The trigger guard is a spring. Make sure that it hasn't lost its spring. Check for size and fit. From 20 YO memory: one side of the trigger spring is slightly longer than the other. With the revolver upside down, place the short side in the relief cut in the frame and the long side on the...
Floaters can be zapped with a laser. Twenty-100 vision. Two Retina surgeries, two Cataract surgeries and floaters zapped with a laser. Twenty-forty vision now.
"When I put the slightly longer one into the frame I've put the photos of, it pulls the firing pin just about flush with the frame." My firing pin is proud of the recoil shield by 1/32" or less. With the "longer" strain screw, does the trigger reset normally without any monkey business?
The strain screw on my revolver, measured from under the head to the tip is 1/32" longer than 5/8". (21/32"). The mainspring is about 1/16" shorter but that could be manufacturing tolerances.
I love messing with these antiques. The tempering of those skinny legs is challenging but not impossible. You'll find that the .38 split spring is longer than the .32 but, like me, you'll enjoy the hunt and the finished work.
As far as I know, there was only one standard length strain screw...
I'm back from my 23-mile one-way foray into town. The split spring is next to impossible to find. I suspect that it was robbed from your revolver to repair another. The spring has a ~3/8" flag at one end and two really skinny spring legs that attach to the cylinder stop at the other. About...
There are things about this mystery SS that don't add up for me. What is the drilled hole on the underside of the barrel? Why is there what appears to be a lanyard ring hole in the frame butt? Why is the strain screw backed out? Lastly, it appears to have been reblued judging by the...
I forgot to say that the mainspring appears to pull straight up or close to it. The spring should pull to the rear at about 45 degrees. That is my reasoning for the HE spring.
Right now, the only thing that looks suspect is the mainspring. The hammer and stirrup look correct, but the mainspring looks about 1/8" too long. I want to say that it is from a .32 HE. Another thought is that the strain screw has been shortened or is not seated tightly to the frame.
I'll...
Thanks for the photos. The second photo shows the stirrup is installed correctly. I now suspect that the mainspring is not correct and is too long. Measure the length of the spring, in a straight line, from the butt to the tip of the hooks with it Uninstalled and again installed. This is a...
If possible, please give us a photo of just the stirrup. That's the part that connects the hammer to the mainspring and I think it was installed backwards. The stirrup is what makes the hammer rebound.
Your great grandfather's revolver is a .38 Double Action, 3rd Model. They were manufactured between 1884 and 1895. Serial numbered from 119,001 and 322,700 (Neal & Jinks, P 118).