Replacement No.1 MkIII enfield extractor spring too soft

[Leatherbark]

Hello...........I purchased an extractor spring from Sarco this week and I thought the spring I would be getting was a surplus item. It turns out it had to be fitted and hardened. I knew I was in trouble when I was able to file it to lessen the width. Sure enough it is soft as butter. I will try to harden and temper with instructions here and all over the internet.

Is there any other fix other than the eraser or a piece of auto rubber to fix this temporary. These extractors are not cheap.............

Thank you,

Bob

[browningautorifle]

I should think someone here would have an actual issue spring in his pocket Bob, if you ask on the WTB forum you may find...

[Leatherbark]

Well my hardening technique didn't work out at all. I heated the spring to a red color and sunk it in water. I then put the spring in molten lead until the lead hardened and cooled. Melted the lead off of the spring and let it cool. Snapped in two in my fingers when tested. I guess the spring was too small for this method.

[muffett.2008]

You stuffed up by heating and quenching in water, this imparted a unknown brittleness to the metal depending on how hot it actually got.
You simply needed to dip in molten lead until the lead ceased to stick to the component, then quench....this ensures the correct temperature is attained for spring steel without weak spots like bends.

[Calif-Steve]

Sarco and you got junk. Everyday, sorry. Try The Dealers Warehouse in Modesto, CA he has/had the proper springs. Good luck.

[Leatherbark]

Yeah..........There's is about a hundred techniques for hardening and tempering metal for springs............I picked one that didn't work LOL. The last time I quenched in oil it didn't harden. I believe the water quench was too violent for the little spring.............Thanks for the tip on where to get the spring.
Bob