I'm helping a friend fix up an old Husqvarna 310 double. Pretty minor stock work is all. Shouldn't even look too much like a Bubba masterpiece when it was done, if I do my job right.

However, along the way the top lever v-spring dropped out of the action. It's the same sort of v-spring found in a muzzleloader and many hammer guns. I have a spring vice to squeeze them down for replacing them into the lock plate.

But this little bugger is way too small to use that vice and have the tips of the V free to insert into the back of the action where they need to go, and the pin into the hole under the top tang.

This is a nicely polished spring. I don't want to bugger it up. So, is there a tiny v-spring vice for this job, or do I have to make something, or what is the solution here? Just holding onto it while compressing is sort of like trying to pinch a fresh watermelon seed hard, w/o squirting it across the room.

My apologies for such a trivial question, but I don't see a simple solution here.

Make a spring clamp out of a thin piece of non marking metal. I usually use a small strip of brass about 4" X 1/2" x 1/8" thick just because I have a supply. Bend one end over & file a notch in the end wide enough to hold the spring in compressed position. Compress the spring in a small vise or by using a spring vise & slip the clamp over the compressed spring. Insert the compressed spring into position & gently remove the clamp allowing the spring to lock into the appropriate recesses.

Man, that is so simple. My brain is permanently on vacation.

Thanks for the suggestion. I should have figured this out on my own.

Glad someone with better sense answered; I was going with needle nosed vice grips...Geo