That damn Ruger pin

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Joined
Jan 2, 2005
Messages
3,948
Location
Northern Illinois
Today after returning home from the range I had three guns to clean. One is a S&W revolver, nothing to take apart, just swing open the cylinder. The next was my Glock 17. Easy to take apart, no small pieces, no tools needed. The third is my everyday carry, an LC9s. So many things I like about this gun, but taking it apart does require a tool or paper clip or something to push out the pin, and the damn pin itself is a problem (at least it was today for me). After I removed it from the gun it rolled off my work bench, bouncing on the concrete floor and rolling who knows where. For the next 20 minutes I was down on my knees, or my back, using a powerful flashlight, looking under the work bench (amazing how many screws, nails, washers, nuts and other debris I found under there), under two different cabinets, around the hot water heater and behind a pile of old lumber. I finally found it, all the while searching thinking that maybe its time to switch my EDC to a Glock 26 and never think about the damn pin again.

Ruger knows how to do things right with certain guns. My Mark IV is a dream to take apart for cleaning, so much easier than the Browning Buckmark I sold after buying the Mark IV. But pushing out little pins or similar items when other makers have found ways to avoid that step is a frustration with the LC9s.
 

BDM1

Single-Sixer
Joined
Oct 11, 2016
Messages
498
Glad you found it, sometimes those little parts are never found, no one seems to know how they disappear.
 

Yawn

Blackhawk
Joined
Dec 4, 2010
Messages
646
Careful... this guy got flamed pretty hard for similar complaints:

http://www.rugerforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=271659
 

Mike J

Hunter
Joined
Aug 5, 2007
Messages
4,204
Location
GA
The way some of the Rugers break down goes back to their origin. The LCP & the original LC9 while not direct clones were basically copies of Kel-Tec designs. The Kel-Tec P-11 I had broke down that way. I believe the Security 9 breaks down the same way.
 
Joined
Jan 16, 2009
Messages
1,121
Location
SE Michigan
recumbent said:
You need a magnetic parts tray from Harbor Freight less than $5
That little parts tray makes for a "Where were you all my life" moment. But even that wouldn't have helped the first time I cleaned my SR1911. Of course that slide spring cover launched, and I didn't find it until after I received the replacement order. At least now I have a spare.
 

mpalm

Single-Sixer
Joined
Oct 2, 2016
Messages
165
Location
massachusetts
I have purchased a lot of small pins,springs, e clips, over the years for various guns that got lost
seems everbody has a story like that, made me laugh.
Happy Holidays
 

SamV

Buckeye
Joined
Mar 15, 2005
Messages
1,017
Location
Missouri
Unfortunately, sometimes those small parts never make it to a magnetic tray. They fly away quickly. I will try the mesh lingerie laundry bag trick. I am sure my wife won't mind.
What happens when you can't find your magnetic tray? Mine disappears frequently, sometimes with important parts still in it. My son is always tinkering with electronics and often walks off with my tray sometimes in mid-project. He has caused several duplicate tool purchases.
There are several tiny springs and parts somewhere in my basement, probably sucked into a missing dryer sock black hole.
 

s4s4u

Hunter
Joined
Dec 16, 2006
Messages
2,085
Location
MN, USA
vito said:
Glock seemed to figure out how to make cleaning and re-assembly as simple as possible. Maybe the next generation Rugers will as well.

You mean like the American? Doesn't get much easier.
 

mohavesam

Hawkeye
Joined
Jan 4, 2004
Messages
5,847
Location
Rugerville, AZ
meaning: On a phone on a rental-car bus, a one-word reply is acceptable.

Look, this is the 21st century. Aerosols clean metal and plastic. For milk money, one can spray the guts of a handgun to food-grade clean without tools. My answer to decreasing dexterity and small pins and springs. Aerosols scrub a bore, dissolve lead n copper, even re-lube any handgun machine.

Good designs can go hundreds or thousands of handgun rounds with spray-solvents and a brush/wipe rag. I personally know some Ruger 22s that havent been stripped in 15 years or more. Sometimes I think fingerprints are a worse threat than repetitive unnecessary stripping.

Obvious to most, the answer to the OP frustration is the age-old process of disassembly inside a plastic bag (planning ahead: toss in a good magnet)
 

leadhead2

Bearcat
Joined
Mar 9, 2018
Messages
36
Location
Western Pa.
I don't have a problem with my LC9s... I push the small lock down, turn
it over and the pin drops out by itself... I do use a little oil on the pin when
I reassemble it.
Denny
 

CoyoteHunter_

Bearcat
Joined
Aug 31, 2015
Messages
85
Location
Indiana
I agree with you about that pin. It's hard to rack the slide and get the pin in the proper position while also pushing the pin out of the hole.

I have a Walter's PPQ M2 4" 9 mm semiauto and it's very easy to take apart without any tools. I sure wish that Ruger would make a gun that was easier to take about to clean.

One time when I was cleaning my new AR15 a spring flew out under pressure and bounced onto the floor. It went down the air vent. I tried to use a long handled magnetic tool but the part was not magnetic. I ended up searching the entire kitchen/dining room area and under the refrigerator and the stove trying to find that little pin. I finally got down on my hands and knees and reached down into the air vent to find the pin at the very tip of my fingers. I had to really stretch my arm/hand/fingers down into that air vent to retrieve the spring. I had not even fired the AR15 and it cost $1350 new so I was desperate to find that pin as the rifle would not work without that tiny pin.
 
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