Well, I Broke It.

[elgoatropo2]

It was probably a combination of occasional dry firing and de-cocking, and the safety barrel on my 1972 model broke. I am afraid there will be more to come. The part is just too fragile.

I removed the decocking slide from the receiver, which requires complete disassembly. My plan is to replace the safety barrel with a piece of steel rod drilled for the firing pin. There will be no decocking, and no safety.

Lacking available spare parts, I am going to convert it to a Condition-3-only mule, which is fine with me since that's how I have always carried it.

I will post pics when I am done.

[juniustaylor]

You can buy a new one from 2 locations.

Warsaw Poland ($30 + $5 ship) - http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewIt ... =216234253
---or---
Miami, FL ($40/$45 + $4/$6 ship) - http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewIt ... =216179044

Otherwise, you can try to jerry up some form of object as you're talking about. It's typically better to use original stuff rather than trying to make something work. However, you can certainly do whatever you want. Just figured I'd point out that parts are available.

[elgoatropo2]

Thanks for the info. I didn't bother to check Gunbroker after reading threads about unavailability of parts.