Vanished!

[405grain]

Boy I hate when this happens. (and it happens all too often to every one of us). I was changing the scope on one of my varmint rifles when I dropped one of the scope ring screws out in the garage. I heard the screw land right next to my feet, but that didn't matter because it has passed into another dimension and vanished from the face of the Earth! I was down on my hands and knees with a flashlight looking for it for half an hour to no avail. Then I swept up everything in a 6 foot radius - again, nothing!

This has happened so many times over the years with tiny parts, small screws, that one of a kind tiny tool that you just finished making, and worst of all that tiny spring loaded steel ball under the extractor plate on a Savage bolt head that flies off into oblivion, that I know for a fact that when you drop something it opens up a porthole to an alternate reality and vanishes forever. Actually that's not true - it is possible to find that part again: All you have to do is buy another one, and five minutes after you get the replacement the old part will appear again by magic.

The probability that you'll drop and loose a part increases exponentially depending on the situation. If it's some zillion dollar gold plated piece of hardware that you've waited 2 years for it to come back into stock - Oh, it's just gone! If it's a part that only costs 2 cents, but you can't finish the build without it, ditto. But if it's a common hardware store part and you've got a hundred more in a box in some drawer, I'm just surprised that it doesn't jump right back into your hand! But I wouldn't be surprised to find out that somewhere way out in deep space there's some lonely world that has a ring orbiting around it made up of all the tiny junk that we've dropped and never been able to find again.

[HWooldridge]

I dropped a small pin from an S&W revolver into our carpet and thought it was a goner - but I tied a big speaker magnet to a string and dragged it around for half an hour, praying the whole time. Fifth or sixth pass and there it was, stuck to the side, along with a couple of staples and a sewing needle my wife had lost. I was so happy - kept saying, “Thank you, thank you, thank you…”

[cwtebay]

Boy I can't tell you how many times that's happened to me!!
I have an acquaintance that makes and repairs watches. His work and hands work in what is essentially a wire and pantyhose cage. He gave one to me, and I have to say - installing safety detents on an AR no longer worries me!
Good luck finding your bits and pieces.

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[Winger Ed.]

Yeah. There's got to be some sort of Murphy's Law action going on like that.

And the opposite is true also.
There was a story one time about a old lady getting some work done on her house.
The carpenter guy gave her a list of materials for her to order in for the project.

When it all arrived, he looked it all over, and told her, "I asked for 10 pounds of nails, and you only got 3 pounds".
She said, "Don't worry. I'll pick up enough off the ground for you to finish".

[LAGS]

I use the speaker magnet too to find things I drop.
In fact,
I have a magnet on the side of my vise and drill press to minimize things hitting the floor.

[Remiel]

I keep a magnetic parts dish on my bech for this reason, unless the part is not iron based I'm pretty good at finding them with the magnet from the dish.

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[LAGS]

I also put a magnet inside my shop vac in the area of the hose inlet.
That way if I vac up the small part , it sticks to the magnet , and doesn't fall into the other dirt in the vac.

[uscra112]

You stepped on it. Check the soles of your shoes.

[Rcmaveric]

Magnet part dish and magnet picker upper thing for me.

I just broke down all my dies, presses and guns. Storage for 2 months wasnt kind to them. I muste dropped things 20 times. I lucked out a few times when i didnt catch where it shot too. I magnet swepped under the bench and found it. One of then was this supper small retaining pin for the trigger on a Cricket Riffle.

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[Rcmaveric]

Funny vannished and reappeared while i never noticed story.

While cleaning my dies i was tearing down my Lyman M die. Pulled the stem out and was like that doesnt look right. Its flat with screw hole taped in it. I figured there be a spud on it. Done my monky fiddling a foot ball act with a case (i am not mechanically inclined) and said yup thats not right. Google a picture. Saw the spud and realized i saw that a second ago. When i packed up in December i threw all the random bits and bobs on my reloading bench in a bag. I was just setting up my progressive press and saw the spud and had know idea what it went to. So went back to that bag, matched the spud to the picture. Grabed my mic and verified it. Screwed it back on. Patted myself on the back and praised God. Imagine God and Grandpa are having a good laugh st the prank they just pulled on me.

Now i wonder how many 9mm I loaded without that spud. I have a Lyman M die in the second station of my load master.

I am also wondering if incan just get another spud for each caliber i reload for. But then i shudder at swapping spuds for each caliber.

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[Markopolo]

My curse is dropping primers into oblivion. I have a lee turret press with a kinda hokey pez primer thing that I have to be careful with. I have plenty of other hand primers and machines, but I just seem to gravitate towards the pez dispenser. It invariably misdeeds a small pistol primer or something into the 5th dimension about every major load session.. I have looked, and they just disappear. I have learned to just accept the are at least 10000 primers somewhere on my loading floor.. it is like they dropped into the Bermuda Triangle… but they are getting pretty dear these days… I guess it’s one way to stash them

[bcp]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resistentialism

Resistentialism:

..."seemingly spiteful behavior manifested by inanimate objects", where objects that cause problems (like lost keys or a runaway bouncy ball) are said to exhibit a high degree of malice toward humans. The theory posits a war being fought between humans and inanimate objects, and all the little annoyances that objects cause throughout the day are battles between the two.

Bruce

[deltaenterprizes]

My curse is dropping primers into oblivion. I have a lee turret press with a kinda hokey pez primer thing that I have to be careful with. I have plenty of other hand primers and machines, but I just seem to gravitate towards the pez dispenser. It invariably misdeeds a small pistol primer or something into the 5th dimension about every major load session.. I have looked, and they just disappear. I have learned to just accept the are at least 10000 primers somewhere on my loading floor.. it is like they dropped into the Bermuda Triangle… but they are getting pretty dear these days… I guess it’s one way to stash them

If it is one of the old turret presses remove it from the bench and check inside the base!

[markmars]

AR detent pins for me. I use a Magnet part dish and a magnet, but they shoot fast.

[Sasquatch-1]

That is the dreaded Screw Shark which is a distant cousin of the Brass Shark that lives on every range. It comes up from the depths of the nether world and grabs that "OH" so important part as soon as it hits the ground.

[georgerkahn]

I sooooo hear your anguish! This phenomena had become so much of a regularity I sought out and found a clear plastic bag which is about 20" in diameter and a couple of feet deep. I even store it in a box which I labeled, "Take Apart Bag" . It is almost an automatic practice for me to put arms and items IN the bag before disassembly.
Bion, this is one of the very few cases -- if any -- where Murphy's Law takes a break. To wit, one would think that by having and using the bag it would not have been necessitated. Not at all the case -- I've been "rewarded" by using it with teeeny tiny things flying or dropped so many times!
geo

[Hickok]

Glock 19x pistol while reassembling firing pin, the spring and the two little plastic cups that hold it together. Next thing I hear is a "ping" and the spring is gone. After the launch, I hear the ricochet and landing in another room.

I said to myself, "Self, this ain't good!"

I looked, I crawled, I went back where I was sitting, looked over the trajectory of the spring, and did it all again,...and again...and etc.

The little wifey-woman comes home, I tell her the details,... a couple of minutes later she says, "I found it!", and she gives me the spring!!!

I really don't know how women can find things so easy!

[Deadeye Bly]

There is the story of a gunsmith called as an expert witness in a murder trial on whether the gun was defective. The prosecution asked him how many years he had been a gunsmith and he responded "25 years". When the defense got their chance he asked how many years experience he had as gunsmith and the guy responded "20 years". When questioned about the disparity of his remarks he responded "Well, I think I've crawled around on the floor about 5 years looking for dropped small parts such as screws, pins, springs and things."

[high standard 40]

If you were wearing lace-up shoes check them closely. I have dropped small parts and had them bounce and load in my shoe laces. Pants cuff can catch them too

[country gent]

I have used the clear bag to work in. and for jobs that arnt under tension a towel on the bench. I do scopes in a rifle cradle with a tray under it. Holds the rifle upright and secure he tray catches dropped parts.
With the numbness in my hands small screws and parts can be a challenge for me.
Another is a ribbed rubber mat or even better a carpet in front of the bench. Place the carpet top side down so the weaved back is up still stops bounce and roll but the part is easily visible