Thread: Replacing no longer available rifle parts..

The manufacture of parts is not overly difficult to anyone skilled in precision engineering and an understanding of the operation of those parts within the firearm. Coil springs are just springs and are freely available to import. Flat springs and vee springs are generally not within the scope of conventional spring makers but are easily handled by competent gunsmiths. Probably the most difficult parts to make are box magazines as they require the construction of press tooling (in both left and right hand) to create the side plates with the required grooves to assure reliable feeding. Followers, springs, and floor plates are simple but the side plates are a pain, and consequently expensive. Nothing is impossible to skilled and determined tradesmen. Looking to the future, it is important that these skills are not lost to the younger generations. There are grumpy old men like me who are happy to pass on those skills (which I learned partly from the older generation but mostly by my own determination) to those with enough interest and gumption to ask for them. Sadly, in our increasingly 'disposable' society, there seems to be a distinct lack of people who have any interest in wanting to make things from scratch.