Bula
Member
I've been doing a little reading on the subject of 'tuning' my 4 5/8" SBH up. I'm thinking a Wolf spring kit, freespooling and adding a Base pin. Have you guys noticed any differnce in accuracy or just less pin jumping?
Belt Mtn Base pin on my Ruger SBH, yay or nay?
- Thread starter Bula
- Start date
- Status
Ben Shepherd
Member
Accuracy difference hasn't been anything I can measure. The 2 main things you'll gain though:
1. Less or no pin jumping.
2. Due to the tighter tolerances it will take a steady diet of warm/hot loads a lot longer without loosening up.
One other thing: If you get the elmer kieth style, It'll be easier to take out when you wqant/need to.
1. Less or no pin jumping.
2. Due to the tighter tolerances it will take a steady diet of warm/hot loads a lot longer without loosening up.
One other thing: If you get the elmer kieth style, It'll be easier to take out when you wqant/need to.
Vern Humphrey
Member
I have two Ruger Blackhawks. One, made in 1976, was very bad to jump the base pin. I replaced it with a Belt Mountian base pin, and that solved the problem. There was no noticeable difference in accuracy with the Belt Mountain base pin.
The other, made a couple of years ago, has never jumped the base pin, and so I see no need to replace it.
The other, made a couple of years ago, has never jumped the base pin, and so I see no need to replace it.
john1911
Member
Put a Belt Mountain base pin on my .41 mag Blackhawk. The factory pin kept jumping out. The BM solved that problem. I have a 4 5/8" model. The factory pin wouldn't remove all the way off without removing the ejector shroud. I used a "Sheriff's model" pin, now the pin will come off and the ejector rod has a longer stroke to kick the brass out.
As for accuracy, maybe a better shooter could tell some difference.
As for accuracy, maybe a better shooter could tell some difference.
Bear41mag
Member
I found a slight increase in accuracy, but hard to tell, elimination of the pin jump is the biggest benifit, my biggest notice accuracy improvement, especially with my Ruger blackhawk in .45 colt was having the cyclinder reamed by the Cylindersmith, they were all tight and he opened them up to
.4525 which is perfect for my .452 barrel.
.4525 which is perfect for my .452 barrel.
Jim March
Member
I was going to post about a case somebody described on the Ruger forums in which a particular SBH was "sloppy" in the cylinder - which turned out to be a good thing, because the cylinder was mis-bored pretty bad and once a BM pin was used to tighten things up, cylinder bore-to-barrel alignment in the vertical direction was off enough to really hose things. Going back to a stock pin actually helped this gun's accuracy.
That is NOT normal - most Ruger cylinders on the large-frame guns and more or less all on the new mid-frames (New Vaquero and 50th Anniversary 357 so far) are much better than that.
But. The lesson is, once the BM pin is in there and you've used the set-screw to anchor it, do the "checkout" and confirm alignment of the cylinder bores to the barrel. If it's now "off", whoops...what it really means is you've got a "bad monday gun" and you NEED a sloppy cylinder.
The other main cure for base pin jump is to put a stronger spring in the cross-latch pin. The various spring kits generally have such a thing included.
MOST Ruger SAs will either get a bit of accuracy benefit from a BM pin or the accuracy won't change. A few guns will get a big increase in accuracy, a very tiny number may not like the BM pin at all. In all cases, BM pins with a set-screw eliminate pin jump. So for $25, this is almost always a good idea, even though accuracy *gains* are a bit of a crap-shoot.
That is NOT normal - most Ruger cylinders on the large-frame guns and more or less all on the new mid-frames (New Vaquero and 50th Anniversary 357 so far) are much better than that.
But. The lesson is, once the BM pin is in there and you've used the set-screw to anchor it, do the "checkout" and confirm alignment of the cylinder bores to the barrel. If it's now "off", whoops...what it really means is you've got a "bad monday gun" and you NEED a sloppy cylinder.
The other main cure for base pin jump is to put a stronger spring in the cross-latch pin. The various spring kits generally have such a thing included.
MOST Ruger SAs will either get a bit of accuracy benefit from a BM pin or the accuracy won't change. A few guns will get a big increase in accuracy, a very tiny number may not like the BM pin at all. In all cases, BM pins with a set-screw eliminate pin jump. So for $25, this is almost always a good idea, even though accuracy *gains* are a bit of a crap-shoot.
Boomerang
Member
I say yay, but Belt Mountain also makes oversize base pins that need to be fit, which end up fitting just a little bit better than the standard replacement pins.
I didn't find any accuracy difference, but I didn't clamp my gun in a rest either.
I didn't care for the Wolff spring kit. the lighter trigger and hammer springs make the creep in the sear more noticable. The increased strength base pin latch spring is good though. You probably don't even need the locking base pin.
I found the best advantage of the pin was that the cylinder doesn't start to chatter as much as the standard pin until you get it really dirty putting a lot more rounds through the gun.
I didn't find any accuracy difference, but I didn't clamp my gun in a rest either.
I didn't care for the Wolff spring kit. the lighter trigger and hammer springs make the creep in the sear more noticable. The increased strength base pin latch spring is good though. You probably don't even need the locking base pin.
I found the best advantage of the pin was that the cylinder doesn't start to chatter as much as the standard pin until you get it really dirty putting a lot more rounds through the gun.
- Status
