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At some point in converting the Fenians rifle-muskets into Needham Conversions, the firing pin was changed. The original design of the firing pins was causing breakage. The change involved a redesign of the pin itself which necessitated a change in the location of the retaining screw.
One design puts the set screw closer to the end of the breechblock(.60″) and the other puts it closer to the middle(1.188″)
My Findings so far:
I believe the center postion is the initial location for the firing pin retaining screw.
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This is hammer number 132. It is not known if P.A.W. drilled the hole where the screw is or some gunsmith later on did it. This may be the breech block where the change was made by P.A.W. If this is a P.A.W. drilled new location hole and since the screw is in the forward position, that tells me the center must be the original location.
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Type I is 1.188″ from the end. It is not yet known as a fact which design came first.
Type II = is .60 ” from the end
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