Interesting approach to problem solving this little mousetrap. Did you heat up the hammer spring to put such a severe bend in it, or did you just grab it with the pliers and go? Obviously, anything you can do with springs sure beats doing what I did - particularly in case you need toreverse it. My deal was frustrating - took all morning and involved re-heat treating the parts after I finally got there. What sort of final pull weight did you get? Roskoe