I would beat Stoner with a rock if I could get my hands on him. Dang tiny springs! The worst is that sneaky little bastard that is behind the buffer tube plate and presses against the take down pin detent. grrrrrrrr

You should definitely not, as Kaywoodie once told me, disassemble a Winchester 1907. If you must do so, do it in a room with no one else around, and a spouse who does not get distressed about holes in the wall...

I fixed that problem with a #4, 40 TPI tap and tapped the hole and put in a short Allen screw. You will have to cut the spring a bit to get it all in the hole but once it's in, that spring stays put.

kwg

Makes a guy wonder what he tried first and decided was too much of a pain where this was the "best alternative".

Pro-tip.

Buy extra's....along with the extra's you stock of most all the small parts on an AR.

What AS said, in spades.

Many lowers now come standard with threads tapped in & many detent/springs come with the correct screw.

Also if you do it enough, you learn a few tricks. One is that most springs are overly long. Trimming a bit off does wonders for installation.

MM

Oh trust me, I have a tackle box of spare springs, screws and the like. I have been messing with ARs since the early seventies. We are old friends. I still have issues with that spring. I like kwg’s idea

This. I haven't built an AR in years where I didn't use a plug screw!

Aint that the truth

I was the PD armorer for a bunch of years. The AR Armorer easy. brought trays of springs and detent balls due to such issues.
Here is what I learned after the first class...
Work on the gun in a plastic grocery bag. Most errant derents and spring stay in the bsg. A small magnet makes retrieval essy.

I had some issues on the first few. Bought spares in the 80s. Can't recall having a problem to where I had to use the spares though. You have to be a bit careful though. Slow and methodical and some aren't that way. And I tend to put grease on the springs just a dab most of the time and unless you compress em to fly out, they tend to go in and stay just fine. The one behind the tube though can be wonky if you are not paying attention.

I've heard of the assembly in a bag thing. Never tried it. Makes total sense.

Not overly sure on the set screw thing. Just one more thing I guess but maybe... I'd have to see it up close and ponder. And my pondering often takes years. LOL.

Now the spring that I lost for a day out of a smith revolver..... wife found it with a magnet... She did great.

I lost a spring and detent out of a 66 rear sight. Found the spring a month or two later then at least a year later I found the detent. Of course by then I didn’t remember where the spring was.

Wound up buying a complete sight since they no longer support the older guns.

never mind I'm lucky enough to have a shop not too far from home that sells all the little tiny parts individually. so it's pretty smart if you have such an opportunity to put you together a little bag of goodies that can easily be lost. and have some spares

Oops, and the local gunstore gets another $6 for a .20 cent spring, I keep extras now that my vision has improved with old age.

Yup. Cheaper by far to be ready like Sam is than to get hosed basically. OTOH if you NEED it now... 6 bucks is cheap.

AK47

Seriously

A towel draped over anything with springs makes for a great catch all.



100 detents and Springs $62 Free Shipping

From the sounds of it, some of y'all ain't never took a Auto-5 apart

This is a genius idea and just did all my lowers.
I’ve found that having kids help only adds to reason for having a taller box full of spares. Have enough small parts for AR’s, garands, Glocks, 1911’s and smith revolvers I actual went to a rolling tool box in the gun room with a drawer for each platform. Then one one goes bouncing it’s not an “armorer crawl” moment with flashlight on floor looking for shadows.

Lost the detent ball for a Savage 110 extractor, it's somewhere I didn't even try looking.


Called Brownells and ordered one, the guy asked "next" and I told him nothing else.

He put me on hold, and was gone awhile.

"Our minimum shipping is x dollars, the detent is 99 cents. If you want, I'll process the order. I had you on hold while I talked with one of our gunsmith. That detent is just a 1/8" bearing. You can get that ampnywhere for pennies."


I thanked him, and went looking.
No parts house, hydraulic shop, or equipment dealer could sell me a darn ball bearing.
The lady at the machine shop sent me to Fastenall. " Don't let them make you buy a bunch of them".

Had to buy 200, for $2.😁😁😁
Lost several trying them in the bolt while in my car.


Still have a lifetimes supply.
54 years old, used 1 bearing, 190 left.

he must have a [bleep] gun store for that kind of stuff.

It's the big reason I like working with Aero lowers, that hole is threaded, so once you've got the pin and spring in and the set screw, you never have to deal with it again.

Put together an AR yesterday for my neighbor, once again the box labeled "small AR15 parts" came in handy. I dorked up a gas tube roll pin, but luckily had my spares. At one time something trivial like that would have cost me a week.

Thanks for this thread. It reminded me to learn a few things.

Months back I found what I thought was an AR takedown detent , or safety lever spring, but wasn't sure which. I'd changed some rifles around a bit & added a few parts. So not sure which rifle it came from or was it a spare that came with a new part, so had the check them all. Mostly satisfied it was a spare.

But after reading this today that dim light came on. I googled, found a spring dimension chart, took pics with my phone & may even hand write it & put the copy in my AR parts bin. That won't keep me from being fumble fingered, but at least I can quickly identify if I find another wayward spring.

The takedown springs and detents in a lower receiver are bad enough, but the springs and ball bearings in an A2 rear sight assembly are their own special brand of fun.

You do know what an extra spring means, right ??



















A NEW build !!!

kwg