Ruger MK III Sights

L

LBussy

New member
I have a Ruger MK III, I think it has a 4-3/4" barrel. The rear sight is in a dovetail and the front sight looks as if it's a ring wrapped around the barrel end. There's no discernible adjustment on the front sight.

In order to "shoot straight" I've had to drift the rear sight over quite a bit ... like to the practical limit in the dovetail. If I had to guess, I'd guess the front sight is not on straight but since I can't move it I can't really check that.

Has anyone seen this before or have a clue why it seems so "off?" Other than this it's a fine shooter, groups are right where I'd expect them to be.

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There was recent post on rugerforum about an off-center front sight on one of these pistols. IIRC the front sight blade may be pinned into the boss vs dovetailed so no adjustment. You might secure the barrel in a padded vise and carefully(not using the grip for a lever) check to see if the barrel is unscrewing itself from the receiver.
FWIw, Ruger will likely resolve the problem if you contact them.
 
I had no idea the barrel was screwed into the receiver ... for some reason I thought they were a single piece. Makes sense though.
 
You sure that's a Mk III? Looks more like a Mk I or II. Mk III front sights have a screw holding 'em on. Your's appears to have the pin found in Mk I & II pistols.
Anyway, manuals for all of 'em are here. http://stevespages.com/page7b.htm
There are exploded drawings in the Manuals, but the I and II drawing are here.
http://stevespages.com/page7a.htm
You won't be moving a Ruger barrel in a padded vise. I'd be suspecting that front sight blade is bent. Check that first.
 
T. O'Heir said:
You sure that's a Mk III? Looks more like a Mk I or II. Mk III front sights have a screw holding 'em on. Your's appears to have the pin found in Mk I & II pistols.
Anyway, manuals for all of 'em are here. http://stevespages.com/page7b.htm
There are exploded drawings in the Manuals, but the I and II drawing are here.
http://stevespages.com/page7a.htm
You won't be moving a Ruger barrel in a padded vise. I'd be suspecting that front sight blade is bent. Check that first.
Click to expand...
Definitely a MKIII, says so on the receiver. Definitely has a pinned front sight too.

The blade might be bent, but if so it's been bent a really long time. The original owner (who could be lying but he seemed like an honest older gentleman) said it had "shot right" since he bought it.
 
Definitely a Ruger Mark III. You can tell by the right end of the magazine release just in front of the right side grip panel. Concerning sights.

Being a Ruger Mark III, isn't the receiver drilled and tapped for an optics base? A red-dot would eliminate any crooked sight condition.
 
It's actually a fairly common problem with the 4" fixed sight models. I have seen it for years, and my old Mark I had the same issue. You can live with it or go to the hassle of indexing the barrel, which sometimes causes them to become jam-o-matics.
 
LBussy said:
Other than this it's a fine shooter, groups are right where I'd expect them to be.
Click to expand...

I've had Ruger fixed sight centerfire pistols that required the rear to be drifted well off center. It doesn't look right if you focus on it, but after a while I forget about it.

If you "fix" this, will it make the pistol any better, or risk making it worse in a way that matters?


If you don't mind my asking, what sorts of groups are you getting? I sold my last MKII, a 6 and 7/8 inch barrel, in the 90s and recently bought one with the short barrel, a 50th Anniversary model. I look forward to picking it up next week.
 
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No, I don't know where you get that information about that being a common problem, but it's way off base and not anywhere near the truth!
 
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