44 DA Russian Mainspring

[shown50]

Can anyone take their mainspring out and measure top to bottom for me? I'm in the process of making a new one for my gun but my original is broken at the hammer side so getting measurements is not possible.

I have made one so far from .0500 thickness material just as a test piece and was able to make the gun function a few times before the ears broke off at the hammer. I knew that result was inevitable after all the back and forth bending I had to do to make the hammer side the right angle and ears the right size(it also was in annealed state so still soft).
I've ordered 1/8th thick material to make the final spring from in the mean time I would like to make another spring from .500 but don't want to do more guessing on the size. Does anyone have a 44 DA they can take the mainspring out of and measure the total length?
Also what's the best way to remove the side plate I've tried to tap the opposite side lightly to free it but it's not budging. I'm not going to try and pry it off so what's the best solution? It would make fitting the new mainspring much easier.
Thanks for any help!

 

[mmaher94087]

Dude, side plate first. Side plate facing UP. Stocks off. Place the heal/butt on the bench and hold the frame and barrel off the bench at a 30* angle. Smack the grip straps smartly several times with a plastic mallet or wood dowel. It's counter intuitive but the side plate will inch its way up and out of the frame.

Tomorrow, I can pull out my mainspring and measure it. I'm on a borrowed laptop and can't scan or print anything.

 

[iby]

What Mike said
Take the grips off
Tap on the grip frame.
The sideplate will "jump" up

 

[shown50]

Thanks for the replies! I don't think mine has been off in many years judging by the gunk inside the gun while looking through the grip frame. I'll give it another try today. The 1/8th inch stock I ordered arrives today so I'll probably try and get a new spring roughed in while my fiancée is at work lol.

 

[shown50]

Safe to say the side plate hasn't been off in a long time. I had to hit the gun way harder than I wanted to before it came off. Another thing I noticed, the gunk had the legs of the hammer stuck in an upward position and now that the side plates off I was able to free them. I think the internals need a good soak to release a lot of the black powder/oil stuck everywhere

 

[Exmilcop]

What a mess! We have carb cleaner up here but you can use acetone or varsol with a soft brush to clean off the gunge. From the looks of the color case hardening on the hammer it would look lovely all cleaned up

 

[shown50]

What a mess! We have carb cleaner up here but you can use acetone or varsol with a soft brush to clean off the gunge. From the looks of the color case hardening on the hammer it would look lovely all cleaned up

Yeah it's thick in there and from just what I've cleaned off with a paper towel the action is much smoother and has positive clicks throughout the movement. I am trying to refrain from tearing the gun completely apart until I have the strain screw made for it, since I have to send the gun off for that. Were you needing the v shaped trigger spring?

 

[Exmilcop]

Yeah it's thick in there and from just what I've cleaned off with a paper towel the action is much smoother and has positive clicks throughout the movement. I am trying to refrain from tearing the gun completely apart until I have the strain screw made for it, since I have to send the gun off for that. Were you needing the v shaped trigger spring?

Thanks to a wonderful gentleman on this site who put me in touch with a lady in Idaho, I now have the parts I needed on order. I ordered a new hammer and sear from her as well since the original ones had been tampered with. If all goes well I have a tookmaker buddy who'll put a dab of microweld on the mucked over areas and use the good ones as templates to put them back to rights. That will give me some parts to sell to defray my outlay. I'd love to see some pics of yours put back to rights.
PS: last time I had a mess like that, I put the action on some paper towels and sprayed the bejaysus out of it with the carb cleaner and kept on doing so until the liquid came out clear. That spared me tearing the action apart (it was a lever action rifle) and some judicious use of lube and the rifle was functioning as intended.

 

[mmaher94087]

.44 DA Mainspring length: 3.750". Straight spring; no arch.
Width at base: .400" tapering to .240" at stirrup hooks.
Thickness at base: .070" tapering to .033" at hooks.

 

[shown50]

Thanks to a wonderful gentleman on this site who put me in touch with a lady in Idaho, I now have the parts I needed on order. I ordered a new hammer and sear from her as well since the original ones had been tampered with. If all goes well I have a tookmaker buddy who'll put a dab of microweld on the mucked over areas and use the good ones as templates to put them back to rights. That will give me some parts to sell to defray my outlay. I'd love to see some pics of yours put back to rights.
PS: last time I had a mess like that, I put the action on some paper towels and sprayed the bejaysus out of it with the carb cleaner and kept on doing so until the liquid came out clear. That spared me tearing the action apart (it was a lever action rifle) and some judicious use of lube and the rifle was functioning as intended.

Glad you found the parts! I was going to offer to try and make one off of my gun as a template but no promises it would've worked lol. I've searched for a parts gun for a couple weeks and have came up empty. I'm actually following a lesser condition one on the big auction site hoping it stays under $500.

 

[shown50]

.44 DA Mainspring length: 3.750". Straight spring; no arch.
Width at base: .400" tapering to .240" at stirrup hooks.
Thickness at base: .070" tapering to .033" at hooks.

Thanks Mike you're the man!

 

[moralem]

Mine wasn't nearly as bad……

 

[shown50]

Update

Quick update. Spring attempt #3 got me close enough to see the finish line. I can see what I've done wrong and what's an easy fix on the next attempt or two lol.

I originally made the hammer side hooks way too big and also the angle wasn't perfect. I then went down the path of how much can I remove to make it fit. Since I don't have a complete original to work off of I'm doing a lot of fitting then filing to learn how the stirrup side should be. My spring OAL is 3.65" which is shorter than I need(3.75") and much thicker but it's useable as a guide on my next one.

I haven't filed anything on this spring to straighten edges or get it flat and even. I used an angle grinder to take thick parts down in a quick manner since I knew this attempt was a throw away. The gun functions with the shorter spring if you use your finger to put tension on it like a strain screw would but because of the length being off it makes the hammer stirrup ride lower than it should. I don't want to take a chance of the stirrup breaking so I haven't ran the action much other than seeing if it worked the first time.

I know the original spring should be straight and my replacement needed more bend to work but I think that's from the stirrup hooks being too large and too thick on the backside. My next one I'll leave straight and work more on the hooks than using the bend to fix the misalignment at the hammer.

Any criticism is gladly welcomed, this is my first time doing anything like this so I'm learning as I'm working. Luckily I have a great fiancée who has helped give me a second set of eyes with the fitting and stirrup angles.

 

[mmaher94087]

Agree. Stirrup hooks are too big. My notes show the hooks to only be .200" long measured from the back of the spring at the base of the hooks to the tip of the hooks. The slot separating the hooks is .070". Looks like you're on the right track.

A too strong of a spring or a spring with misaligned hooks not parallel to the stirrup pins will destroy a stirrup.

Do you have a line on a strain screw?

 

[shown50]

Thanks, I just measured my hooks and they're .300" long. I'm going to reheat and close them up a little bit more. My slot is .090 wide, and the hooks are .300 wide so they're still a little wide. The stirrup breaking is my current worry while fitting a new mainspring. I was looking online for a spare hammer to have just in case. The only lead on a strain screw is sending it to Chris Hirsch in Tx. He can make one if he has the gun. I was trying to get a couple mainsprings made first so I could send them with the gun. I've not ran across a parts gun online yet, I honestly don't see many 44 Double Actions come up for sale at all.

 

[mmaher94087]

Third photo above looks more like it. The tips of the hooks taper to a thin edge at the stirrup pin.

 

[mmaher94087]

To help with a visual, put your thumb on the knuckle side of the index finger and, with the fingers together, cup one's hand if holding an egg in the palm. The hooks on the end of the spring are represented by the fingers, the egg in the palm is the stirrup pin portion and the shape and thickness of the stirrup hook area is represented by the wrist to finger side view of the hand. Anyone remember the "Think and do" books growing up?