I was watching a YT video by Anarchy Outdoors on their replacement firing pin.


The guy on the video said that the Ruger firing pin would need replacing after about 1 to 2K rounds. He said that the metal was too soft and would deform.

Anyone having that problem?

Or just marketing hype?

First impression = marketing hype but I do not have 1K of evidence to say for sure.

But at $60 vs $16 for a replacement I would take a few factory replacements first...

No issues with my factory pin.  I’ve shot it a bit, about 200 rds.

I'm well over 300 rounds of .308 in one and about the same in .223 and 7.62x39.  No issues at all.  You would think if it was a problem he would have an example of this "shearing, bending, mushroom"  effect to show us.


I'm going with BS sales crap.

My Ruger American Ranch .300 blackout has soft primer strikes. Only 50% of rounds goes off. I never got around to getting it sorted. Bought and last fired in ~2017.

I should probably do something about it

I'm going with marketing hype/scare tactic.

Only a few hundred through.243. No and dont really see the potential for it. But..?
I guess if consistent use of ammo with hard primers..? Maybe.

I've read multiple complaints regarding older Rugers having 'soft' firing pins or not having enough pin protrusion. Usually more of an issue with imported ammo with hard primers or primers set too deep.

Not as much of an issue today, and I own three centerfire Ruger rifles and two rimfires, no issues. One of them runs on a regular diet of steel cased ammo, no light strikes.

Nothing wrong with having a spare firing pin but no need to replace it unless you're either having issues or going into combat.

Probably unrelated, but posted in another thread: "The only caveat concerning the Mini-30 is that Ruger seems to make them with firing pins which are just a little too short for 100% reliable ignition of some steel cased ammo.  The solution is to go to Firingpins.com  or ASI and buy a slightly longer firing pin.  It may be necessary for user to carefully "adjust" the firing pin protrusion...."   AFAIK, Mini-14s (regardless of caliber) do not seem to suffer from this firing pin issue.  Firingpins.com/ASI do not offer a replacement firing pin for the Ruger rifle depicted in the vid, AFAIK.

As I said, likely unrelated, but who knows?  Maybe Ruger had a "run" of firing pins that were just a "little" short and need to know about it.  It would be helpful if folks having ignition problems with their firearms would specify the exact ammo that runs well, and the exact ammo which has "problems".  That might provide a "clue".  It may possible that Ruger has some "unique" firing protrusion spec as "standard" for most ammo and which fails to reliably ignite "different" ammo.  I wonder...?

Or maybe some owners need to 100% dismantle their bolts and 110% clean them internally.  Forgive me if already done, but sometimes crud builds-up at forward end of the inside of the bolt, thus decreasing firing pin protrusion.  Again, possibly unrelated, but a Mini owner had ignition problems, sent his rifle back to Ruger, and they replaced the entire bolt assy.

Watched the vid.  That is one of the most convoluted bolt dis-assy and re-assy procedures I've seen in a long time, and that says nothing about "special" tools required.  No Expert, but AFAIK, the "RAR" type action was intended to be a lower-cost replacement for the Ruger Mauser-based Mk II action.  Maybe the RAR action costs less to make, but perhaps at the "expense" of user-serviceability.   Again, no Expert.

Frankly, watching the vid soured me on this type of action.  YMMV.

Forgot to add, since this was asked about the Ranch, while both my Ranch and Predator have had no fail to fire or light strikes, I've seen a few threads on this issue and the usual culprit is a headspacing issue, which Ruger always fixed.
If your Ruger has a light strike issue, don't replace anything until you know your headspace is correct.

+1
With any luck your gunsmith has the proper set of headspace gauges for your caliber of rifle.  Do NOT make any irreversible changes to any Ruger firearm before you are certain that you won't need to send it to Ruger for service.  If you are forced to send it back to Ruger, then remove all mods prior to sending it back.

Thanks, guys.

With many people changing just about all the parts for the RAR "because", I really didn't want to spend all that money unless there was a real reason to do so.

  I had the same issue with a RAR in .556 . It fired South African 100%.   Same with some Winchester Q3131. I had.  But Federal 55 grain had 2-3 light primer hits out of 10 rounds.  Sometimes I would retry it. It would go off. Now this same case of Federal shot perfect in all other .556 rifles I owned.  Ar , AK , AUG , Tavor. Mini 14’s.  Just not this RAR.  I traded it toward something else.  Picked up a Tika Super Varmint in .223.  Love it.   Attached File