Safety Plug Alternative

[golfish]

hmm, curious ... gofish, did you have to trim the length to prevent interfering
with the firing pin ?
Jim

It looks like the 5/16 plug is too big. I had a nice weekend on BLM land shooting nothing but lever guns it was a nice couple days.

Jay, I didn't trim the length on the 1/4 plug, it held up pretty good, maybe 30 rounds, then it just popped out on a trigger pull.
I need to do a little more testing
I wonder if a little blue loctite would work.

I finally had a chance to shoot the (new to me) Winchester 94. Those plugs held up nice, I don't think I'll have a problem with those.

[golfish]

hmm, curious ... gofish, did you have to trim the length to prevent interfering
with the firing pin ?
Jim

Jim, the 5/16" was just too big and your right about trimming the length. I trimmed down another 1/4" plug and used a tiny bit of blue Loctite. I'll see how well that works on my next desert trip.

I'm not sure this is a good idea, yet. It worked fine on the 94 but those holes\plugs don't see any heat or action.

I didn't see the same kind of plugs in 9/32" on ebay. The plugs are cheap and if I can find a good match that will work then we'll all benefit.

fish

[BCRider]

Yeah, 5/16 IS too big. I've done a couple of plugs now using the tang end of a 9/32 twist drill. The tangs on twist drills are left soft so they get a good hold in the drill chucks. This means we can cut it easily with common tools like hacksaws and metal files.

The 9/32 drill is a close enough fit that you'll find that even the raised edges on the stamped size and brand lettering on the drill tang will need to be filed off. So I suggest cutting off about 1/2" of the tang and mount the end in a hand drill. Use the file to square off then lightly dome the end of the stub using the hand drill as a quick and dirty metal lathe. Using the plug that came out use a small mini file to file a groove for the retention pin. Cut the plug off just below the groove. By cutting it short like this there's nothing to extend down into the groove for a firing pin block. And if the dome shaping is done neatly and the retention pin groove located just right the button will stick up just barely enough to keep your fingers from snagging on the edge of the hole but it'll look very neat.

If you're brave another option is to cut the retention pin groove and then put the plug in place with the pin and mark around it. Remove the pin and plug and holding it in a vise cut off and file the end so it forms a "flat arch" shape that matches the curvature of the bolt and sits just a paper thickness worth above the surface. Dress off the burrs and polish well then hit it with cold blue. It'll look like it came from the factory.

Sorry I don't have any pictures of this. The three I've done have all gone away to their owners.

[claudester]

The search function didn't yield any results so I'll ask and start a new thread.

The Button Style Safety Replacement Plug from Steve's Gunz fell out and was lost at the range today. I figured that I'd buy another but at nearly $30 ($18.95 and $9.95 shipping)...I can't. Are there any good alternatives - other than a peep sight - that can be used? It doesn't have to look super-professional, nor should it look like I duct taped a piece of beer can over the hole. Something that works and looks okay is okay with me.

I'm thinking to cut the shaft off a screw and use the head to cover the hole...?

I wouldn't mind so much paying the 18.95 for the plug but I can't figure why the shipping is 9.95. Even
a free priority box is 5.95.

[pistolcalrookie]

I had to remove the silly safety to fit an XS rear peep sight, ratted around the shop and found an old pencil type tyre pressure gauge, removed the alloy moving scale part of that and cut a piece off which I chucked up in a cordless drill to reduce diameter with a file, put that in the freezer and sweated it into the hole on the bolt, works just fine.
I have a couple of spare apertures for XS sights, plan for the new gun is to make a similar plug from steel and drill and tap to accept one of those, zero will be close and adjustable by drifting the front sight blade across.
Loctite will allow the rear to be adjusted for elevation without becoming loose, Loctite 290 would be ideal i reckon.
May have to draw file the front sight blade but that is not a big thing, I detest the std buckhorn rear sight.

[cruzerbotz]

I found something similar to this at Home Depot. Seems to stay in place. http://www.autozone.com/gaskets-and-mis ... 732680_0_0

[golfish]

Hey all, happy Sunday, one thing I didn't think about when using the 1/4" plastic plug was to cut a notch and use the roll pin. So far so good. With out the roll pin the plug won't stay in place.

The roll pin would probably work good with the AutoZone plugs that Cruzerboltz posted below.