Bill, a few years back I was working on my old side valve soviet sidecar motorcycle, was a saturday matter of fact, had to button up the engine for a parade the following morning. Just as I was installing one of the compression rings (by hand, no ring spreader) SNAP !
Cant exactly buy 60 year old soviet pistons rings at your local parts warehouse, threw in one of the originals and it actually worked, but then again, that engine had 3 compression rings for whatever reason.