[MrBorland]

I notice some slop when I try to rotate the cylinder slightly, but I also noted some slop when I try to wiggle the cylinder side-to-side and up-and-down, so I ordered an oversized base pin from Brownell's. It fit the cylinder fine, but installed in the frame (without the cylinder), it won't go in all the way. The end hits the hole at the back of the frame and won't go home. I didn't see a burr to remove, but it looks like the hole is ever-so-slightly offset. Barely noticeable, but with the tigher tolerance, maybe enough to cause a headache. I can see now the position of this hole has to be absolutely spot-on, and maybe why a slightly undersize base pin is used from the factory.

My question, then, is does this sound like a normal occurance when installing a Belt Mountain base pin? What's the most likely culprit? How likely is it that the hole's off center? Maybe the pin is bent slightly, though it seemed straight. If the hole's offset, what now? A gunsmith, I guess, but intuitively, it seems that elongating the hole a smidge would defeat the purpose of the overized pin in the first place.

[Stinger]

First of all, DO NOT MODIFY THE GUN. Sorry, I had to get that off of my chest.

Any problems with fit need to be addressed on the pin, not the gun. Your pin should have included instructions, and I trust that you read them. It sounds like it is time to remove a little material from the pin. Do so a little at a time wherever it tightens up.

Worst case scenario, call Belt Mountain tomorrow.

Did I mention not to modify the gun?

[Gordon]

Heck, seat it with a rap from a brass hammer:D

[JoeHatley]

This article from Real Guns may help.

www.realguns.com/archives/008.htm

Good Luck...

Joe

[Jim March]

You may want to have a gunsmith look at it. You need to know how badly "off" the factory hole is.

[Tom C.]

What you are seeing is the tolerances, in this case, in hole alignment, that result from the production process. The reason Ruger uses the slightly undersized pin is to allow for these tolerances.

The Belt Mtn pin is a couple of thou larger and will not tolerate the tolerances. I had a similar problem with one of my installs. What I did was take the gun apart to the bare frame (leaving the barrel alone) and using the original pin to lap the rear frame hole just enough to seat the new pin. It doesn’t take much.