Remington 1893 No. 3 Action Disassembly

[Jim_howell13]

I stumbled across this forum looking for Remington 1893 disassembly information. I recently came into possession of a no. 3 that has been in the family for a long, long time. I have watched about everything I stumble across and read up on everything I find on the no. 3 and the no. 9 (figuring they are fairly similar besides take down). I cannot get the plate beneath the side cocker off. I have adjusted the screws every which way. Can someone walk me through how to get the side plate off to clean and inspect the action? Do I need to punch it out from the opposite side via one of the screw holes? The hammer and firing pin seem to function correctly, the only issue besides some surface rust and a considerable amount of gunk is the action lever doesn’t have any spring tension when open. It holds closed when the action lever is manual closed.