TargetTalk

I have one of the older 208's and was at a loss to find information on how to remove the recoil spring from the frame.
As a absolute last ditch effort to get to the bottom of this I decided to take a look at the manual which came with the pistol and found clear instruction:




Honestly I didn't want to wrench on the slide with a screw driver so got the ideal to make up a small toe jack to fit up on the pistol in the place of the weight.
The is the problem with having a milling machine and metal lathe- very low threshold to just knock something out..

The thing works like a champ- slight turn on the allen key and the slide is opened just enough to remove the spring neat:






Don't laugh guys- I know a practiced hand has that spring out fast enough but I like the perfectly controlled lift of the toe jack which allows me to pull the spring and place another in with no fuss.
I have some 208's build a bit later and they rely on a rotation of the pin to remove the spring- these old gals need the frame pried open a bit.

Thanks for this explanation. I purchased a used older 208 with a worn spring and crack in the frame. I could not figure out how to get the recoil spring out and it looked like the barrel needed to be moved in order to remove that spring. I also could not find an older manual, such as you have, which described moving the barrel.

If I could have figured out how to remove that spring (and install another replacement), it's possible I would have gambled on fiber optic laser welding to attempt a cracked frame repair. That older 208 is still out there.