Lost Then Found

[Jim567]

Every great once in a while, a wee small part will get lost on my workbench in the garage.
I'm relentless in finding them and I've never failed.
But just now I was changing out a recoil spring in my 1911.
I went to reassemble, I could not find the slide stop/link pin.
This was in my office on my computer desk, which is very uncluttered.
I started the search. I moved everything off the desk and there wasn't much.
I looked under the desk, emptied the trashcan, and got down on my hands and knees and searched the floor.
Perplexed, I hadn't gotten off the chair! How far could it have gone?
I remembered I've been having a problem with a tendon in my left hand
Wearing a nylon strap with magnets around the center to help.
Ugh!

[44 AMP]

There's a good reason that the GI 1911 guns had the link pin staked in place.

[Aguila Blanca]

GI M1911s didn't generally need to have the link pin staked, because it was a press/interference fit.

The GI blueprints show the hole in the link should have a diameter of 0.1565" + .001"

The pin has a diameter of 0.1555" - .001"

So the pin will always be a loose fit in the link.

The hole in the barrel lug is spec'd at 0.154" +.001" -- meaning that the pin should be larger than the hole in the barrel lugs. If you found one that had to be staked, it was at the largest end of spec for the hole and the smallest end of the spec for the pin.

[44 AMP]

Need to be staked? usually not, staked for "insurance", quite often.

In my shops, (Army, mid 70s) if the gun came in without the pin staked, it usually went out with it staked. No matter what the repair it came in for.

I've seen guns with tight pins, and loose pins, and our SOP was if the pin could be pushed (not driven) it got staked. Not any official directive I ever saw, but it was what we did, the main reason being to keep the users from removing the pin and, of course, losing it.

I can't speak to what Army practice is today, but I imagine its still essentially in line with what was done before and while I was in. Each level of maint (there were 5 when I served) had different levels of what they could do, including how far they were allowed to disassemble the mechanism.

Level 1 was the user. Level 2 was the Company Armorer. Level 3 was Direct Supprt Maint, level 4 General Support maint and level 5 was Depot level maint.

Levels 3 and 4 were often performed by the same people in the Support Companies. I was a Small Arms Repairman (MOS 45B20) and did level 3 and 4 maint in Direct Support and Forward Support companies of Maintenance Battalions .

Also did contact team field work on the ranges and inspection of customer units arms rooms and inventory.

Specifc to the 1911/A1 any disassembly beyond what was given in the appropriate level manual was verboten. Lots of users and armormers did it anyway, and if they screwed it up, I was the guy who got to fix it.

SO, to "discourage" unauthorized removal of the link pin, we staked it.

Civilian guns and owners are a different matter.

[Jim567]

I realized I screwed up my description of the part. It was a slide stop.
I've never been able to get a link out of the barrel without a heavy punch.
A slide stop, is very difficult to lose, unless you have a magnet around your wrist!

[Aguila Blanca]

Originally Posted by 44 AMP

Need to be staked? usually not, staked for "insurance", quite often.

In my shops, (Army, mid 70s) if the gun came in without the pin staked, it usually went out with it staked. No matter what the repair it came in for.

I've seen guns with tight pins, and loose pins, and our SOP was if the pin could be pushed (not driven) it got staked. Not any official directive I ever saw, but it was what we did, the main reason being to keep the users from removing the pin and, of course, losing it.

I agree that if the link pin is loose enough that it can be pushed out without effort, staking it is a good idea. That said, in pistols built to GI specs, that should not be necessary in most cases.

I have never encountered a new barrel that didn't require significant effort to press the link pin in. In fact, I've seen so many that were undersized that I bought a reamer specifically to bring the barrel lug holes to Ordnance spec before I even started trying to press the link pin into the barrel.

[4V50 Gary]

Back at Lassen College we used to joke that half of the time the class was on the floor looking for parts that went orbital. We had the most swept floor on the campus.

At Trinidad we had a magnet on rollers that was pushed around like a broom. The magnet on the "Stick of Shame" sometimes found the missing part. It took me 45 min to set up a lathe to make a part and only a few minutes to make it. Then it went airborne and an hour was spent trying to find it. Good times.

[44 AMP]

There's a reason smart folks don't do shag carpet in the workroom.

[4V50 Gary]

Smooth floors and flashlights in hope of spotting a glint.

[44 AMP]

I've been known to get my eye down to floor level and use a light, looking for "bumps" but these days its a chore, not only do my knees not do what they did 40 years ago but the wife's Aussie herd dog thinks getting on the floor means playtime, and he weighs more than a quarter what I do, and is much faster and younger.

and, he's freakishly strong, too!

[DaleA]

This topic has come up before with someone suggesting the invention of the 'Gunsmithing Pod'.
Yep. You'd enter the pod, it would close around you (picture two upright bath tubs hinged on one side) and no parts would be able to escape.
Any inventors out there?
Or better yet, any VENTURE CAPITALISTS with a couple of million bucks to throw my way to "research" the concept. (Yeah, research, what a good word).

[44 AMP]

A "pod" is overkill. And a waste of $.

A glovebox will do the job, and can be made cheap from plastic sheeting or scrap carboard a pair of gloves and duct tape. And, if you're not working with hazardous materials, you don't even need the gloves.

OR if you need more space, you can make a "greenhouse" from plastic sheeting duct tape and a few other odds and ends.

Was a very common practice in the nuclear industry when I was working, and done right, will contain radioactive contamination, so it will certainly keep small parts in containment.

I've done the research, have 30 years practical field experience, it works. If you'll send me a couple million dollars, I'll happily write it up, and include plans and send the report back to you.

[bamaranger]

I worked as an armorer for my agency and the usual drill was that strip and clean was done on per factory recommendation while the staff was assembled for annual training or recertification in some skill set. Myself and another armorer would collect a few pistols every evening after class and do the strip/clean/inspect routine and return them to their owners the following AM.

Andy would take a troublesome step of the process into the tile floored bathroom, close the drains and lid, and disassemble the little rocket launcher there! We also had a roofers magnet (magnet on a stick) that could prove quite useful at times. I've done the armorer's crawl more times than I care to admit. Somewhere down in my den there is a 1911 firing pin and firing pin spring yet to be found!

[dogtown tom]

44 AMP There's a reason smart folks don't do shag carpet in the workroom.

The only nice thing about carpet is tiny parts don't tend to bounce 3' away.

Twice I've been able to recover a tiny spring by vacuuming.

DaleA This topic has come up before with someone suggesting the invention of the 'Gunsmithing Pod'.

A large clear plastic bag from the dry cleaners is perfect and what I use when there is a chance of a spring shooting off into the wild. Suggested to me by Lee of Lee's Gun Parts in Irving, TX.

[FITASC]

There's a reason smart folks don't do shag carpet in the workroom

And they also have a welding magnet on a stick to find parts that DO fall.