Lost and Found...

[s&wchad]

The surest way to find a missing part is to order a replacement.

I bought a used Pro Series M&P CORE with a Leupold Deltapoint last fall. It grouped about 3/4" left at 7 yards and I finally decided to make an adjustment. I was working at my bench, removed the DeltaPoint and fumbled one of the mounting screws. I thought it hit the floor somewhere around here and searched Thursday evening for over an hour with no luck.

I checked again early Friday morning. Those blue milk crates have hundreds of pound of bagged shot and I pulled it all out, looked underneath and swept the area. I also checked everything on the shelf. I did find a small hex nut, a plug screw and some .22 LR shot shells, but no joy...

I called Leupold early Friday afternoon and ordered a couple of replacement screws. Their superb customer service is sending them at no cost.

After the parts were ordered, I want back down to the basement and emptied the milk crates again. The mounting screw magically appeared under one of the crates! Third time's the charm!

 

[AJ]

Your problem is your work area is to neat and organized!!

 

[s&wchad]

Your problem is your work area is to neat and organized!!

It might be organized, but it's out of control...

 

[cgt4570]

I have a large welding magnet on a stick for any steel parts I drop.

 

[AJ]

I have a large welding magnet on a stick for any steel parts I drop.

Have a couple of those, one at each work bench. Even some mechanical fingers for reaching into hard to reach places.

 

[65Whelen]

I seem to have a black hole under my bench. It gets about 50% of the parts that hit the floor. And the older I get the more parts go missing. I even have the floor color coded.

 

[Llance]

I've said it before, one of you past relatives has decided to haunt you. He or she (in my case it's my mother) visits when she knows I need that part and usually there isn't a replacement to be had anywhere on the planet. Generally within hours or days the part shows up in a location I've searched at least 3 times before.

Llance

 

[M1A4ME]

Used to be an old timer on the CZ Forum who said, "The best way to not lose those small springs again is to buy two. Install one in the pistol and put the other in your parts bin. With that one in the bin ready to install at any time you can be sure you'll never lose the one in the pistol.

 

[jimmyj]

One has to use the correct cuss words in order to locate missing screws and parts.

 

[Cities n Dust]

Looks to me like years of cleaning, loading and general maintenace! I would like to think that some lucky son or daughter gets to go through all of that stuff to see what passion looks like when we move on. My workspace looks similar to all of yours except its only 9 yrs old and needs to have 3-4 more times of the same equipment. I have a lot of catching up to do. LOL

Cities

 

[BillyMagg]

It might be organized, but it's out of control...

I see the problem now, it's that styrofoam plate, with the 12 gauge bore brush, next to that "Colt" mat, that's molecularly reactive and repelled that screw, and it hid under those milk crates.

Whatever you do, don't throw that in the micro-wave to warm up your "tater tots"!

 

[chief38]

My workshop is meticulously clean and well organized. It gets used almost every single day however I always clean up immediately after my work is complete - as I can not work on a messy bench or messy shop (OCD at its finest)! My high gloss finished garage floor is usually cleaner than most people's kitchen floors - or so I have been told by friends. BUT, the garage floor's finish has white, black and gray chips under the top layer of epoxy and that certainly does not help in finding small parts!

That said, I have lost a few very tiny, parts, screws and springs from time to time. Occasionally I will find them but more often than not they go into "nowheres land". I for one have tried the plastic bag trick to capture any flying small parts, but could never get into working in a plastic bag! Thankfully my wife has good eyes for spotting tiny parts and it has become a joint effort over the years - LOL!! Just one more reason I have a fantastic stock of small springs, screws and parts for almost every gun I own - a few exceptions of course.

 

[H Richard]

I'm still looking for the detente pin from the rear sight of one of my S&W revolvers I was changing the sight blade on 15 years ago. My shop isn't "quite" as full as S&WChad's is, but was close.

 

[AJ]

I'm still looking for the detente pin from the rear sight of one of my S&W revolvers I was changing the sight blade on 15 years ago. My shop isn't "quite" as full as S&WChad's is, but was close.

I have things missing like that. I use a vacuum in my area about once a week. When I do that and empty the canister two things happen. One I go over the "sweepings" with a magnet and then I eyeball it to see if I see anything that is useful. Once in a while I get lucky and find something.

 

[chief38]

When we moved 3 1/2 years ago I thought for sure I'd find a bunch of tiny missing parts when I cleaned out my workshop - nope, not a one! Some of the springs were so tiny they could have stuck to my clothing and disappeared forever in the washing machine's exhaust cycle.

 

[Liftrat]

chief, that IS a very neat and orderly shop! Unfortunately I can't live up to those standards ;-). I've actually got a list of parts & pieces I've lost over the years, just in case if one ever shows up I'll have an idea of what it's for.