philthephlier
New member
Single action revolvers often, especially replicas, have leaf springs peened into the hand and it is a fairly common part to fail in one of these guns. Best advice is to have a replacement hand on "hand" but if you can't wait for a new one to arrive here is how I put my Pietta 1858 with a Kirst conversion cylinder back in service until the new one arrived. Items needed: Dremel with cut off wheels, ball point pen with a flat metal clip. Cut the clip off the pen with a cut off wheel. Measure the length of the original spring and add that length to the part still stuck inside it's slot in the hand. Cut the clip to that length. Using the cut off wheel cut into the hand to remove the broken spring stub. Don't go deeper than the existing slot depth. Widen the slot until the thickness of the pen clip is a loose slip fit in the slot. Grind the clip to match the width of the hand. Stone the end of the clip that will be exposed so the end is radiused all around so it cannot catch on any machining marks in the hand slot of the gun's frame. Roughen the end of the clip that fits in the slot and JB Weld it into the hand. Leave it alone until the JB weld sets up completely. Bend the clip if necessary until it fits in the hand slot in the frame with some compression necessary. You don't want it to slide into the slot without compression. This repair worked so well I still have it in the gun even though I have received the replacement hand a while ago. I may just leave it in until or if I need the new one.