Fun with the Mark .22 pistols

R

Rogervzv

New member
I did several modifications to several of my Mark pistols last weekend. Replaced the firing pins and extractors in several of them, i.e. my elderly Standards and Mark Is, and added a VQ trigger group and bolt to my Mark III. So off I went to the range with two Standards, a late-model Mark I (with the later-version grip; functionally it is a Mark II) and the Mark III.

Happy to report that all of the guns functioned at 100% excepting one of my Standards, which stovepiped a couple of times on some cheap Aguila .22, although it fired it pretty reliably.

One thing that was interesting was magazine interchangeability. Mark II magazines most definitely will not work in a Mark III (I accidentally tried this.) My Standards use the same magazines as the Mark I (or Mark II) excepting that the knob on the magazine must be on the right side for the Standard and the left side for the later guns (Mark I A100 grip; Mark II). This switch, by the way, is easy to do on Ruger magazines; it only takes about 30 seconds.

I, at least, cannot tell the difference between a Mark II mag and a Mark III mag excepting for the color of the eagle on the baseplate. It used to be that Mark II magazines had a silver eagle while Mark III magazines had a black eagle. Unfortunately now Ruger ships Mark II magazines with black eagle bases, so you have to keep track of which is which when you store them.

Anyway, it was a great afternoon at the range with the Marks. Nothing beats spitting out .22LR with Mark pistols, IMSOHO.:eek:

The long-barreled Mark I is a real tack-driver, no doubt due to the long sight radius:


The Mark III with the VQ parts shoots like a dream:


This old Standard shoots terrific now that I replaced the extractor. I think that Ruger did not manufacture the extractors as well back in the 1960s as they do now. This gun used to stovepipe now and then. With the new extractor it is an absolute shooting machine, eats anything and shoots great.


This old Standard is a "rescue gun" that I picked up used for next to nothing. It has "character marks" (scratches) in lots of places and actually looks like it was holstered a lot. It is somewhat picky about ammo. It shoots CCI 100% but will occasionally stovepipe with cheaper ammo. Not sure why.
 
This family heirloom Ruger Standard I have is most likely the first gun I ever shot. My older half brother bought it new in what I had been told was 1954 but Ruger website says it was manuf in 1955, doesn't matter. My brother had an accident with it (100% his fault) and shot himself in the thigh, not serious but he left the gun with my dad and never wanted it back.

I grew up with this as the home protection gun, also knocked down many meat animals. My dad kept it between the mattress on his side of the bed. Our house burnt all the way to the ground in 1971. This gun got hot enough to ruin the handles and destroy a lot of the finish. My dad replaced with the wood handles shown and had a gunsmith replace the springs and I think magizine, it has functioned just fine every since.

Still very accurate. It sees probably 100 - 200 rounds a year now. I only get it out when the family is getting together. It will see some action between Christmas and New Year then cleaned, oiled and back in the safe.

I wouldn't change a thing about this gun.

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Nice photos and good info - your long-barrel Mark I makes me homesick for my long (and very foolishly) sold Mk I. I also had a slab-sided Mk II for a couple of years but ran out of money, again. Thanks!
 
Hard to beat the Ruger Mark pistols. They are solid, reliable and more capable than my abilities. I swapped the sear(VQ),replaced the mag dc with a BAM bushing on my Mark III and it is simply a joy to shoot.
 
Hard to improve on perfection !!!

The long-barreled Mark I is a real tack-driver, no doubt due to the long sight radius
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Roger,
By chance, does this MK-I state that it's a Target model, anywhere on the barrel? To me, this one represents all that anyone needs in the MK-Family. It is beautiful. .... ;)

Be Safe !!!
 
The gun does not have the word "Target" anywhere on it. It plainly is intended to be a target shooter though and it sure shoots like one!
 
I agree !!!

The gun does not have the word "Target" anywhere on it
Click to expand...
I don't have documentation but this might be a predecessor to the MK-II Target models that had almost identical configuration, barrel taper and target sights. Anyway, very nice and thanks for your posting!! .... :)

Be Safe !!!
 
Easy visual indicator to tell the difference between a Mark II and Mark III magazine is to look for the mag catch cutout on the mag body for the Mark III mags.

In a similar fashion, easy to spot a Mark III in a seller's display case - obvious to see the awful LCI when the gun is displayed as such - but when its on it's other side, just look for the mag catch.
 
This is my Hands Down favorite pistol to shoot with! I drop bowling pins at 100 yards with it...

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Grips by Esmeralda, Complete VQ rebuild on the "innards", VQ comp and Burris scope.
 
Ruger MK II's

I have more, but this is an old picture of some of my Ruger MK II's...most of them have a Tac-Sol upper and barrel...

 
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SCDeak82 if you are asking about these grips, these are stock Ruger Mark I grips, available on Shopruger.com



The other grips shown on the two Standards I got by posting a query on rimfirecentral.com and I don't have the contact info for the sellers handy, I'm afraid.
 
Rogervzv - Another nice photo - thanks for posting them. I went to the shopruger site but it/they say the grips you have will only fit the Mk III. Did you have to do any fitting (no pun intended) to get them to fit? The grips on SR look exactly the same as the ones in your photo.
 
OK I know what the confusion here is.

Late model Mark Is, such as mine shown above, have the same grip as a Mark II and take Mark II magazines (loading knob is on the left side instead of the right side as are early-model Mark Is) and Mark II grips.

My Mark I has the late model (A100) grip, same as the Mark II and these are Mark II grips. They are available at shopruger.com.

No I did not do any fitting.
 
Good info sir - Thank-you! I didn't know about the grip differences. I also noticed that Shop Ruger has the gray plastic cases like you have shown. The box for my Mk I is pretty tattered since it was used to ship (labels and all!) mine back to the factory in the mid-70's. I had disassembled it and couldn't get it back together - I think they reblued the grip frame to fix the gouge marks I had foolishly put on it... The red cardboard box is in such bad shape that you can't really tell which pistol it is for ... :-(
 
Well, unless you are a real collector IMO none of the manufacturer's cases are worth having much. To take the best care of one's guns, a gunsafe is the right place to keep it. I have dehumidifiers in mine and it keeps my guns nice and uncorroded.

Mark pistols are for shooting!
 
Great info. Yes, Altamont makes great grips, and I think you are possibly correct that they may be a Ruger supplier.
 
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