Question

I got to work on 2 old guns in a row lately, a Stevens 345 side-by-side 20ga shotgun and a Eli Whitney SA revolver in .36 cap and ball, and have learned quite a bit about leaf springs, as I had to make 4 of them.

First and foremost; they tend to break, especially when you try to bend them to adjust for slack. It could be due to the decades’ long work hardening. That accounts for 2 of the 4 that I had to make. The third one actually totally caught me by surprise. It was the trigger / bolt return spring of the Eli Whitney. It was a 2-prong deal under the cylinder window that powered the bolt and the trigger. After installing the broken hand spring and putting the action back together, I went ahead to test how things worked. Cocking the hammer and I felt something dropped out. The spring prong that powered the bolt broke off. But it was fine before I took the gun apart. I didn’t bend it at all. Then I realized I didn’t put the trigger guard on when I cocked the hammer back. The trigger guard limited the movement of the spring prongs, so without it the spring was “over bent”.

Making leaf springs is not that hard, but still I’d like to avoid that if I can. I actually contemplating a new set of standard practices when I encounter old leaf springs next time. I would re-juvenile them first. It would be done by annealing, hardening, and tempering, just like I’m making a new leaf spring. At least I won’t bend any one for adjustment without annealing it first.

What think you? Is it something you folks have been doing regularly anyway? Thanks for your comments. -TL