Base pin walks out

[Chuck 100 yd]

Excuse me if this has been done to death before.

I fired my new Ruger old Vaquaro for the first time today. It is one of the last year production guns before the NEW Vaquaro.
I have two in .44mag. SS One has never been fired.
The base pin unlocks and slips forward with every shot. I was shooting 200 gr cast with 6.1 gr. Trail Boss, the starting load.
I had to push the base pin back after every shot.

What would you do short of sending it to Ruger? Would a Belt Mt. base pin fix my problems?

Thanks for your time in advance.
The new guy.
Chuck 100 yd. aka Chuck Wagon Chuck

 

[BlkHawk73]

Get yourself a locking Belt Mtpin and you'll be all set.

 

[Dale53]

You may be able to get by with a heavier base pin spring from Brownell's. It has fixed a bunch of these Ruger Single Actions...

FWIW
Dale53

 

[Lo-Bo]

You could try getting a small round file something like a chainsaw sharpening file. Make the groove on the base pin a little deeper. An old gunsmith told me about this. It worked a couple of times for me.

 

[AzRebel]

I've encountered a couple that needed a slight "tap" with a rubber or plastic object to fully seat the base pin.

I have one now that's the same way, but it has a Belt Mtn base pin. It will seat with just pressure, but not fully. A slight tap with the rubber handle of a pocket knife seats it fully, and it won't come loose after that unless I want it to.

If it did, I'd use the locking screw on the Belt Mtn pin, but so far I haven't needed it.

You might try it, but otherwise the most solid way is a locking base pin from Belt Mtn. It won't come loose.

 

[Driftwood Johnson]

Howdy

This is a very common problem with single action revolvers, and not just Rugers. Generally speaking, there are three possible solutions, one solution may work, or it may take a combination of two to really fix it.

1. Stronger latch spring. This may work, but it only addresses the symptoms, does not address the cause. The problem is these latches are mass produced and are just slapped together without any fitting. Sometimes the latch engages the groove on the pin OK, sometimes it does not. A stronger spring may keep the pin in place better, but does not do anything about a poor fit.

2. Belt Mountain after market pin. I have installed these in several Rugers, two Colts, and a Cimarron Cattleman. They work quite well. The pins are slightly oversize, by about .0005, so there is less slop. Also, the engagement groove on the pin is cut straight across the pin, rather than around the pin, as on some Ruger pins. This allows for more engagement between the two parts than a circular groove does.

3. Fit the pin better to the latch.

I have had pretty good luck doing both #2 and #3. Sometimes I get away with just #2, but I usually have to do a little bit of custom fitting too.

By the way, I DO NOT recommend the Belt Mountain pin with the little set screw. I installed one in a Vaquero once. It turns out that if you torque the set screw just a teeny bit too much, you are actually bending the pin ever so slightly, which causes the cylinder to bind. Strange, but true. Plus, it is a real pain having to keep that tiny hex wrench handy in case you want to pull the cylinder at the range. I have had very good luck with the pins that do not have the set screw. When everything is fitted properly, a set screw is not needed.

By the way, the original 1873 Colt design used a screw angled up in the frame to keep the pin in place. Then as now, it was a pain to keep a screw driver handy in case you wanted to remove the cylinder in the field. The current spring latch style pin started showing up around 1892 or so. Colts and replicas with the original angled screw holding the pin in place are said to have the 'Black Powder' style frame.

 

[G2]

I had the same problem. The FIX ($3.49) was too easy and never a problem since.

http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/pid=2546 ... PIN_SPRING

 

[Chuck 100 yd]

Thanks guys. I have two Belt Mt. Base pins and a pack of the Wolfe springs coming from Brownells today.
Thanks for all the prompt replys again!!

 

[JimMarch1]

Fix it before you shoot it. If you keep shooting a gun that's jumping the pin you're slowly destroying the frame.

 

[Driftwood Johnson]

If you keep shooting a gun that's jumping the pin you're slowly destroying the frame.

Umm, please explain how the pin jumping forward is slowly destroying the frame.

 

[JimMarch1]

The cylinder bouncing around tries to use the basepin as a crowbar to stretch the forward frame hole for the base pin out of shape. It's also not good for the rear base pin hole but the front just gets tortured.

A few jumps is OK. But when a guy shoots a couple boxes of magnums and has to reset the base pin every shot, he's screwing up his gun.

 

[edlmann]

You may be able to get by with a heavier base pin spring from Brownell's. It has fixed a bunch of these Ruger Single Actions...

MidwayUSA is out of stock; in stock at Brownells.

You could try getting a small round file something like a chainsaw sharpening file. Make the groove on the base pin a little deeper. An old gunsmith told me about this. It worked a couple of times for me.

Add another couple for me.