Good News/Bad News!

[CaptainKirk]

Well, after putting just shy of a hundred balls through my Repro Colt Navy last weekend, I came home later that evening and went through my usual "total strip & clean" routine....and while reassembling it, noticed the cylinder bolt was retracted and not locking up. I removed the whole grip assembly, backstrap and trigger guard (which is necessary on the Colt's...not like on the Remmy which requires only ONE SCREW to be removed, and the trigger guard pops off....(did I ever mention the superior design qualities of the Remmy?) and found the trigger/bolt spring had broken. No biggie; it had a good workout that day!
Monday AM I called Dixie to order the part...which they had in stock for $3.50 (I ordered two) and the lady who took my order was friendly and professional. I hope to receive the part within a day or so and will report on fit, finish, timeliness, etc.

 

[CaptainKirk]

Y'ever hear those "Good News/Bad News jokes? Ya know, like:

DOCTOR: I have good news and bad news.
PATIENT: Give me the the bad news first.
D: You have six weeks to live.
P: OMG!!!! I don't believe it! What's the good news?
D: You don't have to pay income tax next year.... :rotf:

OK, well today was GN/BN Day.
But all's well that ends well....
See, my parts came in from Dixie. They looked to be decent quality, so as soon as I finished up dinner, I scattered my little Navy all over the work bench and went to install the spring. Only one problem; the trigger "leg" was too long. Not a problem; I marked off the additional are to be trimmed with permanent marker and trundled off to the garage and the bench grinder, which made short work of the excess (taking care not to overheat the spring by grinding in short bursts and allowing the metal to cool between bursts) Took all of...oh..a minute? Back to the basement shop, smooth the ground area with a file and slap it together. It fits...YAY! It takes only a few minutes to reassemble the gun. I cock the hammer to half-cock, then full-cock.....OK, so why isn't the cylinder turning?

DOCTOR: You didn't ask me what the bad news was. Your hand spring just broke.
ME: You've got to be $h*tting me....

But he wasn't. A quick disassemble showed the spring there, but wiggling it confirmed my suspicions as it popped right off in my hand.
Rats.
I knew I shoulda ordered an extra Colt hand/spring.....
So, I did a trick I was tipped off to by a member on this forum....I made a new one.
I took the hand assembly and laid it sideways in the just-barely-open shop vise jaws with the spring slot over the opening. I then took my smallest hammer and screwdriver and set the blade on the broken piece Two light taps and it popped down through the vise jaws. Taking a bobby pin from my wife's stash, I cut off a length of it and shaped it into a little ? and slid in the slot on the hand. (Before doing this, I de-greased the hand with contact cleaner) Then I swabbed the new "spring" with paste flux, set it on a paving brick (your shop vise will act as a heat sink and the solder won't melt) and heated it until the flux was sizzling. Once that was accomplished, I heated it up and let the rosin-core solder flow. Once it cools, the spring is effectively soldered in place and you can fine-tune the bend to fit your hand slot nice and tight. Did it work?
You betcha! I was doing the Herman Munster laugh and foot stomp as it cycled over and over....
Now, I'll be honest with you, I don't know how it will stand up to repeated cycling and firing. The one I did for my 1860 Army has been cycled at least 50-60 times since I fixed it, but to be fair, I haven't fired it since. Anyway, I'll be ordering a couple hand/spring replacements to keep in the gun box later this week, but this got me out of the woods tonight, and who knows....may well outlast the original spring. And if not, I have MORE BOBBY PINS!!!!! :grin:

 

[nicholas542]

That's why I love my euroarms new army remmy repro pistol easy too clean

 

[east texas]

[in the voice of rosanne,rosanna danna]well that just goes to show ya if its not one thing its another! dig the herman munster stomp part!

 

[Pete Gaimari]

If you want to end hand springs breaking. You'll do the mod all us CAS shooters do.

Drill a hole in the frame, and use a coil spring and plunger from a Ruger. Never break a spring again. Kick that leaf spring to the curb.

 

[MSW]

ayup- the Herman Munster part just corked it... pity i wasn't there to see it in person!

 

[mazo kid]

If you want to end hand springs breaking. You'll do the mod all us CAS shooters do.

Drill a hole in the frame, and use a coil spring and plunger from a Ruger. Never break a spring again. Kick that leaf spring to the curb.

Here is a link to a how-to article for installing that Ruger modification. Cap't. K, you can also use a safety pin as a bolt/trigger spring in an emergency. http://www.theopenrange.net/articles/Tuning_the_Pietta_Part_Two.pdf

 

[CaptainKirk]

ayup- the Herman Munster part just corked it... pity i wasn't there to see it in person!

I was probably better you didn't..... :shake:

 

[CaptainKirk]

If you want to end hand springs breaking. You'll do the mod all us CAS shooters do.

Drill a hole in the frame, and use a coil spring and plunger from a Ruger. Never break a spring again. Kick that leaf spring to the curb.

Here is a link to a how-to article for installing that Ruger modification. Cap't. K, you can also use a safety pin as a bolt/trigger spring in an emergency. http://www.theopenrange.net/articles/Tuning_the_Pietta_Part_Two.pdf[/quote]

Can't open the link, for some reason. (???) Maybe Firefox thinks it's a pop-up?

 

[CaptainKirk]

you can also use a safety pin as a bolt/trigger spring in an emergency.

Good to know. I just stashed a handful from the wife's sewing kit in my gun box.... :grin:

 

[Pete Gaimari]

You should really try to open that link. It has all the info you need to get your gun working good.

 

[CaptainKirk]

I tried three times. All I get is an error message?

 

[Pete Gaimari]

Did you try to copy it to your address?

The link works for me, but i'm on Chrome. Everything works on Chrome. (almost)

Try this.
http://www.theopenrange.net/articles/Tuning_the_Pietta_Part_Two.pdf


edit This forum changes the link when I paste it here. This forum is frustrating for posting links.

 

[Pete Gaimari]

Crud! I tried to copy the article here. Can't do that either.

 

[CaptainKirk]

Try this:
View the article. Click and drag over the entire article to highlight it. Then right click and click on "COPY". Open a new reply to this thread, then right click "PASTE". The text should appear.

 

[redwing]

Just get a Ruger Old Army it already has this up grade. :grin:

 

[Pete Gaimari]

I tried that. It wouldn't copy. I even have it saved as a PDF, and couldn't copy it here.

The easy way is for you to get the link to work. Don't you have IE besides FF? Switch to it for the link to work.

You need to see the pictures too.

 

[CaptainKirk]

No, IE wouldn't open it either. I'll try it from work tomorrow. I think it's a conflict with Adobe and my Norton antivirus.

 

[Pete Gaimari]

Switch to Chrome and AVG.

 

[CaptainKirk]

No worries...I downloaded it at work and printed it out. Thanks! :grin: