Firearms Friday: Miscellaneous Parts

This summarizes the majority of the spare parts that I have... 

When sorting through the boxes, drawers, and safes around my work bench it is amazing how much stuff that I am able to uncover. Not only is it a useful exercise in updating my parts inventory but it is also a means to reorganize all the miscellaneous items that got put aside at one point or another but never properly cataloged. Not get me wrong, anything with a serial number is well documented but anyone that does any gunsmithing or replaces parts knows that there are always pieces that simply get consumed by the workbench.

However, what I find to be the most interesting part of the process if not finding the useful parts and pieces that I can either use right away or store in my bench for later but the parts that I have no idea how I got them. Well, that isn’t completely true. Many of the items revealed during the excavation are from firearms that I used to own. We all have that miscellaneous box or drawer of parts laying around full of items that we thought we would use but never did. Before we knew it, the parts had been swallowed by the work bench and the firearm was sold or traded.

Then there are the parts to firearms that I never owned. These come about because of three very simple reasons: I hope to own that particular make/model in the future; I didn’t read the box, bag, or description closely enough and bought the wrong nonreturnable item; or, it was too good of a deal on a part that I can easily use for trade fodder. I know that I am not alone in having some things fall into one of these three categories.

At this point it is a matter of pulling together all of the different parts and separating them into a system that will work moving forward. Actually, it is more about updating the current system. This basically comes down to parts that I expect to use immediately, backup parts and those that were swapped out, parts that I will use in the future upon acquisition of the correct firearm, and those that will be exclusively used for trade fodder or will be sold. Of course, this is all in the hope that I will be able to maintain this means of organization moving forward and now that my wife and I have settled down that is actually a possibility.

Firearms Friday: Open Projects

There are a number of projects that are on the table which, as I stated before, I hope to complete over the next couple of months. Knowing that I will finally be able to get some work done at my bench it is time to pull together the project list. While by no means complete, this at least gives me a starting point and a way to track my progress on these initial projects. Hopefully this will also keep me from getting distracted by the other parts and pieces that are tucked away in my work space.

The first set of items that need to be taken care of are the AR15 builds. While there are a few personal projects that I would like to complete and others which I hope to modify, there are rifles that are still in pieces and that, once assembled, I hope to sell to one of the local gun shops… a few extra dollars in the bank account would be nice. However, there are a number of trigger installations and optics that need to be mounted that I have been putting off as well as a few pistol builds that keep getting pushed to the side so I hope to finally get those done. This will clearly be the bulk of the work and also clear the most space on my bench.

The next project is to swap out a number of the parts on my Smith & Wesson M&P9 Pro CORE. Already a fine firearm out of the box, there are a few easy modifications that can be done to customize the pistol. Those adjustments include an extended magazine release, replacing the magazine base plates, and installing a red dot. Nothing outrageous, just some solid upgrades. Of course, I may just start with my Glock 17 which is in need of an upgraded magazine release, slide stop, and replacement base plates. So, I guess you could really combine these two to almost being a single project on the list.  

The third thing on the list is to secure a few of the safes that need to be installed around the house, testing, and adding bit of concealment. Everything else comes down to maintenance, organization, and culling through the inventory to see if there are any items that just aren’t getting used and would be better served if I were to sell them and let someone else enjoy the craftsmanship. Hopefully by the end of the summer I will have a better handle on the work space and everything moving forward will consist primarily of maintaining and enjoying what I have in my safe. At least that is the goal.