Adventures in Impromptu teaching

So my brother purchased a 1911.

And, of course, wanted a lesson on how to feed and care for said new acquisition. (he'll seldom own a piece of machinery unless he is intimate with the workings of it's innards, and his machinery, be it a tractor or a watch, is always well cared for. So he wanted a quick lesson.

"No problem", says I..... pulling out a 1911-A1.

We go through field stripping and reassembly. He learns that it is easy to field strip and reassemble. Does it himself a few times.


...Then to detail stripping...Demonstrating, I remove the grips, safety, beavertail and hammer...I show him how each part can be used to remove the next (the 1911 is it's own toolbox!)...we get the mainspring and leaf spring out... I get the sear and disconnector out of the frame, remove the magazine release and then the trigger  from the now empty frame.... demonstrate the action of the trigger, sear, and disconnector, and then....

I drop the damned sear.

Which flies off into the great unknown. Or somehow reached 88 MPH on the way down and departed for the future....Or maybe transported itself off the planet or something....

Seriously. we look and look, and look. And the part has apparently evaporated on it's way down.

We got out magnets and flashlights and other implements of search and recovery. No dice (dice we could have found!)

After terminating the lesson, he leaves, and I continue to look. And look. And look. And look...

Finally, MC brings out the vacuum and when moving a piece of furniture 10 feet from where we were working, finds the sear.

How can a piece weighing less than a gram fly so far?