One of those evenings

[DIRT Farmer]

You ever have one of those evenings, where every thing goes to spritz then turns around? I glanced at the Ruger Mini 14 that has been riding with me for more than 30 years, and decided tonight the bolt needed dissambly and cleaning, looked like a chunk under the extractor. No biggie,it needed done. "Bill"goes in the pickup, on the tractor and on the cart when I make my oil field run. It rode with me every shift when I worked as a police officer.

You know the sprong/oh ---- thing? well the extractor left the bolt. I looked, figured I would have to sweep the floor then recruit one of the grand kids to crawl around and find it, and was already to call for the part. I put the rifle back togather, Stood up and it fell out of my pants cuff. I striped it back down, assembled it properly, life is good

[canyon-ghost]

TC Contender trigger spring, off the ceiling, off the wall and vanishes into the carpet. Crawled around for two hours with a flashlight, didn't find it. Sat back down in the chair to sulk and there it was, about 8" from my left foot (stocking feet). Ta Duh!

Yes, know the feeling.

[462]

I forgot what gun it boinged from, but I spent a goodly amount of time on hands and knees with a flashlight (turned the lights out) looking for that small spring. I knew I could get another one from the gunsmith, but that wasn't the point, so I looked some more. Finally, I gave up and was about to sit back down on my reloading stool, and there it was.

Found a lot of spent primers, too.

[10x]

I have a very large magnet that slip a clear plastic bag over. I will sweep a floor inch by inch for small screws and springs that seem to evaporate. When I'm done, I turn the bag inside out and usually the spring or screw is in the bag. I am still looking for a plate screw for a S&W Victory that fell from my fingers in my workshop a few years ago. It will eventually pop back into this reality from what ever limbo it is currently in....

[1Shirt]

Once made the mistake of taking a Garand trigger assembly apart! Big mistake!
Got it back together somehow after a number of hours, and every thing functioned properly (thank God). It was my issue Garand, and I can only think of what a problem I would have had if I had not been able to get it back together. Probably courtmartialed for distruction of Govt property.
1Shirt!

[leftiye]

Well, I hope that I find the screw that holds the cylinder release on my model 29. Fell out while I was working on a new set of grips tonight.

[camaro1st]

best way to find anything you lost buy another and poof it will appear!!!

[DIRT Farmer]

best way to find anything you lost buy another and poof it will appear!!!
__________________
Does that mean if I buy a spare gun I won't lose any parts?
I know how that works. I have more than a few pieces and parts lying in the kit boxes or tool boxes for next time.

[geargnasher]

I learned a long time ago to disassemble bolds and firing mechanisms in the shower with the curtain drawn and safety glasses on. That way when it goes "sproiiinnng" I can usually find it.

I'm still looking for an extractor spring from one of my 1911s that flew across the shop several years ago, not to mention the little spring underneath the rear sight on a M&P .40!

Gear

[slim1836]

I learned a long time ago to disassemble bolds and firing mechanisms in the shower with the curtain drawn and safety glasses on. That way when it goes "sproiiinnng" I can usually find it.

I'm still looking for an extractor spring from one of my 1911s that flew across the shop several years ago, not to mention the little spring underneath the rear sight on a M&P .40!

Gear

Just remember to cover the drain, and keep the curtain on the inside of the shower.

Slim

[bbs70]

A linkage pin on my Star sizer popped out in my garage one winter.
My lube & sizing came to a screatching halt.
Looked for it for 2 days.
Then I ordered 2 new ones from Magma.
The day the new pins arrived my wife found the old one in the hood part of the hoodie I was wearing that day.

[292]

One time I looked for 15 minutes for a shotgun magazine spring follower that wqs stuck to the spring the whole time.

[thehouseproduct]

I learned a long time ago to disassemble bolds and firing mechanisms in the shower with the curtain drawn and safety glasses on. That way when it goes "sproiiinnng" I can usually find it.

I'm still looking for an extractor spring from one of my 1911s that flew across the shop several years ago, not to mention the little spring underneath the rear sight on a M&P .40!

Gear
They make a small plastic spacer that fits the rear dovetail to hold that spring if you ever deal with it again. One day it would be nice to have a blast cabinet to contain such parts. I almost lost it last weekend when my Ruger #1 sear spring tried to go into orbit.

[35isit]

Saw a gunsmith drop a FA trigger spring in the grass once. He stopped looking to fix my contender. I asked if he needed to continue looking. He said naw it's here I'll find it later. I have to be extra careful. I lost a spring the other day. Never did find it.

[44fanatic]

Still aint found the plug to my 870, found the spring under a chair on the other side of the room after it hit the popcorn ceiling. I think the plug is somwhere behind the roll top desk and the desk aint gettin moved any time soon. 1/2" dowel and I think I'm good.

[RKJ]

I lost (in my closet) a mag pouch and 2 mags, I would look and look and couldn't find them. I gave up and started looking for some new ones. I had to do some ironing the other night and noticed there was something black hanging off the ironing board cover string. I grabbed it and there they were. I don't think I would have ever found them as I was looking in the other side of the closet.

[WARD O]

As they say "been there!"

Now if one of these situations come up, I always reach for a shop rag and make some attempt to cover the work with the rag. If the part gets away it is usually stopped from a long flite by the rag. It has really saved my sanity a couple of times - or so I claim.

Ward

[firefly1957]

Been there over and over.............

[wallenba]

If it's pointy and sharp, walk around bare-foot you will find it. If it's the last one in existence, you will never find it. If you have spares, you will find it, along with the one you lost last year.
Everything in reloading and shooting, it seems, 'rolls'. Cases, boolits, primers, dies, you name it, will roll off my bench, jump over the barrier I have on the floor to keep things from rolling to the wall, then vanish.

One frigid Michigan winter, I was reloading an old Ruger Mark I, when the magazine follower, spring and ammo flew out and fell into the snow. I never found the follower. A call to Ruger netted me, not one but two free replacement magazines. Bill was still here in those days. Things are a bit different now.