Where do they hide?

[FoghornLeghorn]

I spent last week in Colorado to fish the Colorado River near Vail. I carried my Ruger SP101.

When I got home I took the gun apart to clean/oil and in a momentary lack of attention let the pawl spring/cap fly out of the trigger group. I've moved furniture. Repositioned rugs. Relocated the entertainment center. Broom swept and dusted.

Where do springs go to hide? Maybe there's a gremlin living in the fireplace?

On a serious note. Can an ordinary Joe buy parts from Ruger? Or do I go through Numrich or Brownells?

[Berserker]

I would check Brownells and Midway first.

Certain things Ruger will not sell. I wanted a different hammer for that gun, was going to grind it into more of bob.

When I order stuff, I buy extra. Going to eat it in shipping anyways.

[Berserker]

IMO titling this where to buy replacement parts, might get more people to open it, that something funny.

[g.willikers]

We've all done that.
I use a magnet to sweep the area for steel parts.
Along with a wide beam flashlight for finding non steel parts.
Most always works.

[Model12Win]

Turn the lights off and get a bright flashlight and flash it around.

You might be surprised at the "metal bits" that will show up that way.

[Minorcan]

Hold everything, I had a similar unfortunate accident, I called Ruger to order a replacement and they sent it to me free. I would call Ruger first, they have outstanding customer service. If that doesn't work, Harbor Freight has a bar magnet on the end of a stick to pick up nails and such, It would be ideal to go over your carpet and I bet you'll find the part.

[FoghornLeghorn]

I found it. After two days of looking, I found it. Unbelievable.

It bounced off a window casement, through closed Venetian blinds, and came to rest on the tilt bracket of a double hung window. That's why I couldn't find it, viz. it was behind closed blinds. Crazy.

Thanks for the suggestions. You guys are great.

[Berserker]

Midways and Brownells have exploded views of many guns. Easy.

[UncleEd]

Since Ruger has videos on taking apart their revolvers, it seems logical that they stand behind a few "oops" moments in following their instructions and send out a replacement spring/springs, pins..

[Pahoo]

For those of us that like to tinker, this will eventually happen and we even come up with preventive techniques. When "It" lets loose, I freeze and listen. Then I use the flashlight or magnet to locate. This process also happens when I take my pills. I've learned to put the drain stopper down as a number of pills have gone down. Currently I am missing an adjusting screw on one of my Double-Sets, two small springs and the second set of keys for my safe ...

I get most of my replacement parts from Midway and even Ebay. ....

Good luck and;
Be Safe !!!

[Lost Sheep]

When disassembling anything with parts that try to escape, here is a way to ensure no parts get lost.

Set up a packpacking tent in your living room. Get inside with your gun or whatever and do the dissasembly there. That way any parts that escape cannot go far.

Strip naked. Parts have a way of getting in your clothing.

Prepare to explain to your wife why you are naked inside a tent inside your house.

I'm glad you found your escaped parts.

Lost Sheep

p.s. professional photographers (in the days of film) sometimes had to deal with having to open a camera up in the field while it still has film inside. They would hve a light-tight bag with two hand-holes. Put the camer in the bag, seal up the opening and open the camera up in the dark. You could do something like with a NICU-type isolation box.

[g.willikers]

Just keep a closet completely empty and disassemble your stuff in there.
And no rugs, just hard floors in there.
Or disassemble pistols inside of paper bags.
Good practice for doing it in the dark, too.
Never know when that will come in handy.
And don't forget to wear eye protection for those loose springs.
And keep your mouth closed, too.

[Master Blaster]

Put a white towel on your disassembly bench and it should catch most parts. Don't point spring assemblies into the air aim at the towel. Call Ruger they have supplied many pawl springs and plungers to folks who Pulled the trigger when the trigger group is out and had the pawl plunger and pawl spring fly away. Thisa lso happened to me with my SP101 years ago and I found the spring and plunger on the floor.

[Chainsaw.]

I swear every gun tinkerer needs an all white room with nothing in it just for these occasions, course then it would just end up in the cuff of your jeans or something.

[disseminator]

I never found the bolt keeper spring for my Model 700.

Luckily Brownells had them in stock.

[FrankenMauser]

Where do they hide?

Everywhere.
And nowhere.

Many stories.
Two random selections:
Spent 3 hours looking for the extractor detent ball for a Marlin XL7, which went flying when I pulled the extractor to inspect for malfunction cause(s).
Gave up.
Went back to the rifle and bolt to inspect, and found the ball in the bottom of the magazine well ... which had been on the other side of the room. An unintentional and miraculous hole-in-one.

Re-purposed a Yugo 24/47 Mauser sear spring for use as an auto-ejector when cutting wads for .44 caliber shot shells. Several years later, I took the tool apart, because I needed the spring for an actual Mauser trigger. Sproing!!! Gone. Looked and looked. Never found it.
Four YEARS later, I brought a box of random crap up from the gun room and set it on the kitchen table. My wife came in and pushed it across the table to make room for something she was doing, leaving a hideous gouge on the table, in the process.
After crying over the defacement of my beautiful table, I picked the box up to see what the issue was.
Yugo 24/47 sear spring...

[44 AMP]

IF you think tiny metal parts are bad, try plastic! One of my other hobbies is scale modeling, and when the gremlins take off with a tiny plastic part, its even worse, as magnets are useless.

[JohnKSa]

Sometimes they have help...

I was working on a P95 one time and the extractor went for a short flight. I saw the direction it went and heard it hit so I finished what I was doing before I went looking for it. Probably took me 2 or 3 minutes before I started the search.

I could NOT find it. It was bizarre because it landed in a very accessible spot with no obstructions or visibility issues. On top of that, my wife had been in the room and she agreed with me as to where it had landed. And besides the extractor on a P95 isn't really a small part--it's over 2" long and this one was stainless steel. It should have been very easy to see.

I noticed that the whole time I was looking for the part, the cat was sitting at the end of the hall watching me carefully. That was a little strange because usually she tries to get right in the middle of things.

I finally gave up looking and ordered a replacement. The day it came, I saw the cat playing with something and it was the "lost" extractor. The only thing I can figure is that she saw it land, carried it off and hid it before I finished with what I was doing and started the search. She's been known to hide "toys" she likes if she thinks she won't be allowed to keep them.

To date that remains the only "escaped" part I've ever had to replace. All the rest I've found.

[kozak6]

Once upon a time, I was reassembling a Rossi revolver.

I was reinstalling the mainspring, except it sproinged. The spring didn't get very far, but the mainspring retaining swivel did. It pinged over my shoulder, ricocheted off the wall behind me, flew back over over my head, and ended up on the complete opposite side of the room between the trashcan and the wall.

Something similar happened when I was removing a springbar from a watchband. Never found it.

Another flashlight technique is to lay the flashlight on the ground and look along the beam. Anything on the floor is going to be lit up, leave a long shadow, or possibly glint.

One technique I've adopted is to work inside of a gallon freezer bag when dealing with sproingy parts. It's saved me a couple times.

I finally gave up looking and ordered a replacement. The day it came, I saw the cat playing with something and it was the "lost" extractor.

Nah, it wasn't the cat. I've found that the quickest and surest way to find a lost item is to purchase a replacement.

[g.willikers]

The best way to prevent lost parts is to have a spare.
With a spare handy, it's impossible to lose anything.

[44 AMP]

I've found that the quickest and surest way to find a lost item is to purchase a replacement.

I call that the "like finds like" effect, and while not 100% the number is pretty high. Not certain, but it seems like if the house hob /gremlin / cat?? can't get any more entertainment by depriving you of it, they often give it back...

[FrankenMauser]

Yep.
Replacements often do the trick.

Or... telling someone what a PITA something is being, or that you've given up on finding whatever it may be.

This very morning, my wife and I spent a combined four hours looking for our son's shin guards, for his last soccer game tonight. I finally sent her a message after she had left for work: "They're gone. Can't find them. Even looked in the freezers."

Turned around, tripped over the girls' toy box, and out poked the end of one of my son's shin guards...


A couple months back, I spent over 4.5 hours trying to get the oil pump shaft lined up just perfectly, so a new distributor would drop into the engine in my Nova. Finally sent a bit of a text message rant to one (or two?) of my brothers, complaining about how stupidly (and unnecessarily) tight the tolerances were on the new distributor gear and shaft.
Put the phone down, picked up the distributor, gave the oil pump shaft a random spin with a priming tool, and plunk! Dropped right in.

[Snyper]

When I got home I took the gun apart to clean/oil

That's when most problems occur.

It's also why most people shouldn't be taking guns apart to clean them until it's absolutely necessary.

With spray solvents and compressed air one can go for years without needing to "take apart" any gun beyond a typical field stripping, and even that's not needed most of the time.

[jmr40]

I've ordered parts from Ruger. Sometimes they will ship, sometimes they want to install the part. They would probably ship the spring and probably at no cost. Call them 1st.

[44caliberkid]

I do my gun work on the kitchen table and we have dark blue, short pile carpet, so anything black or blue disappears. While I work, my old cat sits next to me. If something flies off, he chases it and puts his nose right on it, for a second, till he knows it's not something to eat, then walks away. So I just watch him, he's my parts pointer. He spots anything new on the floor. Has saved me countless minutes of searching. I'm sure a dog could be equally useful.