Quote Originally Posted by ccdjg View Post
I would certainly give it a try Guy, as you have nothing to lose. Get it as hot as you can in the blowtorch flame, nearly white hot if you can, and quickly tap it on your vise while hot. It might take several goes. Let it cool naturally so it will be soft and easy to file to shape. Then to harden it, heat up to bright red again and quickly plunge into water. It will now be as hard and brittle as glass. To temper it so that it is hard and tough, heat it up to 200-300 degrees C (you can use your oven for this; or you can polish the metal white and warm it slowly until it turns blue. Let it cool naturally, and there you are.

Funnily enough, I have just made a replacement cocking rod for a Eureka pistol using this technique to form the expanded end that provides the air seal in the cylinder. In this instance though I hammered the silver steel rod into a specially made die to get the right profile:



Thanks John. I thought you would pop up with the answer. I have currently swapped it into another pistol and it is working, I've found this can happen with Mk1's and Premiers too. With wear at the holding face of the sear, the back comes lower and touches the trigger before it engages. With the trigger removed the sear holds, so the actually face is ok.
I only have a butane blow lamp, but hopefully it should be ok should I attempt it.

Obviously another working sear turning up would be the best option, and I'd feel better about having a go at the old one.

Some of the Premiers have sintered steel sears so they are non starters