Author Topic: A funny shop accident (Read 2802 times)

coyotejoe · « **on:** March 14, 2011, 08:07:21 AM »

I disassembled my 50th Anniversary Flat top .44 mag in the process of making new grips. I carefully placed all the small parts and screws in a small plastic tub which originally held one pint of cottage cheese. I place the little tub on my desk and walked over to the workbench when I heard a strange pop and looking around I found the tub had jumped off the desk and all of my parts were on the floor. How in hell? Well when disassembling I needed something to stick through the hole in the hammer strut to hold the mainspring compressed so I used a wooden toothpick. It apparently snapped, releasing the fully compressed spring which shot right through the plastic tub knocking it off the desk at the same time.

After a bit of crawling around the filthy floor with a flashlight and magnet I was able to find all the screws and am missing only the locking bolt spring and plunger. I made a jerry rig substitute for now and have ordered the replacement parts from Ruger, so no big deal but it sure was a surprise when that tub just jumped to the floor.

DonT · « **Reply #1 on:** March 14, 2011, 12:32:00 PM »

Great story thanks for sharing... Boy been there and done that. My shop is infested with little Gnomes and when something hits the floor they scurry out from everywhere and drag things away to parts unknown. I always seem to find where they store them 2 weeks after the replacement parts come in or a month after I sold the gun...

I think the Gnomes get tired of playing with the parts and slide them out where I can find them, usually in plain sight.

After a few incidents like this, usually of my own doing from knocking those containers on the floor, i have gone to putting parts in strictly freezer ziplock bags. The heavier ones. This does a number of things.. It allows me to
1. See exactly what is in the bag without opening it (a real plus for butter fingers me).
2. I can study the parts without opening the bag and loosing them (see #1 above).
3. It I am disassembling the action I can do it in the bag with it partially zipped so anything that goes flying or falls out stays in the bag.
4. I can compare parts without opening the bag and loosing them.
5. I can easily add to the parts in the bag if necessary.
6. They are easy to keep track of and you can mark what in them with a magic marker.
7. They are realitively inexpensive as compared to buying replacement parts.
8. And best of all, my wife can't figure out why she is always running out of zip lock bags.....

I recently found some that have a zip thing to close them and they don't cost much more than the regular ones you squeeze to seal and they are better yet. These bags come in gallon and quart size I think. I do use a magnetic tray at times but only to put the parts on when reassembling....

One side note: those pesky Gnomes can't seem to figure out how to open the bags and steal parts yet......

DonT

grdad45 · « **Reply #2 on:** March 14, 2011, 12:37:11 PM »

, LOL! I was visiting my local gun shop, and the owner was re-assembling a Colt SAA. He was having trouble installing a really small spring, and asked me to hold his magnifier/light so he could see better. Just as I reached for the light, the spring slipped out of his needlenose pliers and hit a set of moose antlers on the wall behind him. We scoured the floor, tables, boxes, and even turned all the firearms on the rack over, and never found the spring. Fortunately, he was able to order a new one and get the customer's Colt finished. Just a few days later than he thought.

gunnut69 · « **Reply #3 on:** March 14, 2011, 02:56:05 PM »

Wow! this brings back a lot of memories.. Great times spent on hands and knees with a light looking for strayed parts.. I've already told the wife that when I make the last migration to get a really good price for the shop as someone will likely be able to mine it for enough parts to build several great guns!! DonT your gnomes are nicer than mine. In this neck of the woods they never seem to come back with parts.. Well there was the Remington 700 ejector spring that appeared on the wall socket box...

drdougrx · « **Reply #4 on:** March 15, 2011, 06:05:20 AM »

Soooo true....maybe it's just ghosts?

I once had a plastic after market magazine base for a 40cal HP that give way while the gun was holstered as I was walking through my open basement (this was before my wife and kids had fully moved into our house and there wasn't enough stuff to fill several large barns as there is now)....anyway....I found 9 of the 40SW rounds except 1....I looked high and low. There were no boxes or anything else at the time and the floor is concrete and the lighting is good....looked and looked and looked.....couldn't find it. Couple days later, I went down to check something and darned if that single round was right there in the middle of the floor where I was standing in plain sight.....ghosts I tell'ya......

oneoldsap · « **Reply #5 on:** March 15, 2011, 08:21:45 AM »

If you have a farm supply store nearby , stop in and pick up a cow magnet or 2 or 3 . Put a magnet in your butter tub and those parts won't disappear if it hits the floor . Now I'm wondering how many people know what a cow magnet is !!

mcwoodduck · « **Reply #6 on:** March 15, 2011, 09:30:54 AM »

Had Something Similar happen,
Now I store gun parts in cookie or cracker tins.
A little blue masking tape with the model on it.
Keeps the parts together and I can spray oil or T-9 into the tin to keep parts from rusting.
OH I also use old allen wrenches instead of tooth picks.

no guns here · « **Reply #7 on:** March 15, 2011, 10:53:05 AM »

We had just been to an M9 range and we had returned to the arms room. I had finished cleaning my M9 and was re-assembling it. Somehow the spring and guide rod went shooting away from me. Now, we were in the basement of one of the barracks buildings in Germany. The ones with a long hall running the length of the building on every floor. There was literally NOTHING in the hall for 100 feet in any direction except for cable and pipe runs overhead. I heard the spring and rod hit ONE time on the floor. There were no other sounds. I reached down and picked up the spring but the guide rod was nowhere to be found. So I started searching. Then I got my NCO's to help search. Then we got flashlights. Then the armorers came out to search too. We searched every crook and cranny and nook and crevice in that hallway from one end of the building to the other and never found that guide rod. We got chairs and stood on them to look in the cable and pipe runs too. We looked for about an hour with up to 7-8 guys trying to find that rod. I didn't get charged for it. The same armorer was there when I signed out a year later. He said that they had never found the rod. I guess there was a gnome there too. Funny how he managed to grab that guide rod out of mid-air after a bounce and made off with it...

NGH

Alan4620 · « **Reply #8 on:** March 15, 2011, 04:38:54 PM »

OK Guys you jinked me tonight.

I read this post on funny shop accidents last night and had a good chuckle over the vast aray of goof ups in my past.

Well tonight I learned not to try to dry fire a Marlin 60 while it is dissasembled,the hammer spring went flying.
I tore the room apart,took everything off my bench twice to look under it,even went into the hall and other rooms in the line of flight.After an hour of looking I was going to reassemble the rifle and order a new spring.
I picked up my screwdriver and there it was stuck to the magnetic bit holder.

I never saw it the first 2 times I picked it up.

LONGTOM · « **Reply #9 on:** March 15, 2011, 05:40:27 PM »

Quote from: oneoldsap on March 15, 2011, 08:21:45 AM

If you have a farm supply store nearby , stop in and pick up a cow magnet or 2 or 3 . Put a magnet in your butter tub and those parts won't disappear if it hits the floor . Now I'm wondering how many people know what a cow magnet is !!

OOH OOH, I DO I DO, Pick Me Pick Me!!!

LONGTOM

LONGTOM · « **Reply #10 on:** March 15, 2011, 05:48:54 PM »

A cow magnet, that's a really sexxy bull isn't it?

LONGTOM

Frank46 · « **Reply #11 on:** March 15, 2011, 06:16:44 PM »

Lost the spring and pin from a browning 22 takedown. Never could find it until years later when cleaning out the basement as we were moving it showed up when sweeping the floor. Frank

gunnut69 · « **Reply #12 on:** March 15, 2011, 10:59:49 PM »

Sure I know what a cow magnet is..I grew up on a farm.. But I don't know if I've ever seen a pistol (or rifle) with hardware disease... v The little rare earth magnets available at the tool stores are just useful as all get out. Good for capturing parts in a plastic tub or even for holding the flap on a mag pouch shut..

jhm · « **Reply #13 on:** March 16, 2011, 03:52:31 AM »

Coyotejoe: I posted a few yrs. ago what I use on the workbench and here goes again just go to any REAL ESTATE office and peal the magnetic sign off of one of their cars and take it home and turn it over and place a this shop cloth over it work on your gun and the magnetic sign will hold the small parts in place and BTW it is FREE if you dont get caught. Jim

wreckhog · « **Reply #14 on:** March 16, 2011, 05:38:05 AM »

I don't do much gumsmithing, but I took to working on my fishing reels in the bathtub. Little springs are much easier to spot against white.

drdougrx · « **Reply #15 on:** March 16, 2011, 06:51:56 AM »

WOW....fishing in the bathtub!!!!

Catch anything?

mcwoodduck · « **Reply #16 on:** March 16, 2011, 07:08:01 AM »

Quote from: wreckhog on March 16, 2011, 05:38:05 AM

I don't do much gumsmithing, but I took to working on my fishing reels in the bathtub. Little springs are much easier to spot against white.

In college when trying to change the firing pin on my Garand we heard the pin drop and a twang and bang and thump.
I said where did that go? my friends said where did what go?
After tearing apart the room we finally found the two parts.
Since then I take apart guns with spring parts, inside of an inside out pillow case.

Gun Runner · « **Reply #17 on:** March 16, 2011, 09:05:21 AM »

Never trip and drop a open 25lb bag of nr. 12 shot onto a shag carpet

. DONT ask me how I know.

Gun Runner

mcwoodduck · « **Reply #18 on:** March 16, 2011, 10:50:59 AM »

I know.
I think I burned up 2 vacume cleaners trying to get the 7.5 and 8 shot out of the carpet in my room.

Sensai · « **Reply #19 on:** March 16, 2011, 11:24:34 AM »

My wife thought I was nuts (probably right!) the other day. She came home from the store with some of the biggest zip-lock bags I've ever seen. These things must be about a foot and a half by two feet. When I saw them, I immediately stole the whole box. I know what I'll by doing my handgun disassemblies in from now on, they are clear enough to see well through and big enough for even me to use. I really guess I should find out what she needed them for and get her another box, or not.

garbhead · « **Reply #20 on:** March 16, 2011, 11:31:07 AM »

Not gun related but stupid none-the-less:

Had a flat on my 3/4 ton pickup....luckily in the garage...so I get my spare out, jack it up, air gun the lugnuts off...pull wheel & tire ...mount spare.... get ready to air-gun the lugnuts back on ...look at pile of nuts...ONLY 7!!! gawd one must have rolled under the deepfreezer....call a couple of friends to help move the freezer out of the way...no nut....I figure I'll just pick up another later when I get to town...friends leave(thank God) put lugnuts on....none missing now...

??....quick re-count.. my truck has only 7 lugs....all 3/4 ton have 8 lugs right? wrong.... not my 1998 ford F250

LONGTOM · « **Reply #21 on:** March 17, 2011, 04:30:18 PM »

That was another one of fords great ideas.
Now you can't use the spare you saved off the old truck you traded in, have to buy one from them at their price!
I know several that had that exact experence with their new fords back then.
Funny thing is the hubcap still had 8 lugs made into it.
Then ford went back to the 8 lug wheel but with a bigger bolt pattern so you still had to buy their wheels.

LONGTOM

gunnut69 · « **Reply #22 on:** March 18, 2011, 08:55:20 AM »

These stories of heart ache and laughter are great..and they stimulate memories, most funny, some not so much! Many many years ago I stocked a rifle for an acquaintence. He had done some block laying for me and I said I'd pu the stock on his newly minted 25-06. I inletted the blank and cut the outside to shape. Then bedded the rifle with a new for me material called AcraGlass ('til then I'd used Herters bedding material) and as usual I put it in very tightly. I hadn't yet figured out that bedding the FRONT of the recoil lug is NOT mandetory so when the bedding had set I set about seperating the barreled action and the stock. I held the work by the barrel and struck the action a couple of times with a large rubber mallet to see if the vibration would loosen the bond... and the butt stock fell off!!! This was on a 1909 Argentine barreled action so this was NOT a good thing. I've very seldom felt so shocjed in my life! After a lot of frustration I replaced the butt stock and INstalled a pin thru the wrist where it had seperated into the butt stock proper from the inside of the inletting. The result was NOT visible but I knew it was there and so told the new owner about the incident. He was justifiably a little concerned so I gave him a life time warrantee. If the butt stock cracks or shows any sign of trouble I'll replace the entier stock free of charge. The stock of course was the problem, and the 'mushet grain' in the wrist that caused the disaster. I learned from that though and am much more leery of wood blanks and refuse those that re weak..Live and learn. It also taught a lesson of n repair and I've fixed stocks that most would have thrown away. It gives me great satisfaction to return to useability a stock that others have given up on! It's not a loss if you learn from the wreck!

coyotejoe · « **Reply #23 on:** March 20, 2011, 10:55:19 AM »

Quote from: jhm on March 16, 2011, 03:52:31 AM

Coyotejoe: I posted a few yrs. ago what I use on the workbench and here goes again just go to any REAL ESTATE office and peal the magnetic sign off of one of their cars and take it home and turn it over and place a this shop cloth over it work on your gun and the magnetic sign will hold the small parts in place and BTW it is FREE if you dont get caught. Jim

Great idea and I wouldn't have the slightest qualm about stealing a sign from a dirt pimp.

parkergunshop · « **Reply #24 on:** March 20, 2011, 11:32:19 AM »

I guess I'm the only one who ever made this mistake:

Twenty years ago I was Testing feeding for a .35 Whelen on a 98 Mauser Barrelled Action, no stock, an MPI stock was on order at the time, using a (no/no) live ammunition, closed the bolt, hand slipped and just touched the trigger, result a large exit hole in the corner of my shop passing through a six by six corner post on its way outside.

Maybe that contributed to my hard of hearing problem today. Recoil and vibration resulting to the barrelled action not so bad, noise awful. To make matters worse the fellow I was building the rifle for was present and he has yet to let me live this one down. The rifle did feed without any failures without any modification at all in changing from the 8x57 to 35 Whelen round, a positive point.

I purchased various sized coil spring stocks from Brownells to have a back up source for those hopping disappearing spring pests on the workbench over 25 years ago. I also have a good back-up supply of the most common screws used, for they also have a habit of disappearing.

The ziplock plastic bag for small to medium sized parts is a great idea, I use it myself.

montveil · « **Reply #25 on:** March 22, 2011, 06:48:41 AM »

All the experiences sound familiar.
I have a short nap commercial rug under my work space-- it stops bouncing parts.
I use a shop vac to vacuum the area where the part might be hiding if my hands can't find it then use a magnet in the shop vac dust.
Latest hunt was the firing pin return spring from my nylon 66 - success after using vac
spring dis-assembly in the plastic bags still the best insurance.

DonT · « **Reply #26 on:** March 23, 2011, 11:19:15 AM »

Hey Sensai you better be careful stealing the whole box at one time. They make these things big enough to put a body in and if she finds out you took the whole box she might just bring home one of those really big ones.... Better start sleeping with one eye open and train the dog to bark when hears that "zipping" sound...

I ran us out of bags so many times using them for storing brass, gun parts, etc. that when my wife catches me in the kitchen I need to Assume The Position so she can make sure I wasn't wandering off with the last of the bags AGAIN.... When we go to the grocery store it is a regular routine, she ALWAYS asks if I need any zip lock bags or Paper Towel for the shop and if I am not sure she buys extra.. Only took me 30 years to get her trained

DonT

gunnut69 · « **Reply #27 on:** March 23, 2011, 10:50:57 PM »

Now I must say you've got guts.. I'd never use the 'trained' statement about my beloved.. It's too easy to get hurt..

drdougrx · « **Reply #28 on:** March 24, 2011, 06:29:46 AM »

Just happened again 2 nights ago....last week I sold a member here a Rem trigger with safety and was sending it in as small a package as possible so I took it apart. Sunday was decapping a hundred or so 06 cases and when done was sweeping up the spent primers. In the pile I noticed a strange D shaped piece of metal and low and behold...it was the retaining clip for the thumbsafety/bolt release for the trigger....and distinctly remember taking it apart in a plastic bag so I wouldn't lose any parts (esp the detent ball)!!! Ghosts and gnomes at work I tell'ya.....

Hodr · « **Reply #29 on:** March 24, 2011, 03:58:12 PM »

I was in Berlin Brigade back about 1968 as Armorer. We lived in a cartel that was originally a tank factory and later converted to SS barracks during the war. Solid concrete walls 8' thick, two of them with gas tight doors. Weapons platoon leader had an office in basement and was detested by every one. One day he goes down to his office and it smells bad. Opens his right desk drawer and some one has taken a dump in it. Big hu-hu but, nothing found to say who did it. Two nidhts later the phantom struck again. Over the next month every one from guards at the door to CID cameras watched that room 24/7. Every couple of days a load would appear. Solution was from 1st Sgt Lopez. Walled up room with concrete after welding door shut.
GREMLINS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hodr