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Old 05-23-2016, 04:11 PM
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I sure like my RIA Compact 45. Just had Novak night sight put on it which makes me like it even better. But today I detail stripped it for the first time and had an unpleasant surprise. There's a little housing on the left side of Government Model pistols that has a spring with a plunger at each end. The front plunger powers the slide stop; the rear plunger powers the manual safety. The spring is kinked so it won't come out of the housing easily. RIA springs don't have the kink, so when you take off the safety, the spring departs at high velocity for parts unknown. If you detail strip a RIA or any Philippine 45, keep your hand over the spring when you remnove the safety, or the spring and two plungers will disappear.

Gun Parts Corp is out of them, but Brownell's has them in stock.
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Old 05-23-2016, 04:30 PM
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Ha! my SA 1911 did the same "Air Solubility" spring trick, now I always keep a spare on hand.
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Old 05-23-2016, 04:59 PM
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get a large baggie…….I'm talking 2 gallon size…….place gun in bag, place hands in bag, disassemble. If you launch a spring, it will stay in the bag.

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Old 05-23-2016, 05:01 PM
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Good looking-out, Cyrano: thanks for the info.
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Old 05-23-2016, 06:48 PM
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"The Flight of the Plunger Spring" was the first tune I learned in my first attempt to play "The 1911 Detail-Strip Concerto" 40 years ago...
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Old 05-24-2016, 10:15 AM
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That situation is not limited to RIA 1911's. My Gold Cup did a good launch a few years ago also.
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Old 05-24-2016, 09:04 PM
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Thanks for the heads up.
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Old 05-24-2016, 10:07 PM
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Depends on the gun assembler at "insert manufacturer here"

did he kink 'em that day or not.
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Old 05-24-2016, 10:23 PM
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It was a surprise for me. All my 45s except this one are military or Colt commercial. Thus all have the kink, It never entered my mind that some are unkinked; an accident waiting to happen. Trying to buy a replacement, I found that Wilson springs are unkinked.
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Old 05-24-2016, 10:47 PM
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I've done that with the little spring along the extractor of a sig 232 and the latch spring on a Colt lawman. I must be the patron saint of spring finding or something because both times, even though both had flown over 5 feet, I walked over to the side of the room they flew towards and immediately found them in the first place I looked.
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Old 05-24-2016, 10:56 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CO_Kid View Post
I've done that with the little spring along the extractor of a sig 232 and the latch spring on a Colt lawman. I must be the patron saint of spring finding or something because both times, even though both had flown over 5 feet, I walked over to the side of the room they flew towards and immediately found them in the first place I looked.
My friend has thick carpet on the floor of the room where he works on his guns. There must be enough parts hidden in that rug to assemble several rather interesting guns.
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Old 05-25-2016, 07:17 AM
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I have never encountered a 'kinked' plunger spring. All I have seen have been in launch mode. This is something most of us do only once before learning the plastic bag trick. Just last week I detail stripped a Argentine Sistema and the bugger was impacted in so much crud it would hardly come out. I was surprised it actually worked. Actually the whole thing was impacted, but it functioned; a true testament to the 1911 design.
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Old 05-25-2016, 08:06 AM
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Cyrano, same thing happened to me with my STI Lawman first time I took it apart. I had never seen a non-kinked spring in that plunger tube before and I've worked on a lot of 1911's. Spent some quality time looking for that little sucker.

Stu
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Old 05-26-2016, 07:30 AM
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I can't speak to handguns, but I know for a FACT that the spring in a casting reel will launch at light speed, and apparently disappear into another dimension when they make the jump.
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Old 05-26-2016, 08:54 AM
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I launched a spring from a PPK years ago across a 12x30 room. I actually found it after 2 minutes of searching.

My first degree was in industrial arts. Lots of mechanical things have captured springs that can fly when released. We called them "Jesus Springs" because when one comes flying out you scream "JESUS!"
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Old 05-26-2016, 11:30 AM
Flattop5 Flattop5 is offline
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I have a big, round magnet tied to a string for just that type of circumstance (drag it across the carpet, just like mowing a lawn).




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