Long story short, I got a hell of a deal on a good condition Winchester 1892 .357 Miroku.  It did have some rust here and there so after getting home I went to take the stock off to make sure there was no rust on the internals.  But hey, it was pretty much a straight across trade (ish) for my 22/45 Lite, so I call it a win.

The stock screw came off fine and then I went full  I accidentally unscrewed the mainspring tension screw.  Lets just say the spring launched when I took the stock off.
So now I have an uncaptive mainspring AND have no idea what position the mainspring retainer/hammer strut should be in.  I've tried googling like crazy on how to recompress the main spring, position for the retainer, etc with no luck.

A little help guys?  Barring that, it's going to the gunsmith on Tuesday with me feeling like a total retard.  It's what I get for being over excited and not doing my research though.


Edit: got the retainer in place and not blocking the trigger. Now I just have to figure out how to install the hammer/main spring.

Edit: got that figured out. The spring is a bastard to compress though.


Title edited; let's keep this one for the next guy with a similar problem.  AeroE

Photos in order:
-What we are looking at: Parts 41, 44, and 66A basically.  Just can't make them go for some reason.
-Rough positions/orientations of parts as I think they should go in.
-Mainspring retainer plate
-Plate with hole for screw and screw next to the hole for it.  Problem is if the plate is pushed that far forward, the hammer cannot drop.  Appears to be blocked by said plate.

If I can get the mainspring compressed, I'm good to go. Out of ideas though.

Looks like part #41 has a hole near the end.    Try putting it in a vice, then push the spring down and put a pin in the hole to keep the mainspring in place.    A number of firearms have that hole to allow easy removal/replacement.   Once you have the part in place, cocking the hammer will allow you to take the pin out.    The M1892 is not the easiest to learn how to work on.

Already got it fixed.  Thanks though.