trigger to verify pin is working. Pencil should fly out of barrel here.
Of course keep all the ammo way away and always verify gun unloaded.
Another thing you might want to do while you have it apart is to remove some of the cosmoline (grease like crap that might also be the culprit in the firing pin channel) and make sure that there isn't excess crap under the extractor claw as well. My fiancee bought her Bulgarian Makarov and although it was pretty much new, the Bulgies at Arsenal made damn sure that they put cosmoline everywhere, even places that it WASN'T supposed to be.
hope that helps, I'm interested in the fix for the problem.
cheers
ttt
i'll tinker with it this weekend and post results, thanks.
Also, remember if you are using Eastern Euro ammo you need to clean MUCH more thoroughly, that stuff can be filthy.
got it looked at today. its actually an feg pa-63. its dirty, the spring is busted, and the firing pin is bent. does not look good for a $130 gun.