Originally seen here: http://www.gunco.net/forums/showpost.ph ... ostcount=1Here is a short tutorial on how to make an L shaped wire retainer for keeping axis pins in place. Of all the various retainers, these are the easiest to install and remove. They were standard on the MAKs. You can buy them, but they are easy to make.
This shows how to make a jig, but I made at least a dozen by free hand before making a jig. If you are only going to make a few, there is no point in making a jig. If you want to free hand it, just use the side of the receiver as a guide.
Materials:
3 nails approximately 1/8' diameter
1 nail 0.20 diameter (Sorry I don't know the nail number. I had them already)
1 block of wood
1 spring from a Rainbird 2.5' popup sprinkler from Lowes. Note: The taller popups have a spring too large in diameter. The correct spring is 0.045. These are very nice springs. They are corrosion resistant and will tolerate a lot of bending, rebending and even more rebending. One spring will make 4 wires at a cost of about $2 per spring. In a pinch, you can make one out of a large paperclip that will work better than you might think.
The pics should tell most of the story. But here are some things that may not be obvious.
1. File off the sharp edges on the cut off nails to avoid unnecessary bloodshed. It is easy to slip when bending the wire and cut your wrist.
2 The purpose of the little coil is to make installation easier by making it easier to get the selector into the coil. This is hard to describe, but you will see what I mean the first time you install one. One loop (no coil) will work. It is just harder to install.
3. Make sure to make the jig in the orientation shown and not a mirror image. Otherwise the little coil wont let the wire lay flat against the wall of the receiver.
4. You may need to close (flatten) the loop that goes under the hammer pin to get it to go under there easily.
5. The last pic shows what it would look like if installed on the outside of the receiver.
Now let me give you my experiences.
I do not like being wasteful, and I consider the destruction of a lawn sprinkler head to be wasteful (not only that, but your spring is already curved, and straightening it out weakens it). So I went down to my favorite hardware store and bought 3 3-foot lengths of piano wire (don't ask me the size, I took a FCG retainer pin with me for fitting). Each 3-foot length was 30 cents.
* Only one complete (one and half at most) loop is needed for the selector lever loop. Too many loops, and you have to fight the thing to get it into the opposite pivot hole.
* The end result ain't pretty, but it works fine.
I also have a Bulgarian style retainer spring, and I think I'll look at making a jig for that, too.
Hmm, now that I look at the retainer spring chart above, I might as well follow the monkeys lead and just make shepherds crooks . . . .
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