Spare Springs...

[St. George]

While certainly an integral part of the Old West, the double action revolvers of the era do 'not' have the strongest metallurgies in their springs.

Plus - those springs are tired and many are brittle by this time.

They've been stored away in all sorts of temperatures, left un-oiled and un-cleaned - probably for their entire lives, since their users weren't known for their attention to detail when it came to weapons maintenance - adding more oil was their basic PMCS.

Many 'will' shoot - if shot seldom and gently - but few will stand up to much shooting - especially the less-common varieties - and folks have already found out that 'those' found their way into drawers and boxes because of broken springs many years ago.

Original spares got themselves purchased a long, long time back.

One might think that with the popularity of C&WAS that someone would produce them, but SASS looked askance at the DA - rightly fearing the gamers would attempt to use modern guns in some manner like they have in WB scenarios - and only allows their use in SA mode - something the 'shoot-fast' guys don't like.

NCOWS allows them in DA - because that's how they shot them in reality - but that also stresses the old metal and often ends in breakage.

The truth of the matter is that by the time the question of double action revolver use came up, C&WAS was on the wane, and no real profit was to be seen in supplying spares for such a small group of shooters of the truly arcane, so that idea was shelved.

A shame, but it explains a lot.

These spares reside in other folks' guns - folks who are proud of them, no matter what condition they may be in.

They're damned hard to find.

Good Hunting!

Vaya,

Scouts Out!

[Shotgun Franklin]

There was in Houston, 14 years or more ago, a spring company. Many of the Class III shooters got their new springs from them. I don't recall the name but it might be worth seeking them out, if they're still around.

[St. George]

Class III weapons really don't use leaf and vee springs - they mostly use coil springs, and anyplace can make those.

The various tempers, lengths, thicknesses and widths of the leaf and vee springs are what makes seeking out the right ones such a problem.

Scouts Out!

[Pitspitr]

Hey St. G
I have an 1899 S&W. Is the main spring the same as later K frames? That would make it's replacement easy.

[St. George]

It certainly would.

That's probably why they didn't make them to fit the earlier revolvers...

Sorry.

Scouts Out!

[Pitspitr]

Somehow I was afraid that would be the answer.