V springs give a cleaner strike. They are a little faster and trigger pulls with V springs a can be set better and crisper. They retain their power for their entire life.
Coil springs are much easier and cheaper to make and they do continue to work (after a fashion) even when cracked or broken. In the English gun trade, the use of coil springs was almost always linked to cost cutting and applied to cheaper grade guns.
However, you may notice that Dickson preferred coil springs t power the top-lever return of his guns, while most quality makers used a leaf spring here too. Of course, Boss ejectors are powered by coil springs. They are very useful things but generally less favoured in quality locks than leaf springs.
An intercepting safety sear is a refinement. It was an added cost and made the gun safer. How necessary it is, is debatable. Arguably, the better quality the gun, the less need for an interceptor, as the likelihood of slippage or breakage was far less than on a cheaply made gun. We actually find them generally on higher quality guns.
Last edited by Small Bore; 07/28/13 04:37 AM.
