Either new or 'vet' to ROA. Don't do what i did !!

[BADUNAME30]

The first time loading my ROA i was bein hasty, and allthough the loading instructions in the manual do not tell you about this i'm not gonna blame the book.
I hadn't had the base pin out of my gun before and being used to a spring loaded base pin latch in my SA's i never gave it a 2nd thot when loading my ROA.
I poured the powder in, slipped a wad on top and commenced to seating a ball. Only then did i find out that the base pin latch is not spring loaded and needs a half trun of the base pin retaining 'screw' to lock it into place.
When i applied pressure to the loading lever to seat the ball the base pin was imediately drawn out of the gun and quickly commenced to bend at the notch where the base pin retaining assembly locks into place on it.
:banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead:
What a DUMB rookie thing to do !!!!
Anywho, Jist thot i'd share this moronic move o' mine with y'all so hopefully no one else dose this.
I wish i would have thot to take pics of just how badly it was bent. I was able to persuade it straight enough to be able to shoot the gun that day but as you can see in the pic, i've got more work ahead o' me to git it straight.
I'm holding the pin backwards in this pic just so you can use the Bbl as a reference to see how bent it still is.

 

[junkman_01]

You are right, a pretty dumb, rookie mistake. Don't do it again! BTW, you are not the first or last rookie to do it.

 

[zimmerstutzen]

I let my brother shoot my ROA at a match and it was returned with a bent pin.

Not so severely that I couldn't straighten it out, but annoying none the less.

 

[robhof]

robhof

If you were in a room full of ROA owners and asked who had done the same; only a few hands would be left down, if they were honest. The good news is that with careful light taps with a hammer on a flat hard surface and you can get it straight enough to use, been there, done that.:banghead::banghead:

 

[AbitNutz]

I have to say after I read more than a few posts about bending the cylinder pin...all I could think about how anyone could be so dumb or how it could even happen.

I have to say, while I never did it, I'm pretty well convinced the only reason I never did it was because I shoot almost exclusively bullets and always use a loader.

I have tried to get some willing gunsmith, for as long as I have owned an ROA, to make at least a knurled, hand turnable locking screw...my dream screw would be one that would somehow spring to a closed position...no I don't know how that would work but I'm sure some talented machinist could doodle it on the back of a napkin in about 5 minutes and turn one out about 10 minutes after that.

 

[Dave Markowitz]

I haven't done that with my ROA, but I did manage to break the base pin retaining screw on my Euroarms Rogers & Spencer replica on its first range outing. The ROA design owes a lot to the R&S, so I can sympathize.

 

[Vermonter]

Thanks for pointing that out.

 

[ClemBert]

The first time loading my ROA i was bein hasty, and...

That's all I had to read to know what was coming.

I've never made that mistake but I've read it enough from other newbies to know what you were about to disclose. Sadly, it is probably next to impossible to find factory replacement base pins these days.

 

[unknwn]

"....impossible to find factory replacement base pins these days..."

Which is why I opted to get and use a cylinder loading press for my ROA s.