Here is the firing pin block in position in its slot in the firing pin.
![]()
The block is moved up and out of the way by an arm to the right of the hammer that is raised by cocking the hammer. It falls when the hammer comes off the sear and the trigger is released; much like a transfer bar behaves.
As you can see that's a substantial hunk of metal to "shear" away to keep it from stopping the firing pin. The groove on the opposite side is where the firing pin retainer resides.
Next we have the firing pin inside the safety as it would be with the safety engaged.
![]()
That little lump on the bottom left of the safety is a cam that presses the sear release down and drops the hammer when you put the gun on safe. Note that the recess that allows the firing pin to move forward is out of alignment with the head of the pin before that cam can press the sear release. So, the safety does NOT become a selector switch if you remove the firing pin block because the safety itself is a block as well.
If one were to remove both the safety and the firing pin block, it would be no more likely to fire than an M1911 with the safety off and grip safety pressed.
The block is moved up and out of the way by an arm to the right of the hammer that is raised by cocking the hammer. It falls when the hammer comes off the sear and the trigger is released; much like a transfer bar behaves.
As you can see that's a substantial hunk of metal to "shear" away to keep it from stopping the firing pin. The groove on the opposite side is where the firing pin retainer resides.
Next we have the firing pin inside the safety as it would be with the safety engaged.
That little lump on the bottom left of the safety is a cam that presses the sear release down and drops the hammer when you put the gun on safe. Note that the recess that allows the firing pin to move forward is out of alignment with the head of the pin before that cam can press the sear release. So, the safety does NOT become a selector switch if you remove the firing pin block because the safety itself is a block as well.
If one were to remove both the safety and the firing pin block, it would be no more likely to fire than an M1911 with the safety off and grip safety pressed.