Yesterday I had a gun disassembled. Not exactly a clunker, but one well on it's way to eventual clunkerdom unless a restoration is deemed worthy. This is not a type I'm familiar with, and so I removed parts carefully and eventually got down to just a frame with hammers, mainsprings, and latching mechanism. Or so I thought...
I dipped the assembly in a bucket of kerosene, worked it over with a brush, then blasted with 100PSI air until dry. All outside. I blew and blew for 10 minutes, into every nook and cranny of the frame until completely dry.
When the frame was set down upon the workbench a previously undetected small part dropped out. Nothing important, just the piece that keeps the top lever open! Small, complex, and undoubtedly near impossibe to replace.
Why didn't the thing blow out of there under air pressure and head for parts of the yard unknown? Why did it wait until it was safley inside to fall out where it could be easily retrieved?
I would like to think it was the Spirit of The Clunkermister looking out for an amateur gunsmith. Thanks for the intervention Russ, you saved my tail, as you have saved so many others with your generosity in the past.