I have a factory nickel .38 Safety Hammerless SN: is in the VERY low 1xx range with the Z-bar barrel release.
It's special to me because I purchased this from S&WCA member Norman Hall way back in 1995 from the collection of his dad and because it was so early.
While it has been stored all these years, "dry", to help prevent any more of the nickel from flaking off. It had only a few minor places where the nickel was lifting when I purchased it.
Over the years a little more has flaked off but it's still a sweetie and certainly not a dog. The problem I have is, when I recently took it out of storage, I discovered that sometime over the years the trigger spring had broken. It happens ! Just time and years of sitting with tension on the springs of all the old S&W's sometimes they're just get brittle from age or have expired (age wise) and break. Most common is the trigger return springs on most top breaks.
As I've been advised, it seems this hammer spring is different from all other models that followed and possibly even revised within the 1st series itself.
In the picture you will see the broken end still attached to the stirrup. Then laying flat against the inside of the front strap is the other part of the spring.
The hammer spring attaches to the front strap. The larger spring in the rear is the safety lever spring only.
Trying to find this spring has been a chore, especially that it does not show up as such on any know diagrams I either have or have been provided.
Has anyone every had to make this type hammer spring, and if so, what di did you use to start with.
Back in the day, way pre-internet I needed a trigger return spring (which is V shaped) for a very nice .44 Double Action. NO ONE seemed to have this trigger return spring so I decided to made one starting with a larger shotgun spring which I shortened and trimmed to the correct overall width, then spent days thinning the later faces of the spring with rouge and hard buff wheel to attain the correct tension. It was a job that I will never do again as the labor involved was tremendous.
In this case, it doesn't seem this spring is available anywhere so I'd like to start with a spring that I do not have to customize to anything near the extent of the .44 DA 1st.
Can someone with a "working" .38 hammerless first model, post a picture with the grips off, similar to the pix I have posted so I can get an idea of what it looks like when it is in proper working order. I cannot determine where or how or if this spring was pinned to the inside of the front strap.
Any hints, help ? Thanks.
.38 Safety Hammerless first (very early production)
Linear Mode
