A new magazine latch is needed to make this small pocket pistol serviceable. The latch has broken at the pin hole.

It seems like it was just yesterday rather than more than 35 years ago when my old gunsmithing mentor Sid Cross pounded the following pearl of wisdom into my admittedly young and empty head. He said, "Don't ever make a part if you can buy it."

Sid had a darn good point, and for the most part, he was absolutely right. Seldom will you ever come out ahead by making almost any part you can buy. This is certainly true for parts for modern guns still in production as well as for many older, discontinued guns.

Still, Sid wasn't always right, bless his soul. For example, not too long ago, a young woman brought me a Sterling .22 rimfire pistol. The magazine latch was broken at the pin-pivot hole and would no longer hold the magazine in place.

Coffield starts with a piece of mild steel that's fairly close to the same thickness as the broken part, but there’s still a lot of steel to be removed.

Although Sterling went out of business in the 1980s, many parts are still available. In fact, Numrich Gun Parts offers the magazine latch for just $7.50. Realistically, there is no way you or I could make a replacement magazine latch for that amount. On the face of it, Sid was right. Except, there are times when you need to turn a project around very quickly. In those cases, the price of an available part is not as important as time.

Small handguns like this are neither target guns nor recreational plinkers. They basically have one and only one function: personal protection. As this was the owner's primary use--questionable effectiveness of the .22 rimfire aside--the gun needed to be returned to the owner quickly, and there simply was no time to order a part.

For those who have a pretty low opinion of handguns like this and think I should simply have insisted the owner buy a better handgun, I can only say, my friends, you are living in a different world than I. Not everyone can afford a Glock or a Smith & Wesson or a Beretta. A lot of good folks have what they have, that's all they have, and that's all they're gonna have. You either help 'em or you don't, and I chose to help the young lady. And frankly, if you'd been in my place and had talked with her, I bet you would've done the same thing.

Making a part like this doesn't have to take a lot of time. There are steps you can take to make the process faster and easier. Also, when you make a part, you can sometimes redesign it to actually make it better. You don't always need to be a trained engineer in a firearms plant to recognize when a part can be improved.

With the broken part firmly clamped in place on the Dykem-covered steel flat, Coffield traces around it with a sharp scribe. Note the mark for the pivot-pin hole that was made with a transfer punch.