So yesterday I go for a little still hunt for deer with my Ruger SuperBlackhawk. I have owned and extensively shot this revolver for 15 years. I have taken better than a dozen animals with it and it is a trusted companion. As I enter some heavy cover I bump a couple of deer. In anticipation of possible shot I draw the gun and hear it rattle a bit. It shouldn't rattle. I look at the gun and see the base pin is out. I push it back in and that's when the base pin latch falls out! I find the screw and spring but the nut is lost. Nothing I can do but unload the gun and hang my head in disbelief. I have heard of base pins jumping never of lost latches. I always give my guns a once over before season. Either I missed it or it worked loose coming in and out of the holster. The good news is I called Ruger today and they are sending a replacement part free of charge. BUT check your base pins!

Always a good idea to give your gun a good look before using. Especially with these big calibers.

yes i will check that but mine seem good .thanks for sharing.

One of my hunting partners just had his replaced with a Belt Mountain base pin. There are other aftermarket pins out there.
The one on my SBH is a factory unit that was replaced by the previous owner. If it loosens again,Belt Mountain gets the nod.

Great Comment!!! AND, they come with set screws...

Others to check are the grip frame screws. I have had those loosen up before. didn't realize at the time that it was something to keep chasing after, but now I check all the screws on my revolvers frequently.

Thanks for sharing your story.

I've had the screw that holds the cylinder latch back out on several S&W revolver. Also the ejector rod on my S&W 657 tends to back out which can lock up the cylinder.

that reminds me...i need to bend the pin that holds the rear sight together. it creeps out after I shoot a few.

the base pin latch nut coming loose is a common problem, the two best fixes are to put a drop of blue loctite on the threads and install a Wolff extra power base pin latch spring. The spring serves two purposes, it keeps the latch from being "bumped" out of the way by the base pin during heavy recoil allowing the pin to jump forward and the other benefit is the extra force against the nut retards it's ability to rotate.

The Belt Mtn pins are a good idea too as they are oversized so when the frame and cylinder are reamed to the oversized pin diameter you end up with a much tighter and more uniform fit. The set screw also helps although if the pin isn't fitted properly or if the holes in the frame are misaligned from a twisted frame or the holes are already larger than the selected pin the cylinder will bind when the set screw is tightened.

I had a Uberti cattleman 45/8 .45 colt, loved the gun but it kept loosing screws. Solved problem but sold it anyway. .45s were spendy to shoot. Have to start reloading soon.