Ruger Mark III Problem

A

AC556

Inactive
I am having a problem with a Ruger Mark III (678) target pistol. I received it new in the box as a birthday present (woot!) this week so I wanted to clean it before I went to the range. Two hours later I finally got it disassembled, cleaned, and reassembled. I can't believe a rubber mallett is required to do this!

After assembling the pistol while carefully following the directions, the hammer will not stay cocked. The bolt retracts and locks properly. However, when it travels forward it sounds like the hammer immediately falls. I've taken it apart and put it back together several times with the same result. I'm pretty sure that I've properly placed the hammer strut but who knows. I haven't even fired it yet!!!

Any advice would be helpful.

Thanks,
Jim
AC556@aol.com
 
mercy

What required the use of a rubber mallet? I think maybe you bent the hammer strut on your hammer when you removed the mainspring housing, but you might just not be making sure that it fall rearward when you close the mainspring housing.

Here is how it should be taken apart.:

Cock the gun and pull the trigger which will allow the hammer to fall forward. Lift the mainspring housing lock and bring it up and then remove it from the gun by pulling downward on it. Now the receiver can be pulled forward, but you could use a rubber mallet the first time that you try this because at times they are very tight and require either bumping it forward by a mallet or bumping it downward onto a padded bench on the back end.

Now, pull the bolt out of the back and you should have the receiver and barrel, the bolt, and the lower grip frame. I use a spray cleaner from here to remove anything that the factory put on it for rust protection. I then will apply a drop of oil to the hammer where the pins go through and wipe my finger over the bolt as well.

Now place the bolt back into the receiver. Place the receiver back onto the gun and slide it rearward to make the lug in the receiver slide back under the lcoking part on the barrel. It should just slide right back in place for you and it shouldn't be as hard the next time to remove the receiver either. Now, look into the gun at the rear and lean the gun downward, you may have to reach in with something to push the hammer forward out of the way. Next, put the mainspring housing back into the gun with the lock still out. Tip the gun backwards to you with the barrel up in the air and allow the hammer strut to come back to you and then lower the locking mechanism and close the housing. Pull the bolt back and the fire the gun to check to see that you have it right.

If it still won't work right, take a look at the hammer strut and see if it is bent. If it is, you need to contact Ruger and get a new one and then follwo the directions. Hope this helps you out. If you cannot get it figured out, box it up and send back to Ruger, they should take care of it for you and most likely won't charge you anything for it this time.
 
Man, I'm getting horrible flashbacks of trying to put back together my long-since-sold Mk II. I think I only correctly reassembled it on the first attempt one time. All the other times took several, sometimes a dozen, attempts.
 
We have a serious littering problem here. I am referring, of course, to all the Ruger instruction manuals people insist on throwing away without reading.

The basic Standard Model and its successors are quite simple to take down and re-assemble, although they can be rough the first couple of times.

Jim
 
AC556,
Just one more thing. With the Mark III before you can fold the mainspring back in you have to install an empty magazine. That is one step that Ruger left out of the directions. I had a lot of trouble my first time also. Trust me, it gets a lot easier. Calm down, take your time and follow the directions step by step. I used the directions the first three times. Now I can strip the gun in about 15 secomds and reassemble in about 30 seconds. If you need more help PM me.
Rusty
 
Both the on-line manual (downloadable in pdf) and the one I have do have the information on inserting an empty magazine. Actually, as CrustyFN found out, dis- and re-assembly of those pistols is actually a lot easier to do than to describe.

One small tip. The best tool I have found for releasing the mainsping housing latch is an empty .223 case. Simple and doesn't scratch.

Jim
 
penny

I use a penny myself for the sme reasons Jim. I wasn't aware that you had to put the magazine in for assembly for the new pistol though. Why is that if you know?
 
Ruger

What happened is that the hammer fell forward .I'll bet you can't get it part either. Friend of mine had same problem we sent the gun back ti Ruger the first time the next time he did it I fixed it you have to drive all the pins out . The gun will then come apart. Then you put it back together. The problew is in makeing sure the hammer is cocked there is nothing to hold it in that position so you have to hold the gun with the barrel pointing up so the hammer stays put. We both have disided that we hate the gun LOL. Be Safe Out There Kurt
 
Still Having Problems

Thanks for all of the suggestions. I am now fairly proficient in disassembling and reassembling the Mark III. The receiver is still so tight on the grip frame that I have to strike it with a rubber mallet multiple times to get it on and off. When assembled, the bolt appears to be functioning correctly. However, I still have my problem with the gun not cocking properly. The hammer does not lock at all.

I used the link that Billy 45 provided and found a useful tip. It suggested that you should insert the mainspring housing in the grip assembly without the receiver attached so that you can see what is going on. I did this and after closing the spring, I was able to see that the hammer strut is seating properly and the spring is providing tension to the hammer. However, the hammer disconnect is not engaging at all when I push back the hammer with my finger. Of course, I am making the assumption that it should.

I'm concerned that maybe something slipped or was bent in the trigger/hammer assembly in my initial attempts to disassemble and reassemble the pistol... grrrr. Nothing looks unusual, but I have no idea what I am looking at.

I've owned a number of firearms including a Ruger AC556 and I've never had this kind of problem.

Any additional suggestions that you have would be helpful.

Thanks Again!
Jim
 
I did work on an earlier Ruger ,brand new , which the owner couldn't take apart to clean .He was unsure if he was doing it correctly. I had to use a large hammer with numerous full swings to get the receiver and barrel apart !![fortunately the owner wasn't present ] They must have had a gorilla on the production line .I had to do some file work to get it to reasonably come apart. :eek:
 
Mete-
After the gun has been disassembled and reassembled several dozen times, it gets looser. Files should be applied with caution.

My opinion is that the sear spring is installed wrong, but without the gun in hand I would not swear to it. If the sear spring gets ahead of the sear, the sear will not engage the hammer. If the hammer is cocking but not staying cocked and follows the bolt, I almost always think it's the sear.
 
In my case a file was absolutely necessary and I only told the owner that it was 'difficult' to take apart !!!
 
I agree Scorch

I bet he didn't get it back correctly and the sear spring is in front of the hammer instead of behind the sear forcing it up against the hammer like it should be. I bet you made a good call there Scorch.
 
info for you

M1911, I always take them apart and clean off the stuff the the factory puts on everything to prevent rust. They put on some stuff that will cause problems at times.
 
Suggestion...

I would suggest that you check out the video from AGI on the Ruger pistol. Also you might get a copy of "The Gun Digest Book of Firearms Assembly / Disassembly - Part 1: Automatic Pistols" before doing anything else.

There is a story going around about three men of the cloth walking through the woods discussing their disparate theologies. They come to a river and the first declares, while adjusting his roman collar "I shall cross the river." And he walks across the water to the other side. The second, as he adjusted his yamaca, declared "I too shall cross the river." And he too walked across the river to the other side. Not to be outdone, the third declared "If they can do then if I have faith, so can I." He steps off the bank and sinks up to his neck. He swims and as he emerges on the other side, coughing and sputtering, the Rabbi leans over to his dry companion and says, "Father, do you think we should tell him where the rocks are in the river..."

The point is that it is easy to walk on water if you know where the rocks are. And one of the reasons we direct folks to gunsmiths is that they know where a lot of rocks are. But failing that, for easy jobs, AGI videos and a lot of reading material will help...

Regards,
Joe
 
My Mark III 22/45 was a pain to reassemble. Had the same problem you're describing after I did get it back together. My issue was having the hammer in the correct (cocked, I believe) position before closing her up.
 
Nope

It cannot be cocked before closing the mainspring housing lock. The hammer has to be in the fired position for you to close it.
 
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