Santa Fe Mainspring

[MikeChapin]

At the turkey shoot this weekend I had a fun experience. I was shooting my Santa Fe and had just pulled up on the target when I heard a click from the lock. I thought maybe my trigger was acting up and tried to set it again but is was still set. I lined up and touched it off and nothing happened. I pulled the cap and checked the lock and found no pressure on the hammer. Pulled the lock and found the mainspring in two pieces.

It's early yet here so I haven't had time to call around and see if I can find a replacement. I'm not too optimistic since the rifle has been out of production for twenty years.

The mainspring has a split end that hooks over a stirrup attached to the tumbler, like the internals on an L&R. I have an extra mainspring for an L&R large english lock so I checked it for fit. It was too long. I then checked an L&R Manton and saw that its mainspring was too long by about an eighth of an inch.

I wonder if anyone here would know where to find a mainspring for a 1980s vintage Uberti Santa Fe Hawken in case none of my sources pan out.

 

[Herb]

I have a Green River Leman with a Ron Long lock. The little stirrup you mention broke on mine. Took it to a machine shop and the guy TIG welded the little stirrup. That was maybe 10 years ago. Don't know where your mainspring broke or if it could be welded. Some of us have old mainsprings lying around. Maybe you would post a photo of your spring against a graph paper background with dimensions labeled. Someone might have one.

 

[tom hargrove]

you can check dixie gun works --online they all types of springs they also have the santa fe listed in there catalouge so im sure they have replacement parts. :thumbsup:

 

[paulvallandigham]

Mike: You might check with the Jededial Starr Trading Company, which still advertises the Santa Fe Hawken rifle.
[url] https://www.jedediah-starr.com/default.htm[/url]

 

[MikeChapin]

It broke right at the bend of the mainspring. I've got the TOW catalog out measuring the spring against the full sized photos.

 

[faw3]

The same thing happened to mine not long ago and my 1985 was a wash out with TOW and they made "The Curley Maple Santa Fe" no help on parts, someone on here said try someplace that still sells some UB parts the people on that site gave me a # to call for a new spring, sorry I didnt write it down you may ck back on my old post I put up 4 months or so back and find the one I was looking for a spring or maybe the same guy will see this. Not much help but it was a pain till I found that spring. Fred :hatsoff: and good luck

 

[Grenadier1758]

Something similar happened to me. Only in my case it was a Cherry Corners Lock which is very similar to your Uberti. My late English L&R lock was very close with the small locating pin set slightly forward. I drilled a new locating hole in the place to allow the stirrup to catch on the tumbler and clear the lock mortise. I now have the same lock spring in my L&R and my Cherry Corners.

Getting the Uberti lock would be the best choice. Good luck.

 

[MikeChapin]

That looks like what I might do. I have looked around with no luck. I have been looking at the TOW catalog and measuring the spring against the full size photos. It looks as if the L&R H.E. Leman lock spring will be close. I may have to drill the plate to accomidate the new pin location and maybe do a little inletting but it looks very close.

 

[faw3]

Mike I used one of those springs out of MLBS Im sure its the same one and it worked great till I got the new one. If I get time I'll try a search on it. But Im on AOL so I cant go back over 30 days on this forum to find out who it was that answered my Q about the spring. Fred :hatsoff: it was a lot cheaper than a lock :shake:

 

[MikeChapin]

All I could find looking back is where you were looking for a sear spring but could not find where someone posted a number.

I want to get it shooting again. I just replaced the front sight and thought I had it sighted in. At the shoot I fired at a turkey target and had the three shots go into an inch and a half but were an inch and a half low. I filed a little off the front sight and was going for the next target when the mainspring broke.

 

[MikeChapin]

YAHOO!

Found a place that carries parts for the Santa Fe. I'll give them a call this afternoon.

They list parts for other out of date guns. Here is the web site.
[url] https://www.vtigunparts.com/ab2240000Equick/default.asp[/url]

 

[Falco sparverius]

Mike,

Thanks for the site link! Tell us how well they work out.

Falco

 

[MikeChapin]

I called them and ordered two of them. They called back about two hours later and told me there were two different types and wanted to know what type I needed. I spent about ten minutes with him measuring different points on the spring and doing a detailed description.

From what he told me it seems that when Uberti reintroduced the Ssnta Fe they changed the mainspring. It looks as if they did away with the tab that fits under the lock bolster and added a half inch to the length in that area. I assume it was cheaper to do away with the tab and just add the extra length to get the proper tension on the spring.

I had him send the old one that he had and one of the new ones. The bolster on the lock does not have a slot for the tab to fit into that some do and there is plenty of length left for the new one to fit. We'll see when they get here.

 

[MikeChapin]

Got the springs yesterday. The good news is that both the old style and new style will fit the older Santa Fe lock. The new style uses extra length rather than a tab to give the proper tension. The extra length still fits against the bolster without being too long.

The bad news is that neither was a drop in. The tolerences are so tight in the lock that the thickness of the foot that hooks into the stirrup was moving against the tumbler before the lock was at half cock. The old style split in the foot was also too narrow to clear the bar on the stirrup and the engagement on the stirrup was too tight. I used some needle files to open the foot split and the bearing surface. I then used a moto tool to grind the foot down enough to clear the tumbler. Got everything working fine and now have the Santa Fe ready to take out and see if the front sight was brought in by the file work I did at the shoot.

The new style actually fit a little better. The foot fit on the stirrup with no modification. The only problem with it was the thickness of the foot not clearing the tumbler. A little grinding should bring it in just like the older style.

This experience was a relief. I was half expecting to try to make another style fit. It is good to know that there are spare parts out there for the old gun.

 

[faw3]

Happy you found them, thats who it was I used, I must of got the info in a PM or E if you couldnt find it. Happy its working again. Fred :hatsoff: