Base Pin Jumping on 401 Powermag.

[lar45]

Hi everybody, the base pin on my Herters 401 Powermag jumped out while shooting the other day.

I was shooting a Lyman 244 with 20gns of 296 for about 1371fps.
The base pin does have quite abit of movement.
This is it fully forward with the latch in place.


It looks like there is not very much of the latch protruding into the base pin hole.


I took the latch apart and stretched the spring a little bit, but I don't think that this will cure the problem.
The latch measures .204". I'm thinking about taking an end mill and making the pocket deeper so the latch will protrude more into the base pin hole.
I don't want to mess the gun up.

Any thoughts?
Don't shoot such heavy loads in it, lol...

[metricmonkeywrench]

There are 2 retrofits that I have heard of for Colts at least. Not sure about the clones. I would check with both of them first. I put a Peacemaker Specialist kit in my SAA ending all the problems I had


https://beltmountain.com/base-pins
http://www.peacemakerspecialists.com/

[lar45]

Well, I took a 13/64 TIN drill bit to the base bin latch socket and made it slightly deeper.
The latch protrudes farther across the base pin hole and the base pin does not protrude as far now.

Before:


After


Now to load up some more ammo and test it.
I think I will go with the locking base pin just for extra insurance.
I tried a base pin from my Uberti Bisley Flat Top and it fit, so I'm guessing one for a SAA might work.

[Bmi48219]

Hi everybody, the base pin on my Herters 401 Powermag jumped out while shooting the other day....

Had the same experience with my 357 PowerMag. I fitted a stiffer spring and have thus far not had a repeat performance.

[lar45]

Had the same experience with my 357 PowerMag. I fitted a stiffer spring and have thus far not had a repeat performance.

Where did you get the stiffer spring from?

[Bmi48219]

Where did you get the stiffer spring from?

I lucked out and found a suitable candidate in a box of miscellaneous springs I’ve been moving around my hardware cabinet for years. We’ve got a mom & pop hardware in town that I’ve found useable springs at as a last resort.
Did you try Jack First? Sauer made a lot of the Hawes and Herters revolvers. I needed an ejector rod, they had one from a Hawes with the same dimensions.

[slam45]

Wolff (gunsprings.com) has extra power base pin springs for single actions... if you measure the diameter i recon they can fix you up... had this problem with a 40+ year old super blackhawk... deepening the base pin groove some and an extra power spring fixed it...

[Larry Gibson]

lar45

"I'm thinking about taking an end mill and making the pocket deeper so the latch will protrude more into the base pin hole."

That's what i did back in the mid '70s to my Hawes Western n Marshall 44 Magnum. Made the hole deeper so the latch filled the whole notch on the base pin. Cured the problem and haven't had the base pin jump since.

[Mk42gunner]

My 6½" Ruger SSM had that problem. I solved it the easy way with a Belt Mountain base pin for a Single Six. The 5½'s pin has never jumped ship, it still has the original Ruger part.

I have no idea if the Herters has dimensions compatible with any of the newly manufactured base pins or not, but deepening the pocket should work fine.

Robert

[DougGuy]

Wolff makes an extra power spring for the Ruger push pin. Think that might fit? Brownell's or Midway.