Ruger Mark III Problem

Thanks, guys. I shot the gun today. Works good, except one of the mags is indeed defective. I'm going to sell it as soon as Ruger sends me a replacement mag. I like guns that I can take apart and put back together all by myself (which is every gun I've ever had in my life up until this one). I'll sell it for $200, a $100+ loss. It's only two days old. Anyone interested? I'm in southern AZ.
 
If I had the 2 bills I would jump on it!
I tear mine down and reassemble easily...
P1010963.jpg

I also installed a home mag safety disconnect washer and disabled the LCI.
Brent
 
I took my mag disconnect out too. Didn't notice any trigger improvement but there was great satisfaction in removing another mag disconnect.

I understand your view about the loaded chamber indicator Hogdogs, especially if they ever set off a round. I learned long ago to trust mechanical things myself, no machinist could work if he couldn't, but I respect your viewpoint.
 
HS, The guy on gun talk "bullseye" was involved in convincing ruger the metal LCI coud set off a round they are plastic now. Mine is plastic but safety is 'tween my ears. If I had a CQC pistol the mag disconnect may be good as you can drop the mag out if the BG is about to get it from you.

Brent
 
"I like guns that I can take apart and put back together all by myself (which is every gun I've ever had in my life up until this one). I'll sell it for $200, a $100+ loss. It's only two days old. Anyone interested? I'm in southern AZ."

A ruger MkIII 22/45 was my first pistol. About the only good thing I can say about it is that after I sold it, my experience with it convinced me to buy a S&W m41. Best gun purchase to date.
 
If I had the 2 bills I would jump on it!
I tear mine down and reassemble easily...

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Oh my, look at all those little pieces! I bet you don't have to bang the pin on yours in and out with a hammer. But I suppose I could send the whole gun back to Ruger and ask them to loosen it up so the lock pops in and out easily as it does in the videos. I've have a couple of potential buyers already, but now I'm having second thoughts...
 
You should be having second thoughts! You can't buy a new Ruger .22 pistol for $200.

I swear, unless you are installing an aftermarket part like a VQ sear or trigger, there really isn't any reason to ever disassemble one of these guns anyway.

And there is certainly nothing wrong with a gun with tightly fitting tolerances. That is a bonus, not a detriment.

Really, to clean this gun all you need is a screwdriver, a rod section with a patch eyelet or jag, possibly a bore brush, and a can of $1.59 brake cleaner from Auto Zone.

That's it.

Take the grip panels off with the screwdriver. Lock the bolt to the rear.

Put the little plastic spray tube on the nozzle of the brake cleaner.

Spray out the insides of the gun and let the crud run out through the magazine well. The inside of the gun will look as clean as the day you bought it and the cleaner evaporates quickly.

Run some patches through the bore.

Give the internals a shot of WD40 or similar lubricant. Put the grips back on and you're done.

Takes about 5 minutes.
 
I did it! I became obsessed with this infernal machine and I took it apart again - and much to my amazement! - I put it back together - and it actually seems to still work! What's more, with all my wooden mallet bashing I think it may now come apart and go back together normally like the guns in the videos! So I'll keep it after all.

But here's the next big problem: If I don't do this every week or two I'll forget how to do it.

CC - I believe you said you've shot thousands of rounds using your cleaning method, but I'm just used to opening up guns to inspect and clean them. I have never encountered one like this before, and I hope I never do again.
 
I'd use a rubber mallet to seperate the barrel/action, from the lower receiver.

No concern over marring the finish of the gun that way.

Bought mine at Walmart. If I remember correctly, they had rubber mallets in the tool section for $5. But if you go to the sporting goods section, you can find the same mallet with a hook built into the handle for $3, only they call it a "tent stake mallet".

Seems like every few weeks somebody shows up around here complaining about the assembly/disassembly of the Ruger pistols.

And there always seems to be a couple of people who state they simply cannot not disassemble the pistol for cleaning, regardless of how unnecessary it is in light of a $1.59 can of brake cleaner.

I challenge anybody to get a Ruger cleaner in less time using disassembly and the traditional solvent, rags, toothbrush, etc. cleaning routine. You can't do it.

And the more you disassemble and reassemble the gun, the more you accelerate looseness and wear. I wouldn't think it is necessary to take the gun apart more than once a year.
 
Thanks, CC.

Yeah, I'll buy a rubber mallet. This all didn't do my good old homemade wooden mallet any good.

Is brake/carb cleaner then the same substance as gun cleaner? Would you use it to routinely clean guns?

I wonder what the consensus is amongst experienced users of this gun between CC's and Hogdog's cleaning method. Ruger instructions say the latter, take it apart.

Here's your earlier post, CC:

http://www.thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?p=3205618

And here's upgrade parts for the gun:

http://www.thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?p=3205618


I took the dismantling of this thing as a personal challenge.







Doesn't sound normal for the magazine to do that. Do you have more than one and do they all do that?

As far as cleaning, I just go to an Auto Zone and get their cheapest spray can of either brake or carb cleaner. Take off the grips, open the action, remove magazine and spray away.

Wear glasses or goggles to prevent it splashing in your eyes.

You'll notice a remarkable similarity in the way brake and carb cleaner smells to that of a $6 can of Birchwood Casey "Gun Scrubber".

An earlier post asked how to reassemble the magazine safety disconnect after putting in the target sear.

Answer: Don't.

Install an old Mk II hammer or VQ Mk II target hammer and one of Clark Customs oversized hammer bushings instead. Discard the Mk III magazine safety disconnect junk.

Now you've got a Mk II with a push button magazine release and loaded chamber indicator.
Click to expand...
 
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I use brake or carb cleaner to routinely clean guns.

And those chemicals smell remarkably similar to something like Birchwood Casey "Gun Scrubber" or other similar spray cleaners you find at gun shops.

I suspect they are near chemically identical. They are not identical in price though.

Just make sure you remove any plastic or wood grips or the stock if it is a rifle you are cleaning. Most "gun cleaners" stipulate doing that as well.

That's one thing I like about the Rugers. Aside from the grips, everything else on the gun is metal. No plastics.

Until I switched to the Pardini match pistol, I used a Ruger Mk II "slabsides" extensively in weekly rimfire bullseye matches. This was the method I used to clean them and I never had a "dirt related" misfire or jam.

I believe I first encountered the "brake cleaner" suggestion years ago when reading an article in "Gun Tests" about the Ruger guns. That was how the staff of that magazine cleaned their Rugers.

In my experience, and this is with both Mk II and III pistols, the only recurring problem was what I call "The Ruger Stovepipe". What would happen is that an extracted case would impact the left lip of the magazine before it hit the ejector. This would cause the spent case to tumble in the action and lodge. The case would be sticking open end out with the rimmed base still in the action with the bolt closing on it.

I had this happen on both my II and III pistols and I witnessed it in my friend's Mk II as well.

It was an easy fix. I just put the magazines in a vice and carefully removed small amounts of metal from the left magazine lip. Then I chambered a round, and watched as I slowly pulled the bolt back to extract it. When I could see enough metal had been removed to insure the case would always hit the ejector and never the magazine, the pistol worked 100% save the occasional dud round commonly encountered with .22 rimfire ammunition.
 
To clear it up... My total disassembly was due to me getting rid of mag safety, and once that far in I decided to go ahead and do the total thing to familiarize my self with the gem.
Brent
 
I use brake or carb cleaner to routinely clean guns.

And those chemicals smell remarkably similar to something like Birchwood Casey "Gun Scrubber" or other similar spray cleaners you find at gun shops.

I suspect they are near chemically identical. They are not identical in price though.
Click to expand...

Wouldn't be a bit surprised. I figured that Mobil 1 or something would do the job just as good as special gun oils too, at a tiny fraction of the cost.


In my experience, and this is with both Mk II and III pistols, the only recurring problem was what I call "The Ruger Stovepipe". What would happen is that an extracted case would impact the left lip of the magazine before it hit the ejector. This would cause the spent case to tumble in the action and lodge. The case would be sticking open end out with the rimmed base still in the action with the bolt closing on it.
Click to expand...

Ha! That is exactly what was happening with the one mag, the mag I was planning to return to Ruger, but haven't yet. I guess I'll go ahead and return it anyway. Should I order a spare mag from them while I'm at it, or is there a better place to get them?

I've had relatively little experience with .22's, though I have a S & W 617. What's the best way to clean the barrel? The rods they sell for .22's, when you slip a piece of patch on them, it makes for a very tight fit.
 
Always a good idea to have extra magazines, but like I said, the Ruger Stovepipe can be corrected easily at the workbench and the gun will function perfectly afterwards.

My prefered method of cleaning .22 pistol barrels is to get a coated cable pull-through such as the ones made for cleaning AR15 rifles.

I push the cable through the barrel, from the muzzle to the breech with the eyelet piece on. Then I put a .22 patch in the eyelet and pull the cable back through the barrel.

You don't have to disassemble the pistol to do it this way and there is no rod section rubbing up against the crown of the muzzle wearing it down.
 
I wouldn't consider doing it myself. Good basic cleaning without a tear down is really all you need to do with that pistol, IMO.
 
"I wouldn't consider doing it myself. Good basic cleaning..."

What do you mean by good basic cleaning, following the Ruger instructions to take the thing apart, as opposed to what Mr Hogdog did once, or CC's method?

CC, you're the expert!
 
My wife has one of these pistols.

We stop after initial disassembly -- we NEVER get to the rubber mallet stage.

Yes, putting it back together is a bit tricky. There's a video on the Ruger website that explains it. Once you get the hang of it, it's a snap.
 
Always used carb cleaner in the army for cleaning m16's and the m60's.It gets the carbon buildup off,just what it was made to do.
 
He probably was referring to modifying the magazine so it doesn't cause stovepipes. That was what he wouldn't do himself, if I understand correctly.

Back when I modified mine, there was a website with photos on how another guy modified his. The thing is that you only remove enough metal from the left lip so that cases hit the ejector and not the lip.

I don't know that I'm an expert, but I've modified at least 4 Rugers that I can remember with upgraded aftermarket parts. After the first one, the rest were easy. I was able to install a VQ sear on the last two with just my fingers and in a matter of minutes.

That's why I don't understand why people complain about the complexity of these pistols and their quirks.
 
CC, How many of these mags need trimmed? I have never had a single stovepipe with my 2 mags and my father's MKI was a jewel as well and he never tried a disassembly.
Brent
 
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