need help with Rogers & Spencer

I recently bought an old but unfired R&S. Took it apart to clean out old grease and some light rust. My problem is in putting it back together, specifically with the mainspring. According to the Gun Digest Revolver book:
"When replacing the hammer spring, be sure its top is properly engaged with the back of the hammer, then grip the lower portion with smooth-jawed pliers and flex the spring slightly until its lower end can be started into its slot in the grip frame. When it is started well, tap it into place with a small brass hammer."

First of all, I may be getting weak in my old age, but I had a heck of a time flexing the spring enough to get it started in the slot.

When I finally did get it started and tapped it in, it is only about one third of the way down the slot. Try as I might, I cannot get it any deeper. The gun functions, more or less, with the spring in this position, but the hammer fall is light and I am afraid it would not reliably snap a cap. I guess I can take the spring out and start all over, but I had so much trouble the first time, I don't want to unless there is nothing else to try.

My question is: Is anyone out there familiar with reassembling the R&S? Is there something I missed or am doing wrong?

Any advice/help will be greatly appreciated. :bow:

Until now I have never had the grips off of mine but your topic got my curiosity up.

From the looks of the way the spring is located if you got it started and partially installed your on the right track.

If I was doing this and tapping with a hammer didn't drive it in the rest of the way I would try using either my vise or a pair Vise Grips to try to squeeze it in the rest of the way.

Vise Grips create the most power during the final 1/2-3/4" of movement of the grip so my method would be to adjust the pliers so they "just fit" on the protruding end of the spring and on the far side of the frame. Then I would release the pliers and screw the adjustment screw in 1/2-1 turn and then apply this new setting to the spring. It should be pressed in a little bit by doing this.
If it did move in I would then repeat the screw adjustment and re-apply the new setting to the spring. I would continue to do this until the spring was flush with the frame on both sides.

If you don't have some good Vise Grips this is good excuse to go buy some. They are a handy thing to have.

Thanks. I appreciate your response, but the problem is not getting the spring flush side to side. I can do that with the brass hammer. The problem is that the spring is only about one third of the way toward the bottom of the notch. I have tried grabbing with vise grips and trying to pull down, but it does not budge. Oh well, I will let it rest and try again tomorrow.

I agree that vice grips are about the handiest hand tool there is. I have several of different sizes and jaw shapes.

Thanks again, and don't take your spring out unless you really have to

It sounds to me like the top of the spring is not in the correct place. Maybe way forward of where it belongs. With everything lined up right the bottom of the spring should be at the bottom
slot in the frame.


I would take the spring out and start over.

Sorry. Obviously I didn't understand the problem.

If the spring is not resting at the bottom of its slot there is no cure except to remove it and locate it in the right place before starting it into the slot.

It does look like a pretty healthy spring so perhaps you can get someone to hold the gun on a table while you grasp the lower end of the spring with the Vise Grips?
Using two hands on the Vise Grips should allow you to position it in the right place before tapping it into the slot.

Speaking of Vise Grips make sure you do not grab the spring in the area of the spring that will not be in the slot.
The hardened serrated jaws can create indentations in the spring and if these are in the exposed "flexable" area any small mark can become a "stress riser" which can be the source of a crack.

Thanks to both of you guys. I will take it back out and start over. Next time, I will pad the jaws of my bench vise to hold the gun so I can use two hands on the vice grip. Will also pad the grip jaws.

Wish me luck.

I hate/sorry to say this-- but I am glad someone else was doing it instead of me. I was thinking about mine the other day and was going to take it down . Think I will wait for a bit now. It always helps to learn from someone else's experience(trials and tribulations). Good luck with your R&S. I enjoy mine.

I had a similar sictiation. Put 1/2 Popsicle stick (good excuse to buy a box of Edy's Fruit Bars-pineapple) on the bowed part of the spring and 1/2 on the front of the grip frame and squeeze gently with a Channel-locks, adjusted to push flat acrost the width of the spring.

Thought I would give you guys a progress report. I waited til late in the day to use my bench vice to hold the gun. (It is in the garage which is hot as h**l these days.) Even with the gun in the vise and using both hands on the vise grip, I could not bend the spring enough to get it in the slot. That is one stiff spring.

So I came back into the AC and thought about it. I took the trigger guard/ handle frame back off of the gun and put the spring into the slot. I then used the vice grips to bend the spring down and held it in place with a plastic cable tie. The spring was bent no more than it is at full cock. Then I was able to reassemble it, cut the tie, and voila -- it is back together and working. It will stay together unless something breaks :haha:

I was out of town yesterday and didn't see this thread until today. The good news is that the method you finally succeeded with is exactly what I've done with mine for the last several years.

Before that I used to install the spring in the grip frame, place the free end under the hammer roller and then slowly squeeze the grip frame together with the main frame. This is perhaps the reason I now have arthritis in my thumbs. I can't do it any more.

Great minds run in the same pattern :thumbsup:

The funny thing is that I bought the Gun Digest Book of Revolvers because it had assembly/disassembly directions for the R&S. That is where I got the "flex the spring slightly" to fit the end into the slot. I am not sure that I could have done that even before my hands went south on me I sure as heck can't now.
If I ever completely disassemble it again, I think I will cock the hammer, put a tie on the spring, and leave the tie there until I put it back together.