[TheForge] Temper or Harden steel

[Dave Kammer]

I was looking for some advice on how to harden a small piece of steel. I have an old shotgun with a broken hammer spring, Parts for this old gun are unavailable, so I was able to make a duplicate but it is too soft of steel. It needs to spring back and forth. The piece I made just bends when put under pressure. Can some sort of heat treatment or hardening make it become more spring-like? I couldn't figure out how to post a question on "The Forge" Forum so I thought I could send my question to a couple other subscribers. Thanks for any help you can provide. 
Dave tinman36 at yahoo.com