Built this little jig/fixture to help assemble the action on a Fox Model B. It's a gun that I was given by a friend and which I refurbished. The hammer springs are very strong and reassembling the springs/plungers/hammers can require no mean level of strength and dexterity. This makes it a lot easier. I may never use it again but it was quick and easy to make and sure works well.
I successfully ordered and received a 1/4 X 24 adjustable die, sawed the threads off a steel bolt (cap screw) of appropriate size, and threaded it with the die. The draw bolt hole in the action has 24 tpi. Two passes with the adjustable die got the threads to sufficient depth. I then carefully placed the hammer springs and plungers into place in the bottom of the action and positioned the hammers atop them, holding the rear of the action upwards.
Then I positioned the two long pieces of 1/4" thick aluminum bar on the rear of the hammers, with the lower, longer side engaged in sear notches. Then, while holding them in place on the hammers I positioned the short cross plate behind them and started the new bolt into the threaded draw bolt hole. It took a few tries to determine how many washers and shims (the larger flange nut is acting as a shim merely to take up slack) was needed to draw the bolt down the right amount to compress the hammer springs. These are coil springs and are very strong, thus the need for the device to compress them both together. If anyone is interested in seeing how the end of the bars are shaped to engage the sear notch I can take a pic of that and provide it, but it's just an angle that matches the part of the hammer that it engages.
As you can see it compressed the springs to the point that the holes in the hammers were aligned well enough to see clear through them and both sides of the action. Then, it's a simple matter of running a slave pin through, then driving it out with the action's hammer pin (axle).
Hope these pics help convey how much easier this is than the old way of holding the action in a padded vise, compressing each hammer spring one at a time, and getting the hammer pin back into place. The only "effort" required here is tightening down the 1/4" X 24 bolt with a little wrench. Note that one of my aluminum bars is a tad longer than the other, causing the obvious misalignment of the top cross bar. That will be remedied if/before I ever use it again. Got the idea from a youtube video.
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