Posted for Don Skeele <dpske@wvi.com>:

My Nose gear gas strut broke at about 300 hrs, at the first root thread.  It chose to part while in the air, tried every thing I could think of to snap the nose gear down, until I gained some altitude, about 3000 ft. and slowed down close to stall at about 60 knots & with a bit of maneuvering  the gear went into place.. just lucky, I guess.. Regards   Don Skeele N320J   235/320...