More 6 o'clock firing pin info
Howdy,
I believe that time will eventually tell that the 6 o'clock firing pin is a benefit. More testing needs to be done. And it is being done. Gordon Eck quite possibly sees what others see as well. Hopefully, he will continue to test and post what he sees.
Here is some more information about the 6 o'clock firing pins that may be helpful. This is an excerpt from a post that Bill Calfee made on rimfireshooting.com and after it, I will include the link to it as well. Bill made 3 posts on this site, I don't know that he will post further. The posts are #5, #10, and then the complete post that I excerpted this from, #20.
"Also Jim, as most everyone knows, with the unbelievable success that 6-ignitioned rimfire benchrest guns had in the PSL and National Competition in 2011, a bunch of folks are rushing to make the switch. All the new actions use 6-ignition. As a matter of fact, most new action makers would be completely surprised for someone to order a new action with 12-ignition. The new action makers in Europe are all using 6-igntion, and for good reason, it makes the guns more accurate….there are no longer “any” questions from most knowledgeable shooters about this. As a matter of fact, I bet within a year, two at the most, one will find it very difficult to sell a rimfire benchrest gun with 12-ignition, unless they absolutely give it away. I’ve got a slave Turbo here that I’ll have to fit 6-ignition to before I dare sell it.
.
Friend Jim, maybe one day when I get caught up, I may start posting again someplace. But right now there is simply too much extremely important work to do.
Your friend, Bill Calfee"
This is the link to the thread:
http://rimfireshooting.com/index.php?showtopic=7482
This next little bit of info is from a post that I made on Rimfireaccuracy.com and I will include the link to that at the end of this post. The info isn't mine, it comes from Geoffrey Kolbe's 6 vs. 12 pin test on his website, which is linked, and from two posts on the Smallbore Accuracy forum, also linked. It is an extremely interesting and educational bit of information that he posted. In this, he mentions that other European action makers are going to the 6 pin. Just as Bill Calfee mentioned it, too. Also, Geoffrey will be coming out with a new action, and it will have a 6 o'clock firing pin.
Anyway, here is part of the info. This is only a small amount of the info. The rest of it will be linked at the end of the post.
This is the last paragraph, and then the conclusion of Geoffrey's article.
"So, if more consistent burning of the powder does not improve the velocity spread, in what way can it be of benefit to accuracy? The answer is that it is the recoil force of the rifle that excites the vibrations in the rifle barrel, and it is these vibrations that affect where the barrel is pointing when the bullet exits the muzzle. The recoil force depends upon the chamber pressure, so if the variations in chamber pressure can be minimized, then variations in the way the barrel vibrates can be minimized as well. The consequence of using a 6 o'clock firing pin rather than a 12 o'clock firing pin - all other matters being equal - would probably be slightly 'flatter' groups with less vertical spread.
Conclusion
Given that the only difference between the first and third runs to the second and forth runs was where the firing pin struck the rim of the case, the reduction in the standard deviation of the pressures when the firing pin was at 6 o'clock by at least a third is impressive and significant. There is little doubt that when striking the rim at 6 o'clock, the powder is being ignited more efficiently and so burning more consistently, leading to lower standard deviations on the pressure.
Although the powder would appear to be burning more consistently with a 6 o'clock firing pin, this does not appear to lead to lower spreads on the muzzle velocity, nor should this be expected."
This is from Geoffrey's article on the Border Barrels website, and here is the link.
http://www.border-barrels.com/articles/rimfire_accuracy/firing_pin.htm
This is an excellent read. And it is beneficial to read the entire article for the proper context.
It is not difficult to see that Geoffrey, at least at the time of the writing of this article, considers the 6 pin to be a benefit.
In the following link, you will find that Geoffrey said he was in the process of designing, with help, a new rimfire action, and that it will have a 6 pin.
This is his exact quote. I had forgotten that I had linked it here from another forum. I will provide both links, so that you can get full context of both conversations.
Here is the quote:
"As for me "press(ing) on with (my) own efforts to manufacture complete smallbore rifles", that was a prescient comment Mike... As it happens, we are in the process of designing a smallbore action, in co-operation with the renowned French action and trigger designer, Robert Chombart.
It will have the footprint of an Anschutz Match 54 action, simply because anyone who makes stocks will have the inletting pattern for a Match 54 action. Too, anyone who has a 19 series or earlier Anschutz, already has a stock for our action, so it will be easier and cheaper to 'upgrade' to a Border action and barrel. Take the Anschutz out, drop the Border in, shoot. I know, I know, the front bedding screw on the Match 54 is too far forward. But I am afraid we are stuck with that.
However, the loading port will be 30mm further back on the Border than the Match 54 for easier loading, and it will have a 6 o'clock firing pin. It would be foolish these days to make a new smallbore action that did not have a 6 o'clock firing pin."
Very clearly, Geoffrey was convinced of the benefit of the 6 o'clock firing pin at the time of this writing. Unless something has changed since then, I presume he still feels the same way. If there is something different, I have not yet read about it.
Here is the link for this information, the other links are provided in the post on Rimfireaccuracy.
http://www.rimfireaccuracy.com/Forums/showthread.php/2252-Shooter65?p=22611#post22611
Hope this helps.
Take care,
Greg
