Look at it again, to me it looks like the spring is attached to the small base for the safety and the button has a cross pin under the spring to hold it on and in position, it's a small assembly that should all come out all in one piece by removing the one screw.... nothing should go flying.. but is it exactly the same as the patent drawing? that is still an unanswered question. When you start to get the screw loose, wrap a plastic bag around it if your unsure.
I would think the single screw might have been thought to not be sturdy enough, it might be the original version.
Looking at it again I would not be to surprised to find that the spring is not a separate piece but part of the base that was punched on three side with one end left attached, it's shown as the same thickness. When I worked with punch press we used tooling to make similar formed 'prongs' that would be parted on three sides and formed in a single hit of the tool set. That part could be made as a single piece with just three different tools sets, maybe just two. Savage was very experienced with stamping out small sheet metal parts, look at some of the sights.
Last edited by GeneB; 08/19/19. Reason: added note
