H&R 999 lever spring fix

[wonderwolf]

Last summer my H&R 999 .22 revolver locked up on me and stopped working. Upon examination a piece of wire spring fell out into my hands. I ordered a extra part from numrich ($8) and started to install it into the trigger group. But I hit a wall...I'm not sure how long the spring is supposed to be trimmed at and where I'm supposed to make a bend, If the bend isn't in the spring the arm does not want to advance the cylinder. Anybody able to help me out on this?

luckily the way the new lever they sent me is designed I can put new .025" spring wire in its place if I do trim it too much or bend it the wrong way.

[wonderwolf]

Does anybody have one of these they can take apart and take a picture of how the spring is bent? I think all of the 9xx series have a part like this.

[wonderwolf]

Anybody at all?? My gun is still down and I've not been able to find anybody willing to take theirs apart to show how the spring is done up.

[Pepe Ray]

Wonderwolf;
I will not disassemble my revolver for this. For several reasons.
1st. It is a 199 Sportsman and whereas the book allows that many of the series are alike or similar, they are not identical.
The book is the Gun digest Book of Firearms Assembly/Disassembly for revolvers.
Part ii, by J.B.Wood. The pics are a grainy B&W, and tell me that you have very nearly got it. Indeed the spring may need trimming but NOT MUCH. Also the bend should be less acute. they show it as being 2 very slight bends, evenly distributed along the springs length.

I have the NRA book which shows line drawings of cut aways etc. but again NO dimensions.
As far as you have gone I can't imagine why you haven't fitted it your self.
If you haven't conquered it soon I'll try to find a working scanner to make a print of this page and post it.
Pepe Ray

[dk17hmr]

I have a H&R 676, same exact thing is wrong with it. Please post a picture when you get it figured out. I havent bought the replacement part yet so I am no real help.

[ElDorado]

I have an H&R Model 929 with the same problem that is way down on my projects list. I bought the parts some time ago and haven't got around to the repairs yet. When you try to put your revolver back together, you'll understand everyone's reluctance to disassemble theirs.

I'm not a gunsmith, but isn't it simply a matter of bending the spring so that the front edge of the lever rides on the bottom of the slot in the frame? That should allow the tip of the lever to reach the ratchet.

Don't forget that the new lever is probably a little long so material can be removed to time the cylinder. If the lever doesn't seem to fit right, that may be why.

I have only done this once, to a replica Colt Walker revolver. Everything works fine now. It's just a tedious job to time the cylinder.

[Bret4207]

I'll see if I can find my Brownells parts view book, it may take a while...it's in the barn.......somewhere.

[wonderwolf]

I've gotten my gun apart and back together several times now, I'm close but not there yet in getting the lever to do its job in full. The I've had to replace the spring a few times now with spring wire trying to find a bend and length that will work. I don't think its that hard to get it apart and back together again really but I'm a little ambitious than most perhaps.

[jmh54738]

I have a drawer full of parts for these guns. Why? Because there is always something broken on them. The gunsmith's nemisis!! Don't get to fix many colt's or S&W, cause they don't break. "To fit your hand, place the hand spring in trigger hole, be sure it bottoms. Then bend the hand forward pushing the middle of spring with thumb to create a slight kink. Next cutt off small amounts from the end of the spring until hole in hand can fit over pin in lifter." These instructions came with the hands that I bought. Good luck. It has been a while, so I could be wrong, but I may have used a short "slave" pin to hold things together as I slid the assembly up into the frame.
John

[andremajic]

It appears from your pic that there is no cut in the hand/lever for the spring. Is there a small hole that isn't visible in the pictures?
If there is a hole underneath, you simply insert the spring and bend it to the basic countour of the old spring.

If there is no hole, you will probably need an extra thin ground 32 teeth hacksaw blad to make a slot at the inside "bend" of the hand/lever, at the same angle of the original.

The spring is placed in this slot, which is held in the vise and using a hardened punch the slot is swaged closed, holding the spring in place. (You only really get 1 to 2 tries doing this before you have to make another hand.)

After the spring is held in the slot where you cannot pull it out, you would put a bend in the spring. You can fine tune how much pressure the hand puts forward by how much the spring is bent. That is why the books don't focus too much on the "exact" angles, as each revolver is tuned slightly different.

My advise is to use the original hand as a template, and drill and file out a couple spare hands to the same dimension out of cold worked steel as well as a couple that are longer and oversized. Then, if you screw it up (as I have) you will have a couple spares to try again on.

Another benefit of a custom longer oversized hand is you can incrementally take off materiel off the hand to tune how far the cylinder is advanced with each pull of the trigger

[Dummysales]

I have just retrieved my 999 from the gunsmith who has had it since January. Obviously, he couldn't get the spring thing to work either. I'm willing to pull it, but would need photos and such to make any success happen. Appreciate the posts.

[wonderwolf]

WOW, Funny thing is i was just thinking about this revolver yesterday, It is still sitting in my gunsafe still not working I may tackle it again but I should just sell it as a "project" to somebody else who wants to tackle it, looking around I can't seem to figure out why these guns have gone up so much in value with such a serious flaw.

Dummysales are you looking for info on how to pull it apart? I can do a photo write up of how its done.

[Dummysales]

WOW, Funny thing is i was just thinking about this revolver yesterday, It is still sitting in my gunsafe still not working I may tackle it again but I should just sell it as a "project" to somebody else who wants to tackle it, looking around I can't seem to figure out why these guns have gone up so much in value with such a serious flaw.

Dummysales are you looking for info on how to pull it apart? I can do a photo write up of how its done.

Getting the the mechanism apart is not a problem. The issue is the standard, "How do you register the spring bend to get the cylinder to spin at the right time?" I have read the above comments and will try to figure it out. Thanks for the reply, wonderwolf.

[colonelsanders]

I just installed a new hand in my NEF R92 Ultra. It has the exact same lockwork.

All I did was put a slight kink in the wire in I was good to go for advancing the cylinder.

In order to properly release and disengage from the cylinder the new hand had to be thinned down slightly where it goes through the frame.

My new replacement hand was much thicker than my original hand were it goes through the frame. Only took a few touches on the belt sander to the side of the hand and I was good to go.

Good luck!

[colonelsanders]

Pic of my R92 , with additional Nickle plated R22 cylinder fitted (made sure both worked flawlessly when I fitted the hand.

[wonderwolf]

I fixed my problem....sold the gun last year on to other projects that won't break so easily in the future. I tend to use my .22 handguns a lot and even if I fixed it, I'm sure it would break again in under 2 years...it would just get sold then anyways. can't beat a Smith or ruger .22 for durability these days.

[bulletrifle1]

Hello ,I live in Italy, I have a similar problem to yours. the piece was consumed like yours! if you want the photo of the original one I can post it. I would like a courtesy here in Italy I can't find the piece. could you buy it there and send it to me in Italy? You let me know the total cost and I send you the money before buying it. You can do it ? Let me know please . Thanks.
Best regards
Bruno

[Drm50]

I dearly hate to work on H&Rs and IJ revolvers. 99% of the time it's spring problems. The newer models the plastic cap on main spring guide breaks. I don't buy springs I have spring wire that I make my own. The older ones that have flat ribbon type springs I buy spring stock from Brownels. Best way to fix them is trade them off and get a Ruger or S&W.