jc higgins 20 ga. bolt

I have a jc higgins 20 ga. bolt action that has a tube feed. When I remove the nut at the end of the tube feed the spring inside is still held in by another ring (it appears this may come off also). The first nut is threaded into this ring (which holds the spring in). Anyway can this be removed? I took a pliers to it with no luck as I didn't want to damage it. How is the spring removed?
thanks