Oh that dreaded sound/feeling...

JD · October 4th, 2008, 06:46 PM

So today was the baby shower for out little one, I figured since Lima was going to a hen party that I'd hang out at home and clean some guns, sounds like a good idea, right?

So I get done with my Baer, my Hi Power, do a once over on the .22, scrub the heck out of my AR (had a ton of carbon caked on the rear of the bolt.

), clean the .17HMR; Lima comes home and asks me to do a once over on her Wilson and Kimber and I show them a little love as well.

I start putting things away when I come across my Colt Mustang +II...

It's a little dirty as well as I've been carrying it quite a bit this summer as I've been spending more time at the office and less time in the field.

I've never done more than the basic field strip for the frame on any of my Colt .380s, but once I removed the grip panels and got a peek at the insides, I could see a bunch of grit, grime, and gunky build up, so I decide to take the thing down to bare bones and give it a good once over.

Now, the one thing I did right was have my magnetic matt handy to place all the "new to me" parts that I was not familiar with, what I did wrong was not take any pictures of what the gun looked like before hand.

(This is a hint, get a magnetic matt, and use your camera for something other than gun porn) , so as I'm getting the guts out, I get to the hammer, I remove the pin holding in the hammer, and the pin holding the ejector and the sear and I hear that sound, you know that sound, that sound that you just can't describe but you know it's a spring loosing it's tension and being launched... And then comes that feeling, that "I'm never going to find this spring and I don't even know what spring it was" feeling. I hate that feeling.

So after a few minutes of cursing to myself, I start looking for a spring that I thought I heard hit over by the couch 10' away from the table I was at (Hint 2, remember that magnetic matt? It's great for running on the floor to look for lost springs), I crawl over the floor for a bit and don't find anything.

So I call up the Brownells schematic (Hint 3: Book mark the Brownells schematic page. ) and look at all my parts and start ID'ing the parts that I do have, come to find out I'm not missing anything after all.

I don't know what I heard hit the wall, but it wasn't a spring.

So I begin reassembling the Mustang, and I get to reinserting the ejector and the sear and for the life of me I can't figure it out, the schematic shows how the parts line up for the most part, but not how the sear rides on the sear spring.

Lucky for me I have two more Colt .380s and I was able to see where how the parts line up, the bottom of the sear goes in between the trigger bar and the sear spring, and in order to line up the sear, ejector, ejector/sear pin, you need to be able to line up the parts, pull the trigger to allow the sear and ejector to line up right and slide in the pin.

It's not easy, but it is possible to do with one pair of hands.

I think I'm going to try and do this again, getting all the parts out and actually documenting it with photos for a nice "how to", I could not get out the trigger pin, and actually bent my small brass punch trying to get that sucker out, and by the time I got done with the spring fiasco, I was too darn ticked off to remove the sear spring clip and remove the sear spring, but I got all the other parts out of the frame.

I did not do a detail strip of the slide as I have done that before, it's pretty much the same design layout as a 1911, only a lot smaller.

Anyway, I got the gun back together and did the "pencil test" and it passes, but I think I'm going to start toting Lima's Wilson until I can get out and actually test the Mustang with some live ammo.

It was actually kind of fun minus that heart-attack moment when I thought I launched/lost a spring, the guns are clean, I removed the pink grips from Wilson and put the factory grips back on so I won't be toting a gun with pretty pink grips this week.

One more thing, I learned a new way to remove a super tight ambi thumb safety today, I still had to wiggle the thing for about 10 minutes to get enough room between the safety and the slide, but one there was enough room I was able to take a pipe cleaner and insert in between the slide and the right side safety lever, wrap and twist the pipe cleaner attaching it to the safety leaving about 3" to tug on and was able to pull it right off.

ExactlyMyPoint · October 4th, 2008, 06:50 PM

Dang. From the title, I thought you were talking about Lima going into labor.

Ram Rod · October 4th, 2008, 06:53 PM

LOL! I keep schematics for all of my firearms JIC. Brownell's is good no doubt. I actually lost two springs last week from my AR-15 out in the gun room. The buffer detent spring and rear take down detent spring. Thanks to Bushmaster's ultimate customer support, I'm good to go once again. Guaranteed...nobody likes to hear that sound and utter those unspeakable words when they know something important has ejected into oblivion.

ccw9mm · October 4th, 2008, 06:55 PM

Yeah, I thought the "spring had sprung," too. Breathe! Hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo whwhwhhhooooooooo.

JD · October 4th, 2008, 06:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by exactlymypoint

Dang. From the title, I thought you were talking about Lima going into labor.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ccw9mm

Yeah, I thought the "spring had sprung," too. Breathe! Hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo whwhwhhhooooooooo.

BAD JD, BAD!

Sorry guys, the bun is still in the oven and he's not ready to come out yet.

raytracer · October 4th, 2008, 07:07 PM

You have 3 Colt .380s?!?

You lucky dog. If they keep going up like they have, you can use two of them to put the little one through college in 18 years, and still have one to send off to school with him/her!

Joe

JD · October 4th, 2008, 07:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by raytracer

You have 3 Colt .380s?!?

You lucky dog. If they keep going up like they have, you can use two of them to put the little one through college in 18 years, and still have one to send off to school with him/her!

Joe

Yep, http://www.defensivecarry.com/vbulle...-short-9s.html

Lucky is right, I've just been at the right places at the right times to pick these three up.

archer51 · October 4th, 2008, 07:37 PM

Swapping the pink grips for the factory grips.....now why would you want to do that? In fact I think we would all like to see a picture of you carrying with the pink grips!!

ccw9mm · October 4th, 2008, 07:45 PM

Even a duffer knows to ditch the 'pink ladies' when approaching the course.

Sorry, Lima, but it's a good call for JD. I just hope they find him before the smell gets too bad, once she finds Wilson's gone missin'. Ha!

TN_Mike · October 4th, 2008, 08:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by exactlymypoint

Dang. From the title, I thought you were talking about Lima going into labor.

Same here. I thought the sound was going to be the sound of a cup of water hitting the floor. I have heard that sound, and it makes for an uneasy feeling that I can tell you for sure.

October 4th, 2008, 06:46 PM	#1
JD Senior Moderator Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Central Iowa Posts: 11,655	Oh that dreaded sound/feeling... So today was the baby shower for out little one, I figured since Lima was going to a hen party that I'd hang out at home and clean some guns, sounds like a good idea, right? So I get done with my Baer, my Hi Power, do a once over on the .22, scrub the heck out of my AR (had a ton of carbon caked on the rear of the bolt. ), clean the .17HMR; Lima comes home and asks me to do a once over on her Wilson and Kimber and I show them a little love as well. I start putting things away when I come across my Colt Mustang +II... It's a little dirty as well as I've been carrying it quite a bit this summer as I've been spending more time at the office and less time in the field. I've never done more than the basic field strip for the frame on any of my Colt .380s, but once I removed the grip panels and got a peek at the insides, I could see a bunch of grit, grime, and gunky build up, so I decide to take the thing down to bare bones and give it a good once over. Now, the one thing I did right was have my magnetic matt handy to place all the "new to me" parts that I was not familiar with, what I did wrong was not take any pictures of what the gun looked like before hand. (This is a hint, get a magnetic matt, and use your camera for something other than gun porn) , so as I'm getting the guts out, I get to the hammer, I remove the pin holding in the hammer, and the pin holding the ejector and the sear and I hear that sound, you know that sound, that sound that you just can't describe but you know it's a spring loosing it's tension and being launched... And then comes that feeling, that "I'm never going to find this spring and I don't even know what spring it was" feeling. I hate that feeling. So after a few minutes of cursing to myself, I start looking for a spring that I thought I heard hit over by the couch 10' away from the table I was at (Hint 2, remember that magnetic matt? It's great for running on the floor to look for lost springs), I crawl over the floor for a bit and don't find anything. So I call up the Brownells schematic (Hint 3: Book mark the Brownells schematic page. ) and look at all my parts and start ID'ing the parts that I do have, come to find out I'm not missing anything after all. I don't know what I heard hit the wall, but it wasn't a spring. So I begin reassembling the Mustang, and I get to reinserting the ejector and the sear and for the life of me I can't figure it out, the schematic shows how the parts line up for the most part, but not how the sear rides on the sear spring. Lucky for me I have two more Colt .380s and I was able to see where how the parts line up, the bottom of the sear goes in between the trigger bar and the sear spring, and in order to line up the sear, ejector, ejector/sear pin, you need to be able to line up the parts, pull the trigger to allow the sear and ejector to line up right and slide in the pin. It's not easy, but it is possible to do with one pair of hands. I think I'm going to try and do this again, getting all the parts out and actually documenting it with photos for a nice "how to", I could not get out the trigger pin, and actually bent my small brass punch trying to get that sucker out, and by the time I got done with the spring fiasco, I was too darn ticked off to remove the sear spring clip and remove the sear spring, but I got all the other parts out of the frame. I did not do a detail strip of the slide as I have done that before, it's pretty much the same design layout as a 1911, only a lot smaller. Anyway, I got the gun back together and did the "pencil test" and it passes, but I think I'm going to start toting Lima's Wilson until I can get out and actually test the Mustang with some live ammo. It was actually kind of fun minus that heart-attack moment when I thought I launched/lost a spring, the guns are clean, I removed the pink grips from Wilson and put the factory grips back on so I won't be toting a gun with pretty pink grips this week. One more thing, I learned a new way to remove a super tight ambi thumb safety today, I still had to wiggle the thing for about 10 minutes to get enough room between the safety and the slide, but one there was enough room I was able to take a pipe cleaner and insert in between the slide and the right side safety lever, wrap and twist the pipe cleaner attaching it to the safety leaving about 3" to tug on and was able to pull it right off. __________________ Some Things Need to be Addressed... Iowa Carry.ORG: Promoting Weapons Carry Reform in Iowa Forum Customs & Courtesies

October 4th, 2008, 06:50 PM	#2
ExactlyMyPoint Distinguished Member Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Portland, OR Posts: 1,915	Dang. From the title, I thought you were talking about Lima going into labor. __________________ Article II, Section I of the U.S. Constitution: I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.

October 4th, 2008, 06:53 PM	#3
Ram Rod VIP Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: crawford county, arkansas Posts: 8,826	LOL! I keep schematics for all of my firearms JIC. Brownell's is good no doubt. I actually lost two springs last week from my AR-15 out in the gun room. The buffer detent spring and rear take down detent spring. Thanks to Bushmaster's ultimate customer support, I'm good to go once again. Guaranteed...nobody likes to hear that sound and utter those unspeakable words when they know something important has ejected into oblivion. __________________ RamRod-----sans remords live, eat, breathe, sleep Glock

October 4th, 2008, 06:55 PM	#4
ccw9mm VIP Member Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Oregon USA Posts: 8,422	Yeah, I thought the "spring had sprung," too. Breathe! Hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo whwhwhhhooooooooo. __________________ Your best weapon is your brain. Don't leave home without it. Thoughts: Justifiable self defense. Explain: How does disarming victims reduce the number of victims? Deal with evil through strength. Affirm the good in Man through trust. NRA. GOA. OFF.

October 4th, 2008, 07:45 PM	#9
ccw9mm VIP Member Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Oregon USA Posts: 8,422	Even a duffer knows to ditch the 'pink ladies' when approaching the course. Sorry, Lima, but it's a good call for JD. I just hope they find him before the smell gets too bad, once she finds Wilson's gone missin'. Ha! __________________ Your best weapon is your brain. Don't leave home without it. Thoughts: Justifiable self defense. Explain: How does disarming victims reduce the number of victims? Deal with evil through strength. Affirm the good in Man through trust. NRA. GOA. OFF.

October 4th, 2008, 07:07 PM	#6
raytracer Member Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Kansas City Posts: 308	You have 3 Colt .380s?!? You lucky dog. If they keep going up like they have, you can use two of them to put the little one through college in 18 years, and still have one to send off to school with him/her! Joe

October 4th, 2008, 07:37 PM	#8
archer51 VIP Member Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: VA Posts: 6,316	Swapping the pink grips for the factory grips.....now why would you want to do that? In fact I think we would all like to see a picture of you carrying with the pink grips!!

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