As will become clear, I am not a gunsmith, but I am comfortable disassembling/reassembling guns, stoning burrs, replacing parts, etc. I recently purchased a Uberti single-action revolver and disassembled it to inspect and clean it up a bit before firing it. I had never worked on a gun that had a coil hand spring and somehow didn’t know that this gun had one until I removed the hammer and hand. When I saw the lack of spring on the hand, I realized that there must be a frame-mounted coil spring. The spring itself was still there, but somehow the plunger had gotten away. I can’t imagine how I lost it. Considering the way I was holding the gun at the time, it should be on my bench, but I can’t find it.
The spring is sharply tapered at both ends, so I suspect the plunger is cylindrical, without a shank to fit into the spring, but I don’t know. I used a piece of a drill bit (the smooth part) to fashion a temporary replacement, rounding and polishing the end to reduce drag and wear on the hand. I could order a replacement, but it seems like a simple part and I think my drill bit replacement could work permanently. My concern is getting the right length; I don’t want it to be too long and put too much pressure on the hand. It seems that that would cause undue wear on the parts. On the other hand, too short and there would not be enough tension.
Is it reasonable to find the length of the original plunger and make mine the same length? If so, can anyone let me know how long they are? I could keep shortening the one I made until it becomes unreliable, then make another one just a touch longer, but I’m not sure if that is the best course of action. On the other hand (no pun intended), perhaps I should just pay the $4.50 (plus shipping) and order a replacement plunger. What advice can you offer?
Thanks.
CC Griff