Welding Tips and Tricks

I have an old Remington 541-S .22 rifle. I managed to break off the end of the clip retaining spring when cleaning the rifle tonight. Did a little checking and it seems a lot of folks are looking for the same part to no avail. I know if I weld the tab end back together it will be annealed and not have any temper left. It just needs to hold the clip release button. I am thinking that there might be a solution. I could fatten up the welded section enough so it might not bend much and be functional. The only area the needs to have spring to it is about an inch away.

Any suggestions?

If it were mine, I would try it... its no good the way it is, right?

I would try and clamp a piece of aluminum to it as close to the weld as possible for a heat sink to keep as much heat out of the spring area as possible. Also, I would pick a filler wire material that can be blued to match the rest of the part...

piano wire(hobby shop) or (piano tuner)
make a jig(copy old spring to fit)
Bend up new one.
OR
find an elderly gunsmith, he has probably done this before. Guns are worth saving/fixing.
Spring will just bend where welded without proper filler/heat treat.

Thanks for the tips. Funny i did look at Out back gun parts and didn't find the spring. Looks to me like they have it. @ around $25

Got the brain working a bit better today and remembered that I used to make springs with blued spring steel sheet stock. Geeze, I don't know what hole that idea was hiding in. It is a bit complicated in the spring department but defiantly doable. It has small locator wings bent in opposite directions. I may repair the broken one with a stainless piece silver soldered to the back side. On the other hand if I can't make one I might have to turn in my diemakers card.