Tightening the safety in an 1899/99, 90,000 to 1,000,000 and the later lever safety Model E�

Posted by Hemlock Ranger:
Awhile back someone posted about this problem. A local gunsmith knew what was wrong with my .303 E. After I told him it developed the problem after being taken down and cleaned. Sure enough, the tiny spring that fits in the slide was missing. He heated a small piece of flat spring steel and bent it into a nearly flat S. Then filed and honed it to fit the hole in the slide and achieve the desired amount of friction to hold it in position, yet slide fairly easy. He said the little piece is easily lost when taken apart, and does not look like a spring or any other gun part.

Posted by Skidrow:
(to make the safety tighter using the original spring) take out that little "S" shaped spring � and spread it a bit. That should increase the friction and tighten up the slop in your safety. Just make sure that when you spread it that you don't set it up so that the ends of the spring dig into the surrounding metal.

Posted by 99trix:
Here is the post 90,000 safety. The s shaped spring is what creates the resistance to prevent it from flopping back and forth.

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Here is the pre 90,000 safety. Sometimes you can get enough pressure on it to open it slightly without taking the rifle apart. But spreading the end is what creates the resistance on this style.
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