Sidelock V spring repair

[Jebus35745]

Had an old fashioned local gunsmith remove the side plates on my Victor Sarasqueta 20 ga (imported by Stoeger in the 60's) to clean and possibly lighten the trigger pull. One of the main V springs was broken. When I called him to see how it was going, he told me it was broken. I was gonna start an internet search for some kind of replacement and when I went to get dimensions of the spring the next day he had the gun put back together.

Said he welded it, it was broken where the V comes together and he felt it could be a good repair. I never saw it and the repair. The gunsmith has an excellent reputation with guns and is nationally known for his work. Don't know if he hardened it after welding, I would think he knows what he was doing. Finding a replacement would seem impossible.

Any ideas on if this repair will hold up. Searching it has mixed results. We have some very knowledgeable people here, Larry

 

[Pisgah]

Hold up? Maybe. Maybe not.

No charge for expert opinion.

 

[Rpg]

If your gunsmith is, as you say, nationally known and respected I'd guess he knows what he's doing. I certainly don't.

Enjoy the gun. If it breaks again, you know who to take it to.

 

[2152hq]

Some V springs can be welded for a repair.
They have to then be carefully filed and polished back down around that weld to regain the orig profile of the spring.
The welding heat, even if done with a TIG will anneal the spring.
So the entire spring is annealed, drawn back to soften it.
Then is rehardened.
Then once again the temper draw back to the correct 'Spring Temper'
that being in the range of 750/800F depending on who you talk to, who's making the spring, what the spring steel type is, and so on.

Everyone seems to have their own way of doing this. Kind of the same thing with stock finishing, case hardening and lots of other gunsmithing stuff.
As long as you get good results..

The test is to compress the new spring and then let it relax.
If it doesn't break upon compression,,and it doesn't take a continuously bigger 'set' each time it's compressed,,it's your new spring.

Some who Laser Weld tell me that they can repair a broken spring at times and not disturb the temper.
Meaning no re-heat treating is needed.
I'm not smart enough to really know so I have to accept their explanation as thus.
I'm a O/A welder at best when I need to be. I make a new spring and do the heat treat as needed.
It's a lot easier to find a replacement though or even one that almost fits that is a bit bigger, longer, wider, etc that can be filed to fit.
Yes you can easily hand file a spring with sharp hand files.
Make sure you polish the spring perfectly when done lengthwise leaving no marks, scars or dents in the surface or especially the edges.

The Victor Sarasqueta side lock main springs are quite simple and common is size and shape to alot of small percussion lock mainsprings.
They use the stirrup link to the hammer generally. Sometimes a replacement from another lock can fitted and used. The OAL is usually the thing that gets in the way.
If it's the LH lock main spring that broke, that can be a hard one to find also,

 

[Jebus35745]

Thanks Jim, actually curious to how it was welded. Not sure the type of welding he used. I may call him and find out. Actually would like to remove the repaired lock to look at it.

He had a V spring that looked close but the pin was in a different location. Not sure of what replacement springs are available. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.

Oh yeah, your PM's are full, Larry