Miroku Liberty Chief

[tchepone]

Anyone out there who might know where I can obtain a replacement mainspring for a .38 Special Liberty Chief, made by Miroku Gun Co. in Japan?
I have tried all the usual suspects without success. Thank you & Merry Christmas!!

tchepone

[bruce drake]

http://www.miroku-jp.com/

THey are still in business in Japan.

Bruce

[tchepone]

Bruce:

Thanks. I have already tried that route. They no longer manufacture handguns nor have any parts available for models they made previously.

tchepone

[MtGun44]

Is this a copy of an existing design where you may be able to get one of the
original springs? What does it look like? Have you opened it up? Does it look
like a Colt or S&W inside or totally different?

For instance, the "Chief" is similar to the S&W Chief's Special which is a M60 stainless
J frame.

Bill

[MtGun44]

Gander mountain says it is "patterened after the Colt Detective Special". If they
are the same, you can get a DS or Police Positive Special spring and try it.

The DS and PPS are the same mechanically, and the main spring is a V-type of
spring.

I found a few pix and it looks more like a J-frame S&W to me.

Take the grips off and look at the spring. If it is a V - I'd try a Colt, if it is a coil
on a spring guide, it would probably take a S&W j-frame spring. If it is a leaf -
then it is following the pattern of the larger S&W frames and all bets are off.

Bill

[tchepone]

Thanks for the suggestions. Outwardly it appears the same as the Colt Detective Special. Miroku made a limited number of handguns, up until 1964. I have been looking for a spring since 2004. I did obtain a S&W spring from Gun Parts Corp., which I had to modify to fit. I do not know which model the S&W spring came from. I had sent a drawing to Gun Parts and they sent me a spring which closely matched that drawing. It was too wide to fit in the gun, so I had to grind a bit off each side. The width of the Liberty frame, between the grip panels is .320", where the S&W's I have are .360". I installed it and it works. However, it is not reliable. The spring pressure seems to be different and the gun will not fire reliably, either single or double action. I have varied the spring pressure screw to max, but it still fails to fire at random. I have also tried different primers, knowing some primer cups are softer. That helps but it still does not fire 100% of the time. That's not a good thing for ones confidence. Any further suggestions will be appreciated. Thanks. tchepone
These photo's of the broken spring might help:

[para45lda]

That almost (almost) looks like the spring out of an Italian copy of a Peacemaker I once owned.

I would also try talking to a tech at Brownells (just happens to be a sponsor here too).

My .02

Wes

[MtGun44]

This is styled after a S&W K thru N frame mainspring, not a modern J-frame and
definitely not a Colt DS or PPS which have a v type of leaf spring.

You're going to have to either find a way to get an original or have a skilled gunsmith
make a new one. It is not rocket science to make a new one, but it requires someone
that knows heat treating to make it correctly.

Incidentally, the reason that one fractured is that it was made too hard by improper
heat treat or wrong alloy.

I have never opened up my I-frame S&W .22/32. I wonder if it has a spring like this one?
Of course, I frame springs may be nearly as hard to find as a Miroku spring, even if it is
the same. Perhaps early J-frames had the leaf springs.

Bill