Fixit questions for 1858 Remington by Navy Arms

[unspellable]

I bought a rather rough looking 1858 Remington by Navy Arms. Upon cleaning it I found that the previous owner had not cleaned it at all since shooting it. How ever, under the crud it doesn't look too bad so I may have a decent shooter.

It does have some trigger creep so I decided to take it apart and look inside. On doing so, a spring broke. This is the two fingered spring under the frame, one finger acts as trigger return, the other as bolt return. I don't think I did anything to break the spring, it just decided to let go.

On reassembly, I find that if I attempt to tighten the main spring screw (at bottom of grip front strap) all the way the spring will pull out from under the roller on the hammer. Is this normal or is something amiss here? Is it a matter of how deeply the spring is seated in the notch in the frame? With the screw not tightened all the way down all seems normal except for the screw head sticking up a bit.

First question is where is the best place to get a replacement spring. Do I need to think about a new mainspring?

The last question, is what's the proper manner to get rid of the creep? All of these single action revolvers seem to have a rather similar trigger, sear, notch, and hammer notch arrangement so that what applies to one probably applies to another. (I have a Colt style cap & ball that's incredibly creepy.)

 

[6_gunner]

Your mainspring might be a little short. I don't know what else would cause it to do that.

Go to e-gunparts.com and get a new mainspring and trigger spring. They're not very expensive. You might want to get a new hand spring too, since they tend to wear out.

There might not be anything you can do about the trigger creep.

 

[mec]

".... Is this normal or is something amiss here? Is it a matter of how deeply the spring is seated in the notch in the frame? With the screw not tightened ..."
Mine does that unless I tighten the tension screw with the hammer cocked. Then it does not jump over the hammer seat. I was told by an internet expert that this is abnormal, means my revolver is out of spec and will no doubt let the mainspring jump loose during normal use. This turns out not to be true.

VTI gunparts has the trigger/bolt springs for Uberti and Pietta revolvers. They may well be interchangeable. It is not unusual for these springs to fatigu and break though the newer ones seem to have a much longer service life.

 

[Old Dragoon]

Your mainspring is indeed too short. The spring you broke is the trigger/bolt spring and buy a couple and I'd buy a coiuple hands as well as these tend to break also. The hands will come with the handsprings on them. If the replacement mainspring is too short then you will need a spacer of some type under the foot of the mainspring.

The mainspring may be the correct length, but the location of the hammer face may not be right and this will cause the mainspring to dislodge from under the hammer roller.

Also you should not crank the adjustment screw too far in. It is just to give smoother cocking action, it is not used to trap the mainspring. It is there it give a greater arc in the mainspring, hence an easier cocking action.

 

[mec]

I hasten to add that Old Dragoon is Not the one who gave me the information about the gun being defective. You might try tightening the screw with the hammer cocked /mainspring under tension and see if it works.

 

[rifle]

I always looked at it this way.....if the mainspring screw is tightened too much it can force the spring off the hammer. I just don't tighten it too much. If the head of the screw sticking out on the grip bothers ya then file a few threads off it so the screw head goes in flush. If the spring is tightened too much by that screw it creates such force that it makes more curve to the spring and makes it shorter. The shortest distance between two points is a straight line. Ifin ya curve the spring with too much screw tension from the screw being in too far the spring gets shorter the more it curves. The screw is there to give more tension fer a harder hammer fall but also it does capture the spring. If the screw weren't there at all the spring would be too loose and too weak and not function properly. There has to be at least some tension created by the screw on the spring or the springs too loose. The screw is there for "adjustments" to the spring tension. It is confusing the way the manufacturer makes the head of the screw stick out of the grip unless it's over tightened. Screws usually don't stick out the way that one does. It confuses people sticking out there like that. Why the manufacturer does that with the "sticking out screw" is beyond me. I've filed (the threads end)those dang things at times sos they don't stick out and don't need to be over tightened to go all the way flush with the grip strap.

 

[unspellable]

Main spring

I tried tightening the screw with the hammer cocked. Doesn't make any difference. The oddity here is that a S&W has the same sort of mainspring and screw and you are supposed to tighten the screw all the way.

Now to get a trigger/bolt spring.