Originally published at Notes from the bunker…. You can comment here or there.

I return to base the other day and find the girlfriends AR somewhat disassembled and laid out neatlyon the living room table. Hmmm. She bought a Vlt0r carbine stock and had managed to remove the receiver extension and old stock but that was as far as she got. I looked over the gun and figured that she musta been surprised when she pulled the stock off since theres two springs in there that will go into a low earth orbit if youre not careful. The Takedown pin detent spring was still there. Good girl. The buffer retainer pin spring, however, was missing. Makes sense..if you dont know its there, youd unscrew the receiver extension and then -sproing-. Fortunately, I have a spare set of springs for the AR. Retrieved one from the bunker and reassembled it for her and installed her new 'tactical latch' for the charging handle.

When she got home I gently reminded her that when takinga apart a gun past the simple takedown stage its a good idea to remove parts slowly in case there were springs involved and that next time she should let me watch and advise her until she learns how a particular gun comes apart. No damage. Had her order up a parts kit from Bushmaster so we'd have some more springs, pins and detents since theyre very easy to lose.

In honor of this experience, I am using the new 'showing the girlfriend' icon.