Mitchell 300a, something not right....

[BoltonBullfinch]

There is something not right with my 300a and I'm not sure exactly what it is. The bail arm is not as snappy as it should be, so I have had a look and there seems to be one or two possible causes. First is the bail arm return spring, the spring is not tightly wound, there are gaps between the spring coils, its seems a bit weak, is this normal?.
The other possibility is a definite problem, at the minor end of the bail arm something is definitely wrong. The loop on the end of the bail arm does not sit correctly on the small protrusion on the rotor. The protrusion is narrower than the aperture on the end of the bail arm. When the screw is set in the protrusion to hold the end of the bail arm in place there is about 3mm of upwards and downwards play in the ball arm end. It's as if there is a spacer missing or the screw is wrong or its the wrong bail arm. I have checked the screw on the Internet and it seems correct.
Is there anyone on here who services Mitchell's and maybe has the correct bits that could be wrong.
I hope this post makes sense, it does to me.

Thanks
BB

[Santiago]

Nobby is our 300 expert.

[BoltonBullfinch]

Thank you for that, I will contact him if he doesn't see my post.

Thanks
BB

[Marc]

A picture being worth a thousand words and all, may help with any diagnosis. From the description it does sound like the reel needs a new bail spring. Does the bail arm look correct? By that I mean does it have the correct shape, it could have been dropped and bent out of shape.

I’ve send reels to Nobby and he’s worked miracles, so he’s definitely your best chance of ending up with a workable reel if you don’t fancy having a go yourself. Good luck.

[Nobby]

Turns out the reel had the wrong bail arm on.