"Ruger" hand spring mod for Open Tops

[Captainkirk]

Has anyone tried the retrofit of the Ruger hand spring assembly as outlined in the Open Range Pettifogger articles? Been thinking about trying it out on one of my Colt replicas.

View pages 5-19 in the following Open Range link:

http://www.theopenrange.net/articles/Tuning_the_Uberti_Open_Top_Revolvers_Part_2.pdf

[old fogey]

Over here there's a good tutorial on basically converting a 1860 Army to a 1860 Ruger - all the conversion work is done on the grip frames (have to do wonders from a reliability standpoint, although have ta say it looks like you simply exchange all the 'smithing work you'd ever have to possibly do over the life of the gun and simply do it from the git-go - but dang, that'd be a reliable shooter)!

[StrawHat]

Capt.,  I believe Fingers has done that to at least one of his revolvers. 

I have not had a problem with broken hand springs so far, so have not done it.

Kevin

[Hawg]

Knock on wood but I've never broke a hand spring. I did wear out one hand. If I ever do break one I'll stick a bobby pin in it.

[Captainkirk]

So far I put a bobby pin in both my 1860 Army and 1851 Navy replicas....hundreds of shots later (and many more 'play sessions') they are holding up fine. I think the original springs are too brittle. Plus, bobby pins are cheap.

[Fingers McGee]

Capt.,  I believe Fingers has done that to at least one of his revolvers. 

I have not had a problem with broken hand springs so far, so have not done it.

Kevin

I have 3 pair of C&Bs that have been modified.  Pair of Uberti 1861 Navies, pair of Pietta 1860 Armies; and a pair of Navy Arms (Uberti) Frontiersman 1851 Navies w/5 inch barrel.  Did them 3 or 4 years ago and use them in CAS competition.  I go through close to 2000 wads and round balls a year using a variety of pistols.

(edited 8 Jan to correct pistol list)

[mazo kid]

I have read about that modification, but like others here I have not experienced a broken handspring.....yet. Fingers needs reliability in his guns as he shoots a lot of events a year. Many years ago, I bought a used ROA and for a while it was locking up every 2-3 shots. Then I had to take the cylinder out, put it back in, and then repeat the process. I got tired of that and tore the gun down to find that hand spring/plunger was very dirty and rusty and causing the action to bind. I cleaned up those parts, lubed them and everything works great now. So if you do that mod, make sure to clean and lube that spring every once in a while.

[old fogey]

Sorry, fergot to mention that if'n y'all's just wanting the hand-spring converted to a coil-spring (ala Ruger -) you can get onna these little hummer's for fool-proof locating the hole for yer Ruger-type coil-handspring (costs $ 70 + s&h), or have ta Goon do it fer ya!