I hope some of you will be kind enough to help me with a problem, caused by my own stupidity. :-[

I have my dad's old (sn 11611) Savage 110. I thought I could lighten up the trigger, but realized the trigger and sear (plus sear spring) were all held on with one pin. On removing the pin, my spring went flying. :-[ Got another from Numrich. Actually ordered two sear springs and one bushing. The one spring and the bushing were too wide to fit in the slot between the bolt release lever and the rest of the sear. When I finally got the very stiff spring into the slot and got the pin through it, I realized that it will not work without the bushing, as the spring has enough play to slip under the release lever. I have exhausted every idea except possibly making a special tool to hold the compressed spring in order to reinstall. Is there some trick I am missing? It is hard for me to believe that Savage would design the gun for easy manufacture, and then have a part like this spring that is virtually impossible to put back in. Is there a secret? Hoping to fix this without a trip to the smith. Thanks in advance for any help. :)