early safety spring variation

[setterspell]

Cleaning and inspecting an early A grade and found a new to me safety spring variation. I tried to research through the search feature here but could not find any pictures of one like this. Just posting for others to see something different from the normal leaf type spring.

[Silvers]

Edited to add some comments; grandkids showed up earlier when I was writing and I couldn't finish the post just then.

Just from that one pic and without a hands-on inspection I'd say that's a post-factory modification. The spring looks too long and somewhat wide for the safety tab. Also the sides of the spring will likely rub against the inlet in the wood - usually just a tiny bit wider than the top tang. Lastly the visible end of the cross pin shows irregular indentations and unmolested factory pins are usually smooth on the ends.

[bbman3]

That is a great looking safety spring! Bobby

[Stan Hillis]

With the amount of compression on that spring, I'd be surprised were the safety not somewhat hard to slide.

SRH

[setterspell]

Stan , having no tool to measure actual force required to slide the safety, I can only post that it is my observation that it is no harder to move than any other Fox at this location.

[setterspell]

couple of additional pics.
The "blade" extends .3432 below the bottom of the frame tang. It is .059 thick and .279 front to rear. There is only one hole for a spring retaining pin. The blade is too tall to use a standard leaf type spring unless it was quite a large radius. There is no apparent soldering without driving out the retaining pin which isnt coming out easily so I wont force it.
Use of the taller blade required more wood to be removed(weakening) I would guess the rectangular coil spring cost more than the leaf type to boot.
If its not factory work, it has been this way a long time and was done with care.
Again, I'm not trying to redraw the maps here just throwing it out for discussion.

[jolly bill]

Setterspell,

Thanks for your time in taking those neat photo's for us to see and posting them.

Jolly

[Jim Cloninger]

Very Interesting!

[Brian Dudley]

I have worked on a decent amount of fox guns from very early to late and in the middle and i have never seen that style of spring used.

[Stan Hillis]

I certainly have no claims on being anywhere near a gunsmith, but I have worked on machines and mechanical devices all my life, and that is the first oval shaped coil spring I have ever seen. They are around, however.

http://www.rccoilspring.com/rectangular-springs.html

SRH