[fez]

I took my slide apart to check and clean. At the top of fp is a plunger with a spring. The spring was broken and the plunger was down and not moving. There is no down tension on the fp because of this. The gun shot fine. Safety/decocker works as it should. With a wood dowel I tried the gun sideways, upside down da/sa, decocked it sideways, upside down. No problems. What is the function of the plunger? It's part 55 and 54 in the diagram. Thanks.
http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd229/aloxited_photos/1610zPPH.jpg

 

[domain]

What holds the firing pin in place? Is that it's purpose?

 

[fez]

What holds the firing pin in place? Is that it's purpose?

It slides into it's channel and then mates up with safety/decocker in the back. In the meantime I found only one explanation. That it just keeps better alignment of the fp so it may not bend. But he was not even sure.

 

[ottergt]

It's been awhile, so I may not be remembering correctly...but this design utilizes a "drop safety" that the Walther PP doesn't have. That plunger and spring work to keep the firing pin out of alignment with the hammer until the trigger is fully compressed. It probably isn't an issue when you are intentionally firing the gun (that's why you aren't seeing an issue), but I'm guessing it could fire if dropped.

At $2.45 I'd replace the the spring. Get some extra parts for it while you are at it to spread the cost of shipping out. Like an extractor, extractor plunger, and spring #57, 59, 60)...Ask me how I know...

Oh and 2 new #12's too for spares.

 

[ottergt]

Ok, I was close:

"The PP has a passive hammer block, while the PA-63 does not. Instead, the PA-63 firing pin is below the line of the hammer face when the hammer is not cocked; cocking the hammer raises the rear of the firing pin. The result is that in both guns, for different reasons, the hammer does not contact the firing pin while uncocked."

That spring and plunger are what move the firing pin back down, out of line with the hammer.

http://www.m1-garand-rifle.com/feg-pa-63/

 

[fez]

Ok, I was close:

"The PP has a passive hammer block, while the PA-63 does not. Instead, the PA-63 firing pin is below the line of the hammer face when the hammer is not cocked; cocking the hammer raises the rear of the firing pin. The result is that in both guns, for different reasons, the hammer does not contact the firing pin while uncocked."

That spring and plunger are what move the firing pin back down, out of line with the hammer.

http://www.m1-garand-rifle.com/feg-pa-63/

You beat me to it. When I was looking it over I noticed a plunger in the frame that is directly under the fp. When I cocked it slowly I could see the frame plunger pushing the fp up. When I thumb decocked it and slowly released the trigger the plunger dropped to let the fp down. Clear as a bell now. Thanks for the effort. Interesting article to.