Resource to help ID misc milsurp parts?

[moleary]

I collect a broad range of milsurps and am helping out a local shop that just got in a large consignment of guns and a pretty big mixed-bag of parts (mostly post-CW era and some WWI/II) that need sorting and ID'ing. Most of the stuff is separated fairly well by gun type, but there's still a lot of loose parts with no ID. How do you guys go about IDing parts? Specifically looking for dimensional drawings or specs on the common things like screws, barrel bands, swivels, perc hammers, etc that all look closely alike. I look at the online stores like Liberty Tree or Simpsons and marvel at the descriptions they have and wonder if they don't have an army of researchers...

Thanks for any help you can provide...

[Flying10uk]

things like screws

A screw you can measure the diameter of the thread and try to identify what thread it is as a possible clue to what it's from. If you can figure out the thread size but not what they are from, perhaps, separate the screws by thread size and, possibly, also by length.

[oldfoneguy]

Go to the Numrich website at gunpartscorp.com. They have exploded diagrams of virtually every firearm made in the last century and a half.

[moleary]

Yeah, those are the old standby for sure...but they are sketches and not dimensional drawings. Not good enough to differentiate between say a Krag barrel band and a Trapdoor for example.