,Rawles SurvivalBlog has a mention today about spare parts. This is something I’ve thought about a good bit. After all, if the situation is dire enough that you need to carry around your firearms every day and depend on them then the situation is also probably going to be dire enough that heading down to the local gunshop for a spare recoil spring or roll pin is going to be out of the question.
I try to keep all my stuff for my various guns in one place (excepting of course, redundant backups). That is to say, in this example, I try to keep all of my 1911 ‘support gear’ in one convenient bomb-proof container…in this case a ‘tall’ .50 cal. can. Contents? Have a look:
Whats there? Well, alot of it is self-explanatory but theres spare magazines, magazine springs, magazine pouches, ammo, bushing wrench, grips, sears, hammers,firing pin, safety lever, bushing, extractors, all the critical springs, grip screws, barrel, barrel link, bore snake, pistol lanyard, holster, compact cleaning kit, lube, some tools, and that sort of thing. And it all fits in the tall .50 can which means that you can grab-n-go and not worry about niggling things like water, dirt, mud, sand, impact, moisture, etc. (and a pack of dessicant to keep it all rust-free) Grab the can from the rack, heave it into the back of your truck and go, go, go….and everything you need to keep your .45 up and running is there. (And before someone mentions it, theres still just enough space left in the ammo can for an Ideal 310 tool in .45 ACP.)
Spare parts are mostly Wilson’s ‘Bulletproof’ line. And if youre going to buy spare parts, my friends, try them all out in your gun to make sure they fit. Sitting in the flooded lobby of a darkened office building is no place to try and replace a finicky extractor just to find that the extra one you packed needs some ‘final fitting’. Seriously.
What parts have I experienced trouble with on my 1911? Honestly, none. However, the girlfriends Kimber broke its magazine release after 6,000 rounds and until it was replaced (with a Wilson part) the gun was effectively a single shot firearm. (I suppose you could duct tape the magazine to stay in the well….)
Unless some sort of catastrophic failure (destroyed frame or slide) occurs, this should be everything I’d need to maintain and run my 1911 for…oh, I’d say probably the rest of my life…which, in an unpleasant situation, will probably be alot longer with a working handgun than without.
I have kits just like this for each gun…one for my P35, one for my Smith .357, another one (in a 40mm can) for the AR’s. Interestingly the spare parts for the Glocks, AK and SKS would probably all fit in a 2-liter Coke bottle. Unless you break your stock over someones head an SKS and AK dont seem to break much, if ever. A spare set of furniture and a gas piston or two would probably do the trick. For Glocks, maybe an extra barrel, firing pin sleeve thingy, mag realease, slide release and a spring. That’d be about it.
In his series of books, ‘Boston T. Party’ mentions that if the feds closed down Numrich Arms/Gun Parts you’d have alot of guns out of circulation in a fairly short time.
Any real world examples? Certainly Thunderdome Katrina would be an example. Without good cleaning gear, rust preventative and spare springs any gun could have succumbed to the enviromental conditions. Mil-spec stuff is more resistant (AR’s, AK’s, FAL’s, etc) but the wet and the muck will catch up sooner or later. And improvising a cleaning kit out of a coat hanger and scraps of t-shirt just ain’t gonna do it.
Practical upshot? Get the spare parts (and a spare gun if you can swing it). Spare mags, sights, springs, pins, etc, etc, etc. Think about the parts that would render your gun useless if they were broken or damaged and get extras. And make sure they fit/function. Then hose ’em down with WD-40 or RIG, wrap ’em up and stuff ’em away. Get a good, solid cleaning kit (and then get another) with extra patches, oils, jags and brushes.
Final thought: some guns are easier to get spare parts for than others. If your shooting something thats a bit uncommon (a Steyr M series pistol, a Sako rifle, a Bennelli shotgun, etc) then you really, really need to get spare parts…because while everyone may have spare mag tubes for 870’s, extra firing pins for Ruger 10/22’s and extra mags for an AR-15 finding parts for your out-of-the-ordinary guns could be a problem.
Extra parts are something I definitely don’t have enough of yet. Can’t afford everything all at once, though.
For Glocks, the parts that I see go down most frequently:
1. Trigger springs.
2. Slide stop springs.
3. Recoil assemblies.
4. Magazine springs.
5. Striker assembly plastic sleeve (as you mention).
I’d concentrate on those. Spare barrel, while nice, isn’t something I’ve seen get mucked up, oh, ever. Maybe if you had a squib and then bulged the barrel. I would probably get some spring cups and put those in the kit, not because they go bad, but because they are easily lost during detail strip/reassemble.
Any idea where I can get the razzoo shoot-the-gun-underwater firing pin parts??
Wow, you give good cut.
Why the hell does Rawles always put a comma before his last name?
From: http://www.rawles.to/appe.htm
To clarify why I have chosen to present my Christian appellation with the controversial comma: It is a long standing precept of law that one’s name is one’s property. (This explains why you can sue for libel or slander, even under the common law. Damaging a man’s name damages his property.) It is noteworthy that not all of a “name” is your own. Your Christian or “given” appellation (in my case James Wesley) is your sole property. Your family name (in my case Rawles) is the common property of all those who share the lineage. I insert the comma only to distinguish the former from the latter. Please don’t assume that every time you see someone insert a comma that they are “Christian Identity types” or “common law court types”!
+1 on the slide stop springs, slide stop springs (with slide stop attached), magazine springs and recoil assemblies. Those are the parts that I have managed to break on my Glock 30… the G17 has proven to be MUCH more reliable IMHO. I would also add a firing pin spring, extractor and extractor spring although we haven’t had any problems with any of them so far. The spring cups Jay mentions are not the under water cups (which are only available for the G17) but both are available from Lone Wolf, or at least were last time I looked in their catalog.
A .22 conversion kit would be a nice addition to that ammo can– relatively quiet, cheap and much easier on game meat. 😉
http://www.topglock.com/catalog/extras.htm
You can put the maritime spring cups in any Glock, but Glock, Inc., says to only USE them on the 9×19.
What’s the part that you pull down to take down the Glock? The spring under that thing sometimes goes as well…
ah
good to be prepared! just how much did you spend on parts and extras? in a true aftermath, that spare weapon might make the diffrence till you find time to repair your main weapon. good article. Wildflower 06
Re: ah
Its pieced together over a few years. A spare part here, a magazine or two there, a lucky find in a bargain bin, and it all adds up after a while.
*nods* The takedown lever and takedown spring?
The gun will still function just fine without it, so long as the trigger isn’t pulled on an empty chamber with no magazine. If that happens, the disconnector will release, allowing the slide to fall off the front of the gun (and in my case, directly onto my groin!).
When firing live ammo, the disconnector (that’s what you call the t-bar shaped thinking on the back of the frame, right?) grabs the little firing pin tab hanging down from the slide and prevents the slide from falling off.
I’m not sure what the long-term effects of shooting the gun without a takedown lever or spring are, but for the short term, the gun will run without it.
Don’t forget http://www.lonewolfdist.com/ — they have the marine spring cups for just $10.
Fantastic array of Glock related stuff, both OEM and aftermarket.
Hrm, good to know. I’ve seen that spring fail as well, so I like to keep spares on hand.
Re: ah
oh sounds just like how I aquired my books and tools. by the way gas and kero prices going up here, how is it there. Wildflower 06
Glock actually calls the takedown lever spring a “slide lock spring” and the slide stop lever has the spring pre-attached, which is what I was thinking of when I typed “slide stop spring” twice. {sigh} I gotta be more careful posting at night when I am fried.
Anyway… I have broken a G30 slide lock spring mid-string. The slide was pulled forward off the frame enough to not put the pistol in battery so the firing pin safety would not lift without hand positioning the slide to do so. (NOT something I would recommend.) Whether the pistol will fire without the slide lock spring is totally dependant upon the recoil spring positioning the slide properly. I would not count on it…
As for the maritime spring cups, interesting… although not a surprise that they use common parts. 🙂 Good to know.
Im puitting together an order for Lone Wolf. Parts Im ordering are for full, compact and mini 9mm pistols:
Fring pin channel liner
Spring cups
Rear sight +0
Front sight
Slide Lock spring (for 19 & 17)
Mag catch spring
trigger spring
firing pin spring
spring loaded bearing
depressor plunger spring
firing pin safety
firing pin safety spring
firing pin
extractor
depressor plunger
Some of these are parts I can foresee needing replacement from wear but I also wanted extras of the easy-to-lose parts as well.
Sound about right, overkill or am I short on something?
I forgot to mention trigger pins, I’ve busted two in the past three years. Buy a bag of those, it is cheap insurance. Other than that, your list looks solid. 🙂