I am guessing that most everyone that owns a 1911 has at one time or another sent one flying across the room. Last night I decided to clean the old 45 and as usual the spring and plug shot across the yard at warp speed, I can usually find it but not this time it had a full head of speed when it zipped past my one good eye! Not sure how far it went but I haven't seen the neighbors cat this morning. Time to put a 45 acp spent case in its place till a replacement can be had. Mr. Brownings still smiling I imagine.

Oh yeah, been there and done that.
I don't let the spring get away very often, but once in a while we all get a case of fumble fingers. To date I've only lost one recoil spring plug. Best guess is that it must have entered a black hole and is now somewhere on the other side of the galaxy.
For your replacement get one of the G.I. style plugs with the dimple stamped into the outter end. You can screw it onto the end of the spring and usually the spring and plug stay together when they make a run for it.

I have never "lost" one. Some sergeant must have taught me well at Fort Gordon back in 69.

Oh so that's what that little missile is called. I can usually get a two wall bank shot out of it. At least they could paint them day-glow green or orange so you could find it on the floor!

At times I'm as fumbled fingered as the next guy, but I don't recollect ever losing one of em'.

Small springs and e rings go sailing more frequently than I like to admit.

I've been servicing my own stuff for more than 35 years, probably spent 30 of those years crawling around on the floor looking for lost springs, screws, e rings etc...

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GOA
USA Shooting Supporter

The first time it happened to me, I did find it after looking all over the floor on my hands and knees, I ordered some new ones, now I let the vacuum cleaner find it.

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Don

I've never lost one, but then I haven't cleaned them outside. At least I have a couple walls for them to bounce off of.

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H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244

Since my bench is in the basement of an older home. My "ceiling" consists of warm and cold air furnace ducts. Haven't lost one yet, but I've bounced them all over the place. Sheet metal provides some funny noises.

Guarantee you find it as soon as the new one shows up!

Kapiong............................... ?


Nope never not going to admit that

CDNN has blue ones, out of SS. You need to order enough to make it worth the $10 shipping charge. Not hard to do, I never get away with less than $150 in stuff I absolutely "might need" in the future. Joe
CDNN SPORTS - 1911 RECOIL SPRING PLUG

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Behavior Creates Destiny

I've never done that at least three times...

Always found them, though. I believe it's some sort of tripwire theft deterrent system; John Moses Browning was a genius.

When I want to put the slide release back in, I wiggle the thumb safety up n down till it comes out. That takes spring tension off the slide release detent making it easy to finagle the release back in without scratching the frame. This works pretty good but that little spring in the tube likes to fly out to parts unknown when you remove the safety. I've never lost a recoil spring plug. The real buger is that spring in the Gold Cup sear assm..

I've never lost one but the sound tiles in my gun room have a nice series of dents in them.

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Quando omni flunkus moritati.

Haven't lost too many with the standard 18 pound recoil spring but that 22 pound 10 mm spring could leave a bruise it goes so fast.

I don't mind a spring going for a "Walk" on any of my pistols......

I only got worried when I was in the service, taking the spring out of the .50 caliber Browning machine gun !!
It would send the rod through you if you were standing behind it, if it got away. They all had to be cleaned and serviced before we packed them up in the wooden crates to ship to the next area.
The men in the outfit did minor daily cleaning.....we finished the job to make sure they were all in top working order.
I actually enjoyed cleaning and working with the .45, 1911's.......
The officers and PO's usually kept theirs pretty clean and after I cleaned about one hundred and twenty, I never lost a part or spring any more.

I like to aim the gun up so i can whang it off of the ceiling and it will come "straight" down

Only one I ever lost was installed in the pistol that disappeared when I was being medevac'd from Vietnam. Pistol never turned up so that recoil spring plunger is officially listed as MIA.

Lose one? No ,not yet, but I am sure I probably jinxed myself by replying.

I never lost one on my pistol. I did lose one on my brother Charlie's. He replaced it and his son found it in the same room a year later.

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Corripe Cervisiam

I've neither lost nor launched one. How hard is it to keep your thumb/finger on it? Well, I guess by these replies it's hard for some to keep their finger on it.

You watch. Now that I've said that mine will disappear in the parts black hole from which there is no return.

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Freedom isn't free.

It's the tight guns that need a wrench that go flying in my experience

Last week I decided to put a 16# rebound spring in my SW model 30 after the 18# went into orbit, never to be heard of again.

It worked out OK.

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>>ARMED LIBERAL>>

I lost one on my 1911pd, rather than replace it, I switched to a gi style guide rod with the regular plug. Losing that first plug was a blessing in disguise.

Not yet.....

For reasons that I cannot now remember, I field stripped a 1911 at a very busy indoor range. The plug went in the correct direction, down range, where it landed in the brass, aluminum, and steel cases deposited there.
I suppose that maybe, possibly, perhaps, I could have persuaded the manger to shut down the line and let me look.

Anyway I went out to talk to him on the off chance, he reached under the counter and pulled out a can full of plugs and springs of every shape and color imaginable. Says he: “Anything special about it?”, “It has happened before a time or two, we find them with our magnet”.

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Ipsis Rebus Dictantitbus

Reminds me of the time my brother forgot his cell phone charge at home during a business trip, when he got to the hotel he told the gal at the front desk that he thought he might have left his charger in his room the last time he stayed there. She pulled out the lost and found box full of chargers and sure enough "his" charger was there.

Had one bounce off the ceiling in my toy room, left a nice dent in the tiles. Also had one of the browning 22takedowns. Lost the spring and plunger from it never to be found until I sold the house. After all the stuff was loaded on the moving van found it half way down the basement. Frank

Then you don't want to drop a primer on a cement floor. It sucks to only load 99 rounds.

Half of my N scale train set is still missing. I'm missing long lengths of track after the move who knows were it's hiding.

Yup rocket shipped some 1911 springs and plugs in my day but I use a barrel bushing wrench now. No one was ever hurt.

Lost a spring for my astra 600 once it was a little spring in an empty room.
My kids with good eyes found it. Feeding them carrots helps.

Not yet, but I can see it happening. LOL

Well, there was the nice cool day when I was sitting on my balcony, cleaning my 1911 and the recoil plug went "sproong" into the air out over the parking lot.

My apartment was on the 19th floor....

Run Forest, run........

Well, I have always been sorta clumsy. And, truth to tell, in the last few months I have been getting worse.

I actually fell down a couple or three times (which I might later describe in a relevant thread).

I have the dropsies, too. I can't seem to hang on to anything, including shells, parts, etc.

BUT-despite all that lack of coordination, I have never lost nor even sent one flying. Never-ever-not one single time.

Feeling a bit cocky, I almost said that, if I did, I'd be so embarrassed that I'd quit shooting 1911s.

But I realized, as soon as I shot my mouth off, it'd happen.

I have too many other shortcomings to try to antagonize anything or anyone else.

Bob

My new Colt 1911 has the kind with the little dimples that screw on to the spring. The checked and raised portion on the end looked off center to me so I replaced it with a new one. Ain't had me no trouble.....yet. I did regret uling an air hose to blowout a chain saw carb on time. Lost a little ball and a little screen forever that day.
peace,
gordon

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better have that checked