Firing pin question

[Gmercury2000]

So with my recent purchase some spare parts were included including 2 spare firing pins. One being the newer flat and the 2nd being the original round type. My rifle originally had a round pin and currently does as I believe the previous owner made sure all parts were correct. My question is based on what I’ve read is that the round pins are prone to breaking and causing issues. Would I be better off replacing my round pin with the flat one? What are the odds of breakage? I’m not as concerned about the pin being correct as the rifle not being damaged in the event of a failure. Appreciate any input!

[RCS]

What is your rifle serial number and barrel date ? It would be interesting to view a photo of your firing pins, most originals were blued. There have been faked round firing pins around for about thirty years.

If you plan on shooting your rifle it is very easy to change out the round firing pin with the M10 tool

Years ago a lot of shooters fired the early Winchester and SA rifles (Lend Lease too) with the round pins without any problems (myself included), but now it would be better to change it and the M10 is very east to use

[Gmercury2000]

My rifle is 377*** and the barrel is dated 8-52 so obviously rebarreled after the war.

I did buy the tool for disassembling the bolt. It’s a godsend lol.

Here are the 2 spare pins that came with the rifle.

[TJT]

Were they redesigned because of being prone to breakage or sticking? I seem to recall that it was the latter of the two. I could be wrong on that one tho. I was wrong once before.
In any (or either) case, were it my rifle, I'd put the flat fp in the bolt, just to be safe.
Jon

[Gmercury2000]

From what I’ve read, they were prone to breaking and the pin could stay protruding and cause slam fires, OOB firing and so on. I’m thinking to play safe and replace it as I bought it for shooting and not a safe queen lol. Will keep the round simply because it is the correct pin and neat to have.

[TJT]

This^^^^ must've been what I was tryin' to remember. Either way, an OOB discharge is ugly at best. Definitely put the flat fp in if you plan to shoot it.
Jon

[RCS]

Looks like a SA round firing pin from your photo, people doing restorations would be interested. If your rifle was rebarreled with a 8-52 dated barrel by the military, the old round firing pin would have been replaced at this time.

Springfield started to replace the round firing pin during early 1942 and Winchester at the end of 1942. The Winchester firing pin has a different machined angle at the rear tang.

The round firing pin stayed in the system a long time during WW2

[Orlando]

You can easily get $100 for the round pin,used to be able to get closer to $150 until parts prices dropped

[Gmercury2000]

I’m pretty sure the previous owner replaced the flat pin with the round pin, I’m guessing that’s why there’s a flat pin in the parts bag he included. I’m going to change it out just to be on the safe side.

I’ll likely just hang onto it for the time being. Neat piece to have. Same with the front sight seals I got. I figure I’ll eventually add more rifles to the collection and maybe at some point build one up with all correct parts so may cone in handy.