Hardest thing I’ve ever had to do on a gun

The Tiro is a different model that's called a Shooter's Model.
I don't know if it uses the same main spring or not.

I know my limitations and avoid taking them apart.
That's why I use American Pioneer Powder, a substitute powder that doesn't contain sulfur, and which makes it as easy to clean as possible.
And also lube it liberally.

I put a colt saa main spring in my pietta 1858 since I don't need a heavy strike shooting cartridges. I always put the butt end of the spring in the slot and slide the hammer end under the hammer roller from the side. Can't remember if I did the same with the factory spring, but I think I did. I'll have to try it again and see.

Edit: sorry, other way around. Hammer end first, while hammer is all the way down, then slide the butt end in. Make sure you loosen the spring tension screw.

I have handled some old 1858s with impossibly strong hammer springs, much heavier than they needed to be. If that is the factory spring you can make life and shooting and reassembly easier with a lighter spring.

Wait till you try the same thing on a Rogers & Spencer. One of mine has a very heavy mainspring that I decided to swap out with a couple of extras I bought years ago. Well, the extras are a trifle short and I had to put the original back in. After two hours of trying I gave up till the next day. Finally got it back in. I didn't want to trim down the original mainspring as there are no replacements at this time, and if I made a mistake(that doesn't happen does it?) I would be out of luck. So I have to live with a heavy trigger pull. Anybody know of a source of replacement parts for Euroarms Rogers & Spencers?

my remington main spring was way too heavy. for two days i honed it smooth on all 4 sides with a big nice knife sharpening stone. all done by hand. i have the time and i dont charge my self anything. got it so it was about the same feel as a colt. if i remember right it was hard to put back in. never liked the grip feel so sold it to a friend who wanted it. now all i have are uberti colts of all sorts. easy to work on and like them better.

I've taken mine apart a few times and dont recall any issues with the mainspring, but mine could be weaker.

I feel your pain. My old 58 was doable but a pain to re assemble.

Howdy. I'm new to the forum here. Replacing the spring in a Remington is not that hard. Back out the tension screw, put the hammer end in place and with flat tipped pliers, give the spring a bit of a twist to align the spring end with the slot in the grip frame and slide it in. Yes, a lighter spring goes in easier. My pistols are cartridge conversions so I've never needed a heavy spring. To lighten them, I cut the sides narrower, leaving the ends alone so the spring won't get cocked off sideways in use.



If you decide to lighten a spring this way, grind it slowly with a sanding drum in a dremel, being careful to keep from heating the spring and de-tempering. I always do this without gloves so I can tell how warm the spring gets while sanding/grinding on it. Also, make all finishing sanding marks lengthwise. Sanding marks across the spring can possibly be a place for a crack to develop and eventually break the spring.

To adjust the tension so it fires all the primers, I cock the pistol and with the muzzle pointed straight up, the heel of the pistol on a desk, I drop a plastic sight punch down the barrel and snap the trigger. Bear in mind I have standard 8' ceilings. The sight punch should just make it up to touch the ceiling gently. If the punch doesn't make it up to the ceiling, it needs more tension. If it smacks the ceiling hard, it needs less tension. More tension will work fine if you want but that seems to be the minimum needed for consitent primer ignition. For a percussion pistol, that would be way too light but it does great for cartridges.

i dont know about caps as all mine are conversions or made for cartridges. colts are easy to work on. i replace the bottom flat spring with a wolf wire spring on all of them on the newer uberti colts with that god awful floating firing pin i go the extra money and buy a old type hammer and trigger and put that in them. never a problem with the old type of hammers and triggers. that new floating one either works or doesnt. on mine they never worked right.

Put the end under the hammer. Grasp the other end with pliers. Twist and push in to slot. Tap in place. Set retaining screw. Done.

It really does not take much force to ignite a percussion cap. Much of the hammer spring strength is intended to hold the hammer against the nipple when fired to prevent back flow of gasses from the chamber. I use 17# Wolff springs in my Ruger Old Armies, rather than the 23# factory springs. The guns are much easier to cock with the lighter springs and I still get reliable ignition.

Percussion revolvers with cap rakes and aftermarket springs are also reliable even though the face of the hammer has been modified so that much less of the hammer actually contacts the cap on the nipple.

I have never owned an 1858, but my neighbor had a Pietta that must have come with a 30# hammer spring. He did not shoot it often!

Olon said:

I've taken mine apart a few times and dont recall any issues with the mainspring, but mine could be weaker.

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Same here. The dissassembly and reassembly is straight-forward. Easier than a Colt thanks to the solid frame. With no back straps to take apart it has 5 less screws to remove.

You don't mention the make of your replica though. I own a Pietta and previously owned a Euroarms years back. In both the hammer spring was / is a bit heavy.
I did reduce the spring thickness carefully in both revolvers to reduce the hammer draw weight. (A little goes a long way!)
I found that the spring in both guns seemed too straight, but could be curved slightly by carefully compressing it in a bench vise, with either end bearing against a vise jaw (after thinning it).
Seems counter-intuitive but it was hard enough to be a spring yet soft enough to bend a bit.
While this worked for me, your spring might be different and not tolerate it.
In any case, a pair of long nose pliers is helpful to compress the spring enough to get it into the frame slot, as others have mentioned.

On an NMA there is a spring tension screw near the bottom of the mainspring. A small U bolt from the hardware store can be used as a mainspring clamp. A mainspring that is to light can cause cap jams.

Old Stumpy said:

Same here. The dissassembly and reassembly is straight-forward. Easier than a Colt thanks to the solid frame. With no back straps to take apart it has 5 less screws to remove.

You don't mention the make of your replica though. I own a Pietta and previously owned a Euroarms years back. In both the hammer spring was / is a bit heavy.
I did reduce the spring thickness carefully in both revolvers to reduce the hammer draw weight. (A little goes a long way!)
I found that the spring in both guns seemed too straight, but could be curved slightly by carefully compressing it in a bench vise, with either end bearing against a vise jaw (after thinning it).
Seems counter-intuitive but it was hard enough to be a spring yet soft enough to bend a bit.
While this worked for me, your spring might be different and not tolerate it.
In any case, a pair of long nose pliers is helpful to compress the spring enough to get it into the frame slot, as others have mentioned.

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Mine is a Pietta

Russell13 said:

I want to get a colt just to have one and see the difference in feel. Do you ever have a problem with caps falling into the backside of the cylinder ?

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I have a Colt 1851 navy with matching serial numbers it is a 2nd generation in near immaculate condition ive fired it 6 shots thats it and before those 6 it appeared to be unfired but a person never knows I would sell it for what I have in it which is 450.00 I will throw in a brand new left hand holster for the 7.5 in barrel Colt for another 30.00 which is what I paid. I have several others so if you really want a Colt brand 1851 Navy I can help you out

stephen cockerham said:

I have a Colt 1851 navy with matching serial numbers it is a 2nd generation in near immaculate condition ive fired it 6 shots thats it and before those 6 it appeared to be unfired but a person never knows I would sell it for what I have in it which is 450.00 I will throw in a brand new left hand holster for the 7.5 in barrel Colt for another 30.00 which is what I paid. I have several others so if you really want a Colt brand 1851 Navy I can help you out

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also on the Colt no failed caps no misfires when I tried it at 30 feet itwasvery accurate

Russell13 said:

I want to get a colt just to have one and see the difference in feel. Do you ever have a problem with caps falling into the backside of the cylinder ?

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For insights into this check out the duelist1954 channel on You Tube. Mike B. has a great fondness for Colt C&B revolvers and years of videos about tuning them up. He recommends "Slix Shot" nipples, which are vented with a cross-drilled hole and shaped internally to stop caps from falling off the nipples.

Also, while Colts do this, my Remingtons never have.

Russell13 said:

I want to get a colt just to have one and see the difference in feel. Do you ever have a problem with caps falling into the backside of the cylinder ?

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I have solves the problem on all my colts from having ANY caps or even fouling getting into the workings of my guns. The caps all stay on and fly off with a simple spin of my cylinder. If you handled my guns you would think they had super light hammer/main springs but i use stock full strength springs...alot of the resistance in the gun is due to the workings inside. I have made my own custom dual wire spring set up to control the trigger and bolt. So no flat seer spring. Also thinned out a leg from my bolt and did a few other adjustments. But as far as caps, i get 100% ignition (unless the cap is missing primer or some other defect, but have never had this issue) and never have anything go past my cap post. And if anything did get past my cap post i have a sheild that keeps anything from falling into the hammer slot gap that leads inside your gun. Not even fouling or cap fouling residue gets past it. Heres what i mean...