walther pps spring

Question
QUESTION: I have a walther PPS, that was burnt up in a house fire, everything is still good but the springs, I cannot find a spring kit anywhere for this gun. where should i look to find a full complete spring kit? and is the gun even safe to rebuild and fire?

ANSWER: One of the reasons why guns are not as large as old match locks used to be is because as metallurgy developed, artisans discovered how to heat-treat metal. Hardening, heat treating and drawing the metal allows it to be hard on the outside, but have enough ductility on the inside that the slides of guns don't shatter when they batter the frames (or vis-a-versa).

If the gun was in a fire such that it destroyed the springs, the heat treating has certainly been destroyed, and in unsafe to fire. It's like a house eaten by termites - it may look perfectly fine, but structurally it is a disaster waiting to happen.

I would get the gun inexpensively refinished and then put in under class or make it into an interesting paper weight. Certainly DO NOT restore it to any condition that would fool someone into thinking it was safe to fire.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks for the answer,I don't know how bad the fire was. I have all the springs, they have just lost there tension, if i were to make it into a paper weight, how far would you recommend restoring it to?

Answer
I would make it non-functional (easiest way to do that is to grind down the firing pin so it does not protrude through the breech-face) but make it look as nice as possible (or you might want to leave it in its "historied" condition).

Depending on the laws in your area, I might fill the barrel with glass bedding compound (Acra Glass available at www.brownells.com)so that cartridges cannot be chambered in it, thereby making a non-functioning (de-mil'd) piece). Once that is done, you can restore the springs from www.gunsprings.com)

I CAUTION YOU AGAIN, HOWEVER, DO NOT ATTEMPT TO FIRE THIS GUN unless you have it tested by a lab. My strong inclination is that the heat treating is gone, and after an undermined number of rounds (perhaps one), the gun will come apart in your hand upon firing).