Spare parts (pistol) to inventory

[Executive]

A friend was wondering if anyone keeps an inventory of spare parts for their pistols.

Now that he has a decent selection of pistols, mostly Sig 228, 229 in 9mm and 220 in .45 and also a few older S&W 1911 in. .45, he is looking to stock up on parts to keep these items in service not just for now, but for his sons, and possibly for generations to come. These pistols are not safe queens and are all fired at least a few hundred rounds a year. He is looking for some measure of self sufficiency in the event that "something happens" politically and parts become hard-to-come-by.

My friend has a good stock of a variety of factory ammunition, a decent stock of components to reload, and a well-tuned Dillon 550. He also has a number of spare parts for the 550. He is just looking to be sure that a worn or broken part does not render a pistol inoperative, and selected pistols from manufacturers that already share a number of common parts.

Any ideas? Is this overkill? As always thank you for your suggestions.

Chris

 

[greencobra]

taking a revolver apart to get to the internals is above my pay grade. 1911 type pistols i keep a spare extractor and firing pins about for them and the odd spring for the firing pin. that's about it for me.

 

[enbloc]

Springs, Springs & more Springs*...

oh, and extractors and ejectors if replaceable.

* This also includes magazine springs and/or rebuild kits...

 

[Arto]

get good ones & you won't need any spare parts, other than more magazines

 

[oldguy68]

It's easier to buy and keep AR-15 parts than most pistol parts.
A lot of older designed pistols like the 1911 and most revolvers need hand fitted parts.
Without the knowledge to correctly fit a part, it's useless to even buy said parts.
There simply are too many to keep inventory of for any and every chance one should wear out.
With that said....Buy a Glock! And you can forget about buying spare parts!

 

[92G]

For sig pistols one should keep extra springs on hand, particularly the oddball shaped trigger bar/return spring, sear spring, decocker spring, locking block spring, recoil spring, etc. If you keep the springs fresh q-5k rounds or so the pistol will run forever. I see no point in keeping actual extra parts like hammers, Sears or locking blocks.

However I don’t consider sig springs likely to disappear So i don’t bother piling up on them. I suppose if mil and LE agencies really abandon the 226/229 then the parts might eventually get harder to find.

 

[TrashcanDan]

Bag of guts for the wheelguns, thats about it.

 

[Bearcatbirddog]

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[EJFudd]

A friend was wondering if anyone keeps an inventory of spare parts for their pistols.

Short answer: no. And that is quite a problem for me because I can never remember what I've got and what I need to order. That results in me often ordering unnecessary duplicates and then not getting the parts I need.

For a person who keeps impeccable records on everything else, this is the one area where I fall flat on my face.

 

[drgrant]

Recoil and magazine springs. Those are the most important. Everything else is either a pain or doesn't break that much.

 

[gerrycaruso]

springs and extra guns

 

[Broc]

Firing pins. At least 2 per gun. They are cheap.

Hammer spring (depending on the gun).

Firing pin spring (usually won't break, but it comes as a kit with the firing pin).

Mag release spring.

Any trigger springs.

If possible, a couple of screws, whichever are the most common screws he will be touching, they are bound to strip eventually. For example, on a revolver, the plate screws.

 

[enbloc]

Another thing to consider, is buying/owning common platforms that are everywhere in case cannibalizing and scavenging are required.

 

[LuvDog]

Depends on the gun... CZs have been known to break slide stops, but that's mostly from USPSA guys who put 10s of thousands of rounds through them.

Spare fiber optic rods for sights. Springs, extractors.

 

[Rob Boudrie]

taking a revolver apart to get to the internals is above my pay grade. 1911 type pistols i keep a spare extractor and firing pins about for them and the odd spring for the firing pin. that's about it for me.

Recoil spring as well. If the gun is heavily used that should be occasionally replaced.

 

[Kevin_NH]

Having "a complete set of spare parts" justifies buying a second (or third) gun identical to one you already have

Now four of the same model? That's just hoarding (or showing off)

For sig pistols one should keep extra springs on hand, particularly the oddball shaped trigger bar/return spring, sear spring, decocker spring, locking block spring, recoil spring, etc. If you keep the springs fresh q-5k rounds or so the pistol will run forever. I see no point in keeping actual extra parts like hammers, Sears or locking blocks.

However I don’t consider sig springs likely to disappear So i don’t bother piling up on them. I suppose if mil and LE agencies really abandon the 226/229 then the parts might eventually get harder to find.

Sig sells a $50 kit with the most commonly replaced 229 springs and parts.

 

[straightshooterjake]

Springs and known wear parts are always a good idea. But when I imagine a complete repair parts kit for a pistol, that kit ends up looking like another identical pistol.

But seriously, for any mechanical device, owning three of them makes it likely that two will be usable for a long time, and one can be kept serviceable for a very long time. I often state this as:

One is none, two is one, three is better.

The exception is weak points that will break on all three units. And for widely deployed service pistols, these weak points are known, and mostly look like the wear parts mentioned in other posts. It is also very advantageous to choose models which are very widely deployed and have lots of parts in circulation.