Cylinder pins for Pietta SAA

[Pulp]

I bought a Pietta SAA in .357 the other day. It doesn't have the same style cylinder pin as they used to. This one allows BP fouling to gum up the works. Very nearly locked up with 5 shots, 4 more and it was locked up with fouling.

Y'll know of any aftermarket pins for the newer Piettas? Or a sure fire method of preventing the foulilng from getting into the pin?

BTW, I was pleasantly surprised with the BOOM. After shooting nothing but .44-40 and .45 Colt for a long time, I didn't think that tiny little .357 case would hold enough powder for much BOOM. I was wrong.

 

[J-Bar]

Are you sure it's a base pin problem and not a cylinder gap problem?

 

[Driftwood Johnson]

Howdy

It is generally not the cylinder pin that allows a gun to bind up with Black Powder fouling. The cylinder bushing protects the cylinder pin from fouling blasted out of the barrel/cylinder gap from being deposited on the pin. This has nothing to do with the shape or style of the pin.

This photo shows the cylinder fronts and bushings of left to right, an Uberti Cattleman, Ruger Vaquero, and 2nd Gen Colt. These bushings are what prevent fouling from being deposited on the cylinder pin.





This photo shows the removable bushings on the Uberti cylinder at the left and the Colt on the right. The bushing on the Ruger cylinder is an integral part of the cylinder. Either style works fine in deflecting fouling away from the cylinder pin, the primary cause of a revolver binding up from Black Powder.





Regarding Cylinder/Barrel gap size, I often hear that a wider gap will help prevent binding. I HAVE NOT found that to be true, in fact a wider gap may allow more fouling to be deposited on the cylinder face. All of my single action revolvers that I shoot with Black Powder have B/C gaps of between .005 and .008. None of them binds up with Black Powder, I can shoot them all afternoon.

Question. What type of bullet lube are you using on your BP 357 loads? Are you using a soft BP compatible lube, or a modern Smokeless hard lube?

 

[J-Bar]

My Ruger Vaqueros had 0.002 gaps from the factory. I had to open them up to 0.006 to keep them from seizing up with BP fouling.

 

[Driftwood Johnson]

I have a Blackhawk with a very tight gap, around .003 IIRC. I was actually quite surprised when it functioned fine with my Black Powder 45 Colt loads for an entire CAS match. But as I said earlier,

"All of my single action revolvers that I shoot with Black Powder have B/C gaps of between .005 and .008. None of them binds up with Black Powder, I can shoot them all afternoon."

So you had to open up the .002 gap to get your Vaqueros to shoot well with BP. Fits in with what I said. Also, what powder and what type of bullet lube you use can enter into the equation. I usually use Schuetzen these days, it burns a bit cleaner than Goex. And I use Big Lube bullets that have huge lube grooves to hold a huge amount of SPG lube. Part of the trick is keeping the fouling soft, so any fouling deposited on the face of the cylinder will be wiped away as the cylinder turns.Wiping away fouling deposits will help prevent binding on the front of the cylinder.