True confessions time. I did something really dumb today, and I thought perhaps I would feel better if I at least admitted it and then also cautioned other HK4 users on this topic. Gain from my loss, you know?
I had some time off today and fired the HK4 with the .22 conversion kit. Brought it home and set about cleaning it on a towel I had placed on the picnic table in the back yard.
Now, don't all reach the same conclusion at the same moment. But I'll bet you have. What's the one thing you shouldn't do with an HK4 outside? Yep. Convert it from rimfire to centerfire...or vice versa, for that matter.
I had the barrel out and cleaned inside the slide and was reversing the faceplate when ... yes ... the firing pin spring popped off. And yes, it didn't land on the towel. That would have been too easy. I saw where it landed in the grass and spent a few minutes looking, but talk about the proverbial needle in the haystack. No luck.
Fortunately I had a back-up that I deployed, but only after I had moved the slide into the relative safety of my basement bench area. So the pistol is assembled and operational in .380 mode, but I'm just a little miffed that I would have allowed myself to lose that spring. Not one of my finer gun maintenance moments, if you know what I mean.
Anyway folks, don't try this conversion process outside. Contra-indicated. Not advised. Bad idea, too. Take my word for it!
- Dave
I had some time off today and fired the HK4 with the .22 conversion kit. Brought it home and set about cleaning it on a towel I had placed on the picnic table in the back yard.
Now, don't all reach the same conclusion at the same moment. But I'll bet you have. What's the one thing you shouldn't do with an HK4 outside? Yep. Convert it from rimfire to centerfire...or vice versa, for that matter.
I had the barrel out and cleaned inside the slide and was reversing the faceplate when ... yes ... the firing pin spring popped off. And yes, it didn't land on the towel. That would have been too easy. I saw where it landed in the grass and spent a few minutes looking, but talk about the proverbial needle in the haystack. No luck.
Fortunately I had a back-up that I deployed, but only after I had moved the slide into the relative safety of my basement bench area. So the pistol is assembled and operational in .380 mode, but I'm just a little miffed that I would have allowed myself to lose that spring. Not one of my finer gun maintenance moments, if you know what I mean.
Anyway folks, don't try this conversion process outside. Contra-indicated. Not advised. Bad idea, too. Take my word for it!
- Dave