Why not make one?
I don't think this a "stretch",but reckon some will...... With the state of affairs(no politics please) in firearms management,and manufacturing,why does "unsupported" as far as parts are concerned, suprise anyone?
As a Colt(and Smith) shooter,it was always interesting to hear the arguments "against" because parts were such a pain. Well,at some point.... bubba or not,each individual is gonna have to come up with their own parts. No big rant... just sayin,it isn't like you plant gun part seeds and watch them grow. Somebody "made" them. And it won't,or shouldn't take grant money towards a research project to find out.... these parts were being made long before electricity.
So,to the OP... yes,in shop you learn to "don't make a 5 cent screw", WHEN you can buy one off the shelf. But small gun parts?
Good luck with your search.
Well, I didn't learn much machining skills in "shop class", I learned all I know from being an apprentice tool maker and trained by "masters" who were chased out of Europe by Hitler and his cohorts, working for four years until journeyman status was reached in the late 60's. I then spent 17 years as a journeyman toolmaker in a prototype toolroom, so, I've been to the circus and seen the elephants.
In the one book I own written by Parker O. Ackley concerning "gunsmithing" he stated that
"it would be quite difficult to make an early firing pin for the Remington Model 12 slide action .22 rimfire rifles". Well, back in the day, I accepted that challenge and that firing pin is depicted below, among several other not-so-easy-to-make parts:
I also made a few of the other obsolete parts for those old rifles pictured above, like the odd-ball threaded nut that press fits into the left side of those Remington versions receiver face. But to cut threads for that internally tapped part, I needed to make and heat treat a tap to cut the threads so that the take-down screw fit those odd pitch threads in that nut. So, a spring, or even a spring winding fixture, would not be all that hard to make in my shop. Unfortunately, the time involved with making springs, spring winders and many other obsolete parts is just not worth the time involved, nor the cost passed on to
MY customer(s), as I found with making the above firing pin, unless someone chooses to work for around $0.50 per hour. I made the above firing pin as a challenge to what P.O. Ackley wrote, and the tap and nut for a specific need, and both worked in one of my Remington Model 12 early .22 rifles just fine.
Yet, I think I'll save the making of springs and intricate obsolete parts to those who do things as a hobby, if they can, just like the firearms manufacturers choose to do with ordering springs and save spring making to those who do it properly, and cost effectively.
