Brittania spring length

[Ormicron]

Time to tap into the collective knowledge base. I have made parts for my Brittania and am now at the reassembly phase. I have cut down an Airsporter mainspring until I can push the spring guide/spring retaining rod in by hand and locate the bayonet fitting. The gun cocks in both positions, high and low power, but the trigger pull is horrendous! taking two hands at best or even resorting to taking the cocking lever off and firing the gun with a screwdriver under the sear.

The question: how much preload should there be on the spring? Does preload affect the trigger pull, or could it be the sear assembly?

Looking forward to hearing your opinions.

Ormicron

[45flint]

I have a Britannia but it still has the original spring. I did have to replace the spring in a 1914 BSA Sporting and I found the Airsporter spring I bought to be too stiff and harsh. I ended up with a spring for a HW I believe that worked much better because it had much more give. I think the preload on the Britannia is very minimal.

[BC312]

Not sure if an original Britannia had a flat or round spring. Something too harsh would put a strain on the parts i would suspect.

[Shed tuner]

you know the trigger engagement can be adjusted with the screw attached to the "fixed" sear, right ?

If the cocking effort is moderate (it should be from the way you describe the preload, unless it's a very stiff spring -what guage wire is it ? Please say no more than 3.2mm) then it's down to trigger adjustment. you can't only think about this as a spring length/preload question.