compressing a coil spring on a hammer strut

[4V50 Gary]

I hate modern locks that look like 19th century locks. Instead of "V" springs they use coil springs. OK, coil springs are easier to make and increases profits, but I swear the factories either have a gorilla or some sort of jig that compresses springs to insert some sort of retention pin.

I was thinking of making such a tool today out of round stock. It would have been placed on a lathe, faced, drilled out and then cut with a hacksaw by hand. This would have been followed by a file to clean up any burrs. A knob could have been attached to the other end to make it easy to use.

Well, I suspected there was a better way so I approached an instructor at TSJC. He inserted the retention pin and placed the spring atop of it. He then rotated the spring until it wound down the strut. DUH! I felt like an idjit, but at least I'm a smarter one and so are all of you now.

 

[mete]

LOL !
The earliest Dan Wesson revolver had a strut that looked like a coarse screw thread .As the spring moved against the strut the DA pull was terrible !! I filed the strut smooth - what a difference !

 

[saudst]

strut spring

Gary, don't know if this will help in your situation, but I've installed the lighter spring kits on my Rugers and found that a regular kitchen fork will let you compress the spring far enough to get a retaining pin in, then pull the fork out. hope it helps, Tim.

 

[Dixie Gunsmithing]

Gary, you'll find that the the top of the hammer strut has been drilled on some Winchester Model 12s. I used to drill them, to make reassembly easier. I used a small bit, that was just large enough that I could use a large paper clip's wire, and inserted it into the whole. Then, you thread the spring on, install the hammer assembly, and pull out the wire.

Some guns have this drilled hole already from the factory, but some don't. Revolvers will have them, where you can cock the hammer, insert a punch or pin, and make removal and reassembly easier. To change the spring, you do it in the same manner, just thread the spring onto the strut, over the pin.

I would imagine that one could make a spring compressor, similar to one for V springs, by notching the two jaws, so they will fit around the strut, on either end of the coil spring, then just wind it up to compress it, similar to how the spring compressors work for automobile springs.