Rem 1858 hand spring replacement

[4V50 Gary]

Mine broke off right where the spring slips into the hand. It cannot be pulled out for insertion of the replacement spring. The hand is peened on sides, preventing the hand spring from slipping out. Unfortunately, this makes slipping off the stub of the old spring hard.

I'm thinking of making a chisel with which I can open up the sides so as to allow the spring to be drive out. Anyone have anything better?

 

[ZVP]

You're on the right track if you are going to try putting a Bobby Pin spring in.
I have had a broken spring on 2 guns and just bought a replacement that just dropped in on one revolver but on my Uberti, fitting the replacement has been a bear! I can't get the timing right, the cylinder won't lock on the pin in time.
It's going to a gunsmith because it's beyond my skills.
I have been advised how easy it is to insert a Bobby Pin piece to make a spring but I don't have a tool to open the hand or the silver solder stuff to refit it. Evidently just staking the replacement isn't enough to hold it in place.
I wonder what they did in the old days? Spare parts kits maybe?
Another thing is that the spare parts kits Cabelas sells don't fit Ubertis without fitting. Piettias seem to have larger openings and just drop in.
You can buy replacement hands (with a spring fitted) from Dixie butagain, the part needsproper sizing and fitting to work. I went the Dixie route and have been fighting it ever since.
I'm going to write Uberti and get an extra from them in case this happens again but I dunno if it;ll still need to be fitted?
What a pain!

 

[45 Dragoon]

I dont know of any "drop in" hands. They have to fitted for correct timing and if you will tune the spring from the get go, it probably wont break. I'm afraid you may break the hand when you try to use the chisel. You may use the broken piece as a punch to push the old section out.
Mike

www.goonsgunworks.com

 

[Driftwood Johnson]

Howdy

I am going to give the same answer to this question that I gave on The High Road.

Do not open up the slot. Use a new spring to drive the old one out. Place the hand on a hard, flat surface with a hole under the broken portion of the spring. Lay the new spring on top of the old one, lined up correctly. Use a small hammer to drive the new spring in while driving the old spring out. No need to open up the slot, you will have difficulty peening it over again to hold the new spring.

 

[Chuck Dye]

Dixie Gun Works (800-238-6785) sells the hand and spring as a unit for $5.95 plus shipping. They warn that fitting and timing may be necessary. Whether the spring from a new unit can be transferred to your old, fitted and timed, hand is not clear.

 

[44 Dave]

I have one with bobby pin, I had to "open" up the slot a little because the
crimp sort of surrounded the spring. I looked through some bobby pins till finding one that wasn't junk, you don't want use any heat just "squash" it in.

 

[Hellgate]

I use a sharp wood chisel to just barely open the slot where the broken hand spring is crimped in. I only open it enough to get to old fragment out then I place a shaped bobby pin into the slot. I put a slight hourglass shape to the bobby pin portion that is buried in the slot and then stake it in at the hourglass narrowing so it won't come out. You may need to tug on it a couple of times to verify it is gonna stay and restake if you can pull it out.

 

[Driftwood Johnson]

Dixie Gun Works (800-238-6785) sells the hand and spring as a unit for $5.95 plus shipping. They warn that fitting and timing may be necessary. Whether the spring from a new unit can be transferred to your old, fitted and timed, hand is not clear.

If you install a new hand you well may need to fit it to the cylinder. If you use my method and simply replace the broken spring with a new one, you do not have to do any refitting of the hand, that should have been done for you at the factory. Trust me, it works, I have done it to a SAA of mine and a Colt clone that belonged to a friend. Just place the hand on a hard flat surface with a hole in it. Center the broken spring over the hole. Position the new spring on top of the old one. Lightly tap the new spring with a hammer to get it started, then use the new spring to drive out the old one. No prying open of the slot is necessary.

 

[Hellgate]

Driftwood,
I'm having trouble visualizing what you are describing. How does a new spring drive out the broken fragment that is crimped in?

 

[4V50 Gary]

What Hellgate asked. There are two crimps to overcome. One with the new spring going in and the other side with the old spring going out.

I agree that new hands must be fitted. Heck, today I:

1) finished inletting the toe plate to a Ruger 10/22;
2) inletted a trigger guard to a squirrel gun (Spanish import);
3) time the drum so the hammer falls square on the nipple;
4) Install a new wedge spring for a Walker.
5) Attend Pt II of a Chief Range Safety Officer Course.

 

[Driftwood Johnson]

On a Colt, the handspring sits in a slot. It is simple to drive a piece of broken spring out with a new one. Maybe I am wrong about a Remmie, I guess I am going to have to take one apart and look at the hand assembly.

 

[4V50 Gary]

DJ - on the replica Remmy I'm working on, that groove has been peened in on both sides so as to keep the spring from walking. I'm going to have to open it up (on the side) to remove the old spring.

That Colt hand has open sides so the method you suggested would work there.

 

[Driftwood Johnson]

Howdy Again

I may have misspoke. The method I described works for a Colt or colt clones. As you can see in my previous photo there is a decent sized slot cut right across the hand and the spring is held in place by the interference of the bottom curve of the spring against the sides or the slot. There is no crimping involved. Quite simple to drive out with the method I described.

So I took my old EuroArms Remmie apart today to see what the situation is with it.

Learn something every day I always say.

Been quite a while since I took my Remmie apart and I don't think I ever took a really good look at how the handspring is held in place. Clearly the tab surrounding the spring has been deformed (crimped) to hold the spring. There is no curve at the bottom of the spring as there is on the Colt. Dunno if my method would really work for the Remmie hand and spring. If I was going to try, this is how I would set it up, balanced across the jaws of a small vice.

But then I noticed what I thought was crack. Sure enough, under a 10X loupe I clearly saw a crack near the base of the spring, and a couple of smaller ones along the spring. No, the cracks do not go all the way through, they are only visible on one side. But they are cracks. Clearly they were generated when the metal was peened over to hold the spring. I dunno what the hands on your Remmies look like, but this is the hand on my old Euroarms Remmie (actually made by Armi San Paolo in 1975). I'm sure those cracks have been there since day one, normal operation of the gun does not stress them, but I would be leery of trying my technique on this spring for fear of breaking the tab right off.

So my apologies if I led anybody down the garden path, I certainly did not mean to.

 

[4V50 Gary]

DJ - no apologies needed. When I first tried replacing the spring, I actually tried driving the old one out with the new one. After a few blows and no change, I had to look at it closely (old eyes and poor lighting) and that's when I observed that the sides had been peened in. Thanks anyway!

 

[g.willikers]

It's not very difficult to fit a new hand.
Just clamp it to the old one and shape it where necessary until they look the same.

 

[4V50 Gary]

I wonder how long a printed metal hand would work.

 

[spacecoast]

Here's a shot of the hand from my original NMA (1864), just for comparison. Not sure I see any peening. Quite a contrast to the Euroarms version.

 

[4V50 Gary]

Thanks Spacecoast. On yours it would be easy to replace the spring. You could do as DJ originally suggested to use the new spring to push out the old spring.