Chances are, you have a member of the Fair Sex living in your house. (Why they call them the 'Fair Sex' is beyond me.....nothing they do seems fair, but I digress....) If so, there is a Very Good Chance that they use Bobby Pins..those aggravating little metal hair pins that we used to make 'snappers' out of as kids. Well, now you can have your revenge on the Fair Sex.....steal their bobby pins!
What?!! Cap'n Gone Mad?
Why, no. Cap figured out that you can use Bobby pins to replace the broken hand spring on your Colt!
Yep...done it on two of my Colt repros to date, and they work just fine!
Here's the thing; the bobby pins may not be the same thickness as your old hand spring, so here is what I do:
1) Using a very thin-tipped screwdriver or other thin tool, place the slot of the hand over the slightly open jaws of a vise and gently tap out the broken-off piece of spring.
2) Cut a piece of bobby pin and bend it in a question-mark shaped piece. Leave it a little long on purpose.
3) Drive in your new spring. It will be snug, but move side-to side.
4) Rather than bend over the hand slot, lay your hand and spring on a brick. Using flux paste and rosin core solder, heat up the area using a solder gun and allow the solder to flow into the slot, securing the spring. This will hold it fast, but allow you to replace it easily next time it breaks.
5) File off excess solder using a hand file. Do your final bending and contouring of the new spring and trim it to correct length using diagonal cutters.
Oh...and when finished; grab a handful of those bobby pins and throw them in your possibles box. She'll never miss 'em!
