I'm a serious hobbiest, not a smith. Therefore I run across things that I know have to be easier than how I'm doing them. How about putting the internal hammer back into a fine 20ga Lefever double. There an easy way to get the spring assembly compressed and things together? Thanks.

I assume it's a boxlock Lefever Nitro Special? The other Lefevers were mostly hybrid sidelocks.

If it's a Nitro Special, been there, done that. I had to modify the tip of a screw clamp to fit into the channel. The clamp was carefully tightened until I could get the pin through.

Did that on a 12 ga. when I was a kid. As I recall I launched one of the springs out of the garage and over the neighbors fence. Actually found it in his lawn with a flashlight. Wear safety glasses, build a tool to help hold the hammer, and work in an closed space so you can find the parts when they get away from you.
C.G.B.

Thanks for the tip Rob. Had this thing apart before but its still doubling so had to do some more work on it. Brute force and the stars being in the right alignment got it together the first time. CG, yes, they do fly away, don't they?