doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DIY Gunsmithing @ doublegunshop.com LC hammer spring clamp

The hammer or main spring on my grade 2 broke the other day. Heard a crunch and jingle and the right barrel failed to fire. I had several complete locks purchased some time ago via ebay or gunbroker (saw new and old springs at Numrich for 15.00) and swaped them using a needle nose vice grips. Not a complicated job for a novice like me but was told to be carefull with vise grips, gouging, and purchase a spring clamp. Hope this does not happen again but it is inevitable with 100 plus year old guns. Where can I purchase such a clamp or spring vise, is that nomenclature correct? LC locks are simple, engineered so to speak for quick and easy replacement. I am not a gunsmith, nor pretend or aspire so, and would not attempt anything more complicated that a simple swap, but I can see the need for proper tools for field expediency.

I have a spring clamp (cramp) that I bought many years ago for disassembling sidelocks. I thought that I could find one available at Track of the Wolf, or some similar supply house, but haven't been able to so far. I will take a pic of it this afternoon, and post it for you if nobody else does so by tonight.

Works very well.

SRH

Stan,

Thanks. Enjoy the holiday.

John

That's it, exactly.

SRH

If you search "Mainspring Vise" on EBay, there are several, less expensive ones available.

Regards
Ken

I always use a pair of long-nose vice grips with the jaws wrapped with black electrical tape to prevent scratching and gouging of the spring.

Steve

I do the same, but I also ground and then filed down the "teeth" of the jaws on a set of needle-nose Vise-Grip pliers- and used masking tape. Smith locks are way simpler to re-assemble than those found on British and European mfg. sidelock guns. Smith locks are a good design, for their time, but lack intercepting sears, and are a trap for the unwary--hammers must be cocked before you can safely remove and then re-assemble the forearm and barrels.

Smith devised a tool for disassembly and reassembly of the mainspring. it is not necessary to take the lock apart to do this, it is also used to cock the hammer when lock is off the action and cock the gun with the barrels and forend off. See Brophy page 195. I have one of the tools if anyone needs demensions.

Or even better- dimensions as to print. I have one, and it is well worth the $10.00 I paid for it years ago. Along with a 6 ft. tape ruler and a step choke gauge, it goes in my pocket when I go to area gun shows in the Winter months- sometimes find a dealer in distress, who let a proposed buyer remove the forearm and barrels from a Smith offered for sale, and then pulled the triggers and let down the hammers- great design, as the curved front section allows you to rotate the cocking rod front lug, against the opposite handed lug, and then, the other cocking rod. I have only seen one Smith gun that a careless or uninformed owner "boogered" by trying to re-assemble the barrels and forearm on a receiver with the hammers down-- Not a pretty sight.