oh dear god!!! uh ok...lets say hypothetically I was cleaning my M9 and lets assume that while I was sliding the extractor bacl in place my 3 yo jump in behind my and whak "hi daddy across the back" causing the extractor to slip and the little itty bitty sping and spring guide flying into outer space. extractor spring miraculously hit the drop ceiling and l;anded 1 fott in front of my face the even smaller guide is somewhere.........but not here I believe that we had a report of it on a northernly trajectory towards Kentucky..........what can I do (no finding it is not an option (though I will be trying again as soon as I am done here. I assume its important otherwise Steyr would have bothered making it, Can you order this from Steyr?? help 12 VOLTMAN.. I assume you dont have specs to fabricate one of these...If you find mine you can dspec it just send it back to me......Oh and my 3 yo is fine I didnt even yell at her b/c i was in shock. :cry:
Having spent much time crawling on the floor looking for tiny spring loaded thingamabobs that got away, I'll give you some hints to try and find the missing items. (in no particular order) 1. Get a bright flashlight. don't rely on ambient light or house lights. 2. If you have cabinets that do not reach the ceiling, look on top of them. 3. If you have an automotive magnet, IE, retracting antenna with a magnet on the end used to retrieve nuts or screws that fall into unreachable places, use it scour the floors under appliances etc. 4. If you need bifocals or reading glasses, put them on you better be wearing them. 5. Check the bottoms of the shoes that were being worn by any family member since the launch. That's all I can think of at the moment. I hope you find the parts.
6. Check curtains, mini blinds and window sills. 7. If your shirt has pockets, look in them with the flashlight.
Hypothetical solution for your hypothetical problem: Obviously, the best solution would be to send an order off to usasteyr, but if you're impatient I think it'd be pretty easy to fabricate one. I'd buy a drill bit of the same diameter and use a section of its shank to make the plunger out of. The major diameter of my M9's plunger is between 0.158" and 0.159". This relates well to either a 4mm bit (0.1575") or a #21 bit (0.159"). You'll need to use a high speed cut-off tool or a grinder to cut the drill bit. You'd have to decide how important the stud portion is that slips into the end of the spring. You should be able to duplicate it by chucking your piece of drill bit stock into a drill and (patiently) stoning it as it is spun by the drill (a mini redneck lathe, if you will). I doubt the stud is essential for function, though it no doubt eases assembly, so you may want to try omitting it (if it doesn't work the drill bit shank should have plenty of material left for another one). The total length of the large diameter portion of the plunger is 0.310". The stud adds another 0.080" to the length. You will need to grind the bevel for the extractor engagement surface. The angle of the bevel is pretty small; I would guess it's about 20 degrees. Of course, you could also find the original one or order a new one, but this ought to get you by until then.
glad you found it, now your other post makes a LOT more sense I still have a missing spring somewhere in the ether of my office :evil: For anyone else this happens to... a new extractor assembly from usasteyr is $26 for spring, claw, plunger. they only sell them all three together. Mine came in in like 4 days, but there have been times when they've been on backorder for weeks. Or I have an extra claw and plunger looking for a spring I can send to anyone who loses theirs (unless someone wants to send me an extra spring so I can have a whole backup).
Is it time to consider building as spare parts kit for everyone? I keep a number of parts on hand and when I use one, I order a replacement. Works very well for keeping the gun in commission.
Spare parts kit should include Extractor, spring and plunger Recoil spring and rod firing pin assembly with springs trigger return spring magazine springs and followers These are just the basics. I'm sure there are more that should be kept on hand.
Recoil spring is OK but the factory says they're good for 65K rounds. I have never had one break. I keep a drop safety as they seem to last about 10K and a catch spring. I also keep a slide plate spring and pin for when they disapear into the nether reaches when I am disasembling the slide.
I had a funny story like that.... The firing pin spring on a Ruger 10/22 (which, if anyone has taken them off...are TINY) flew off as I was trying to get that da#@ roll pin back in... I looked for about 30 minutes on my carpet to no avail... after a while I just gave up. Well...I am a heavy metal dude, so I have long hair... Later that night my GF runs her hand through my hair and says "Wow...you have a big knot in your hair." You guessed it...my missing firing pin spring...dangling no more than 1 inch from my face... James
