Anybody recognize this? I bought a little box of gun cleaning supplies at a rummage sale, and this was in there. I'm thinking it might be a lever to flip the safety off or on?
Don't know what you call it and haven't seen one exactly like that but it looks like the piece that one end of the recoil spring slides over on a semi-auto handgun.
I searched "recoil spring guide" and found similar, but no match. Not sure really...
Kind of looks like the safety on an 03 Springfield. Or the lever that locks the bolt, and keeps the bolt from accidentally being removed. Those turn of the century bolt action firearms were based on the original mauser action, so there are any number of guns that this could be off of.
Above, 03 Springfield, the gun is cocked and the safety is on. It's made that way so when the safety is on, the soldier can't see through the sights.