Lost pawl spring and plunger...

I can't be the only one who's house carpeting has swallowed up small parts! :?

Was swapping a super hammer into a new to me 357 Blackhawk and it was staying in place so I foolishly left it in. It stayed put for quite a while and then all of the sudden , poof...it were gone! Looked for a couple hours and no luck. Figured that was an honest attempt but had to order a new spring and plunger. Grrrr...


It'll show up a day or two after the new one shows up but at least I'll have a spare then! :mrgreen:

You disassemble guns in the living room???

Chuck 100 yd said:

You disassemble guns in the living room???

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I knew someone was going to notice that! Haha! My table in the reloading room is a cluster right now and I have a pretty big coffee table so yes , I did. Im guessing it fell in my lap and rode along to a different part of the house.

Repeatedly sweep the carpet with a strong magnet. (Big car speaker magnet is plenty strong to suck it outta the carpet.) If you wern't moving all over hells half acre, ya might just find it. At least hit the area round the table heavily and then trace out yer immediate path away from the table.

I had a coil spring take off when I was trying to put my Smiff back together. I heard it hit the garage door about 15' away. Using my bat-like echolocation I found the spring at the base of the door - no problem.

There is an old idea of working with springs inside a plastic bag.

Jimbo357mag said:

There is an old idea of working with springs inside a plastic bag.

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Where's the excitement in THAT? :lol:

I have lost a couple of them too. After the first incident I ordered several to hold in reserve for future outings. I'm glad I did.

If you ever decide to replace the rear sight leaf on a S&W revolver, you would be well advised to buy several sets of the spring and detent in addition to the screw and nut. Those tiny detents tend to launch and orbit the earth before landing again.

The older I get, the more small parts I manage to lose, and anything spring loaded is in real danger of being lost. Planning has become the key for me.

Well like I figured...found it after the new one showed up. It didnt go far but sure was hiding good!

Normally I do this at my loading table where there is more room and light but figured I've done this enough times that it was no big deal. And I usually put down a white towel if small parts are involved. Small parts dont roll away and are easy to see. Should have done that too. Oh well...all is good and I have a spare now.

Well at least you didn't look for an hour and realize that when the pawl was removed, the plunger and spring fell all the way into the gun and was hiding in there!!

"There is an old idea of working with springs inside a plastic bag."

Don't do this. The time I was scared of losing the plungers on my old MK 1 Target I passed out in the bag and the wife sent me to the hospital.

PriseDeFer said:

"There is an old idea of working with springs inside a plastic bag."

Don't do this. The time I was scared of losing the plungers on my old MK 1 Target I passed out in the bag and the wife sent me to the hospital.

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Yeah, but you didn't loose any springs or parts did you?? :roll: :roll: :mrgreen:

PriseDeFer said:

"There is an old idea of working with springs inside a plastic bag."

Don't do this. The time I was scared of losing the plungers on my old MK 1 Target I passed out in the bag and the wife sent me to the hospital.

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:lol: :lol: :lol:

First time I used a plastic bag to dissemble a handgun, the wife said it looked like I was committing suicide! But I didn't lose any parts. :mrgreen:

I swear there is another universe that small parts go to if you don't control them properly.