Need improved hand spring for '75 Remington

[Cimarron Lawman]

I've heard that some people use a bobby pin for a hand spring, but how is this done? Do you epoxy one side of the bobby pin to the hand?

I'm open to suggestions.

[Fox Creek Kid]

Hand springs very rarely break IMO. I've lost two in countless years and tens of thousands of rounds. They are a cinch to change out as well. I know some people use the bobby pin trick with good results but I view that as sort of a "field expediency" type of repair until a soldier can get to an armorer. If your gun is breaking hand springs regularly then something else is wrong, e.g., burrs in the hand spring channel . Besides, you can fire a Colt or Remmy style revolver with a broken hand spring if you drop the barrel toward the ground to cock the hammer in an emergency. I don't own a SA revolver with a coil type hand spring as mine are for CAS. I'm not going to a real gunfight with one. Nothing against them, but I just see it as something really needless IMO. But I'm a traditionalist and like the "feel" of flat springs. Soapbox off.

[Cimarron Lawman]

Still not sure how to attach the bobby pin to the hand ...

[Fox Creek Kid]

You have to knock the broken spring out of the channel on the hand with a small thin bladed screwdriver in a vise. Be careful or you'll damage the hand itself. Then you take a bobby pin & fashion it to resemble a hand spring. Press it in to the slot & crimp it. Needless to say, after doing this you might as well install a new hand spring. Clear?

[Flint]

I have to disagree with Fox Creek, as the hand spring is the most prone to failure of all the springs in a Colt pattern single action, which would include the Remington, and particularly so if it is an Italian make.  The next or equallly failure prone spring is the trigger/bolt spring. 

Replacing those springs with an American made spring will greatly increase the lifespan of the springs, and importantly, control the timing and overtravel problems associated with them.

Especially for CAS shooting, I want a dependable revolver, both for the health of the revolver's parts and my enjoyment of the shoot.  Even though I'm never in the top ten, blowing a stage due to gun problems bugs me, I'd rather blow a stage due to my own failure.....

The Italian made replacement springs seem to be shorter lived than the originals, and the spring temper is very lacking.

[Cimarron Lawman]

Flint,

If it were you, would you be proactive and do the bobby pin thing, or would you wait until the stock spring broke? I mean, if the sucker is likely to break in under 1000 rounds, I might as well change it out now.

[Marshal Will Wingam]

I'm thinking of replacing mine with piano wire if they break. It would last forever. I guess it would be a good idea to slightly flatten it where it goes into the hand so it doesn't rotate.

[Capt. Augustus]

Marshall, I got something from Brownwells once about using piano wire.  I think they drilled a hole in the hand.  It was one of their gunsmith tips.

[Marshal Will Wingam]

That would make sense. I guess peening the slot closed over the round wire after inserting it into a hole would be a good way to work it. Maybe one of these days I'll get to doing it. Thanks for the tip.