AlNyhus
Silver $$ Contributor
Wanted to give a shout out to the great folks at Kelbly's for some outstanding customer service.
This is a used Panda that I bought. When I removed the firing pin assy. to service it and install a new spring, it was clear that there were issues. The pin assy. was dragging on the inside of the bolt badly. Trying several of my other Kelbly's firing pin assys., all of them went into this bolt smoothly. The 'problem' pin assy. drug badly in the other Kelbly's bolts.
Once apart, it was apparent that the cocking piece was not anything that came from Kelbly's...it looked more like sintered metal. I could hardly get the cross pin out. I had a new Kelbly's cocking piece but it wouldn't fit the pin shaft. The old spring measured the same as the new one for I.D., O.D. and coil size. Hmmmm...time to get the Columbo trench coat on.
Chucking up the pin shaft, you could see the wobble turning the chuck by hand. With an indicator, the pin tip had .018 T.I.R.
At the forward firing spring stop collar, it was .015. As you moved down toward the cocking piece area, the T.I.R. decreased. At the cocking piece area, it ran out .006. Long story short, the cocking piece area of the shaft was tweaked.
Measuring the .068 pin tip, it was a bit herky and inconsistent. My other Kelbly's .068 pins were dead on .0680. An .069 pin gauge wouldn't go through the pin hole. Neither would a .068. Or a .067. The pin hole looked fine eyeballing it. I grabbed a 10X loupe and.......
By borescope, you could see the same flattening on the back side of the bolt face.
I talked with Caleb at Kelbly's and returned it along with a lengthy explanation. It arrived at Kelbly's late on a Thursday. The following Monday afternoon, Caleb called me and said it as ready to head back my way. They had corrected the pin hole, fitted a new firing pin assembly and shroud and had it ready to ship in two days.
I got it two days later. 
The new pin assy. fits smooooooooooth (that's with ten 'o's').
Now, none of this ever came from Kelbly's this way. It clearly had some aftermarket firing pin assembly fitted at some point, which caused all these issues. The tweaked cocking piece section and aftermarket shroud is what caused the peening of the pin hole in the bolt face. The severe dragging of the firing pin assy. was a symptom, not the actual problem. Caleb and the clan at Kelbly's stepped up and helped out with some great customer service.
Thank you Caleb and all the clan at Kelbly's!
Good shootin' -Al
This is a used Panda that I bought. When I removed the firing pin assy. to service it and install a new spring, it was clear that there were issues. The pin assy. was dragging on the inside of the bolt badly. Trying several of my other Kelbly's firing pin assys., all of them went into this bolt smoothly. The 'problem' pin assy. drug badly in the other Kelbly's bolts.
Once apart, it was apparent that the cocking piece was not anything that came from Kelbly's...it looked more like sintered metal. I could hardly get the cross pin out. I had a new Kelbly's cocking piece but it wouldn't fit the pin shaft. The old spring measured the same as the new one for I.D., O.D. and coil size. Hmmmm...time to get the Columbo trench coat on.
Chucking up the pin shaft, you could see the wobble turning the chuck by hand. With an indicator, the pin tip had .018 T.I.R.
At the forward firing spring stop collar, it was .015. As you moved down toward the cocking piece area, the T.I.R. decreased. At the cocking piece area, it ran out .006. Long story short, the cocking piece area of the shaft was tweaked.Measuring the .068 pin tip, it was a bit herky and inconsistent. My other Kelbly's .068 pins were dead on .0680. An .069 pin gauge wouldn't go through the pin hole. Neither would a .068. Or a .067. The pin hole looked fine eyeballing it. I grabbed a 10X loupe and.......
By borescope, you could see the same flattening on the back side of the bolt face.
I talked with Caleb at Kelbly's and returned it along with a lengthy explanation. It arrived at Kelbly's late on a Thursday. The following Monday afternoon, Caleb called me and said it as ready to head back my way. They had corrected the pin hole, fitted a new firing pin assembly and shroud and had it ready to ship in two days.
I got it two days later. The new pin assy. fits smooooooooooth (that's with ten 'o's').
Now, none of this ever came from Kelbly's this way. It clearly had some aftermarket firing pin assembly fitted at some point, which caused all these issues. The tweaked cocking piece section and aftermarket shroud is what caused the peening of the pin hole in the bolt face. The severe dragging of the firing pin assy. was a symptom, not the actual problem. Caleb and the clan at Kelbly's stepped up and helped out with some great customer service.
Thank you Caleb and all the clan at Kelbly's!
Good shootin'
-Al
