I'm in the kitchen or on the porch, cleaning, finger-f**king, or WECSOGing one of my guns. Over half the time, at some point in the process, a part whose longest axis is no greater than 3/8" will (a) fall from the gun or table and land without making a sound or (b) take off at approximately 73 mph in an undetectable direction. I once had a pistol out of commission over a month waiting for a low-demand manufacturer-only part which is still either in my front yard or in the street in front of the house. Anybody else?

Oh yeah.  



Last time I was building an AR, and the front detent spring predictably took off, I was AMAZED that I actually found it.

Yes.
One of my ARs (back when I had two) was out of commission for a month because I lose the ejector while I was swapping all the parts onto a new bolt, and I didnt have one in my spare parts kit.  I didnt want to place a Brownells order for a $0.50 part and have to pay $4 in shipping on it, so I had to wait until I had the money to place a big enough order ($100 worth of 1911 mags, a whole crapload of small AR spare parts so it wouldnt happen again, etc).

Kharn

I am still hunting for a follower from a pre-ban Glock magazine I lost about 6 years ago.

GunLvr

The probability of losing a gun part is inversely related to its size.

It is a universal law of nature.

Oh yeah ... I have learned, when disassembling spring-loaded parts ... put a rag over your work to catch the parts that fly out ....

Quoted: Oh yeah ... I have learned, when disassembling spring-loaded parts ... put a rag bedsheet over your work head to catch the parts that fly out ....

fixed it


taken from cheap tricks thread in tech. section

Sir, try looking for either the detent or detent spring for the bolt of an M1A.  Next time the extractor breaks I hope I have the presence to remember that they're laying on the ground somewhere in front of me!  I was cleaning the inside of the magazines for my H&K P7M8 a few days ago.  When I began taking the floor plate off one of them my finger slipped and the spring base shot out, hit the ceiling of my garage, and landed somewhere.  I found it last night in the dog's airline travel box.  Yes, I think it may be universal.  7zero1, out.

I assembled my AR lower in the tub, drain up and curtains closed.  No probs.

I dissembled the bolt on a Romanian trainer .22 in the garage.  I immediately lost the striker spring.  

Back to the showers for me.

Quoted: I assembled my AR lower in the tub, drain up and curtains closed.  No probs. I dissembled the bolt on a Romanian trainer .22 in the garage.  I immediately lost the striker spring.   Back to the showers for me.

In the tub? I have a rather disturbing visual

I just got my first ar a few months ago.. Never worked on one before. It has a A2 stock on it that took off.
I rember looking down at the buffer tube with with the little spring load pin thingie. I unscrewed the ube about 1/2 turn before the detent wipes out at mach 4 and hits be driectly in the right eye..... I cused for so long the dog came running in because the thought i was calling him.... It is my only ND so far

Glad to know I am not the only one!

I should make a glove box for taking apart my firearms.

I had a detent go flying and smack my wife (who was across the room) right in the forehead.  She was not impressed, but atleast I didn't lose the part.

So the first time I was taking apart  my para to clean, I'm taking it down in my kitchen  while reading the instruction manual.  I use the tool,  turn the bushing, and pull the slide off just like the instructions say and then BOING the spring shoots out of the gun and goes behind my fridge.  Of course the next line in the manual is something to the effect of,  "caution the spring will shoot out if you're not careful".

So aI start to move the fridge and I kink the aged water line and it leaks, so now i have water flowing out  into the kithen at a nice rate.  So I yank the fridge away from the wall and tear the crap out of the linoleum floor. Then I reach over the counter and behind the fridge to turn off the water and hit my head on the cupboard.  Finally I turned off the water, got the spring,  got the fridge water line fixed, move it back in place, put a rug over the torn linoleum, and cleaned my para.  

I haven't taken my para apart since.

I've always been able to refind my detents after they go flying off. I usually work in the middle of a narrow hallway,while sitting against one wall and facing the opposite wall. Detents go bouncing between the walls like pinballs,but generally don't go as far as they could in my workshop or a more open room.
AR springs and detents give me more trouble than any other weapons I own. Most other firearms I own have captive spring assemblies and detents,or the springs themselves are larger.