When removing a magazine floor plate...

[v35]

... remember to wear safety glasses.



Especially when removing a floor plate from a magazine you're not familiar with. That thing launched quite unexpectedly.

Fortunately the projectiles missed all my important parts.

 

[GBExpat]

Or ... just do the disassembly with your hands & magazine (or any such spring-loaded items) in a clear plastic bag.

Glad to hear that all of your important parts are undamaged.

 

[Lost Sheep]

Yep, here's my confession

I shot myself in the forehead with the recoil spring bushing from my 1911 .45 Auto.

It left a mark that took a day or two to go away.

Lost Sheep

 

[entropy]

Amend that to use caution before removing any spring from a gun. The last gun shop I worked in had several dents in the ceiling from shotgun and rifle tube mag springs and yes, I added to them....

 

[Archie]

Oh, yes...

Long ago in my mis-spent youth, I frequented a gun shop who's nominal owner claimed to have the world record for putting the front end cap from the recoil spring in the Government Model pistol into the florescent light fixture. There were a couple up there to which he could direct one's attention.

I've always thought catching one of those in the eye would at least encourage 'weeping' for some period of time.

 

[WardenWolf]

Never launched a magazine spring, but I did accidentally launch the secondary gas piston of an SKS. I didn't realize that rotating the gas tube lever farther released the piston. I heard "Ping!" followed by "Ow!" as it flew across the room and beaned my father right in the head. No one was injured, but it was funny as hell.

 

[herrwalther]

I watched a non infantry type soldier try to take apart an M249 SAW for the first time without any training or supervision. The spring behind the buttstock smacked him square in the eye lid. 5 stitches put in right there on the floor. If he had been taking apart a 240, it probably would have been a funeral..

In any case I use a generic cleaning rod to push out whatever tab holding the floor plate in. With my other hand I make sure there is no way for any pieces to fly out in any direction. Holding it pointed away from my face helps as well.

 

[ny32182]

Just put your other thumb over the spring/subplate as the floor plate slides off. Easy as pie; there are no really small parts in there.

 

[v35]

Just put your other thumb over the spring/subplate as the floor plate slides off.

That's exactly what I did and it works fine with all my other magazines. Problem was it's a new gun with a floor plate different than them, and it came off earlier than I expected.

I'd like to think I work pretty safely. I always wear safety glasses when working on guns, even when cleaning them, and I don't even keep ammo in the same room. I just never thought about eye protection when disassembling a magazine, for some stupid reason. Springs are still springs no matter what they're in.

 

[AZAndy]

I never did find the plunger that shot out of the tube on my first 1911. I disassembled it in a cardboard box for a while after that.

 

[lowercase]

But on the plus side...

You could be a pirate for Halloween.

 

[tark]

I think My Astra 400 has the record for launching a metal object (the muzzle plug, or whatever its called) at near supersonic velocity. It went almost forty feet. I was lucky to find it. My first lesson in how NOT to disassemble a squirt gun Astra.

 

[rcmodel]

I shot myself in the forehead with the recoil spring bushing from my 1911 .45 Auto.

I never did find the plunger that shot out of the tube on my first 1911.

owner claimed to have the world record for putting the front end cap from the recoil spring in the Government Model pistol into the florescent light fixture.

There is no reason for that to ever happen if today's 1911 manufactures would simply make spring plugs to mill spec.
And the owners knew how to use them.

The mil-spec spring is smaller on one end.
It is a force twist fit over the recoil spring guide.

The other end is an open coil.
The plug has a hole and a bent in tab inside it.

It is 'screwed' onto the open end of the spring, and at that point the whole unit is captive.

It can't fly off until you unscrew it off the spring.

Seems like hardly anyone makes mil-spec plugs anymore though!!

rc

 

[Warp]

It always amazes me how many guys do stuff, even live fire, without eye protecting.

Discharging firearms, anything that's under spring tension, most power tools, working with pimers, protect those eyes

 

[sequins]

Did I ever tell ye the story of how I lost this here eye? It was a dark and stormy night, and there we were, disassembling magazines in the rec room...

 

[W L Johnson]

It always amazes me how many guys do stuff, even live fire, without eye protecting.

Discharging firearms, anything that's under spring tension, most power tools, working with pimers, protect those eyes

Guy I worked with was using a power wire wheel brush on an engine block and one of the bristles shot off and pierced his eye. It almost entered his brain. Worn an eye patch from then on.