The big spring should be slightly loose. The small spring inside keeps the buttons tight. The grooves are probably the largest source of your problem.
My dad is a better welder than I am, so he welds up my trunions when I need them. We wrap a wet rag around the seal to keep the heat from melting it. We've been gas-welding them with hit-or-miss results, since an arc weld would be too hard to file. You can probably weld keystock on, but you'll have to make sure that you can still slide the outer bracket back on over the top.
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