firing pin protrusion

[thomae]

So could u strip down the firing pin and when you reassemble it, only screw it back on one turn or so and have the "optimum" firing lin protrusion? Ive never attemtped to disassemble one........yet......
Brian

Nope.
Once you get the FP flush with the boltface THEN you can screw it in one more turn to get ~.035" protrusion.

Or, you could get lucky with your "calibrated eyeball." I put mine back together and then measured protrusion to see how I needed to adjust it. It measured right at .038. Done. No adjustment necessary (Although I will never be able to do that again in a million years!

The stop nut does indeed determine FP protrusion but the amount of whack is determined by a number of parts including the FP mainspring, the cocking ramp in the bolt body, and the position of the cocking pin.

With respect to the cocking piece and firing pin spring: I concur that they affect "amount of whack." However, I would suggest that the cocking ramp does not affect "amount of whack" as it serves only to get the cocking pin back far enough to be held in place by the sear. Any adjustment or change of the cocking pin/sear contact surface may change how far back the firing pin is compressed, and thus change the amount of "whack," but unless I am mistaken, no matter what it looks like, steep or shallow, rough or smooth, once the rifle is cocked, the cocking ramp does not play a part in firing the rifle. If I am mistaken, I am sure I will be swiftly and surely corrected.