Shaving Bullets: Ruger Mark IV

M

Model12Win

Moderator
Guys got my Ruger Mark IV to the range and it was great, 300 rounds of CCI mini mag 40 grain round nose without a hitch. But, I noticed I was getting peppered with little particles upon firing the gun.

Took it home to clean it and found a bunch of copper shavings that are no doubt from the bullet coating:

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Went outside and carefully cycled some rounds through it (safe direction etc.) and inspected the cartridges. Upon chambering, the gun is scraping the bottom edge of the bullets and causing these metal shavings to go flying. Looking at my feed ramp I think it is somewhat sharp at the bottom and this might be digging into the bullets.

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The first two on the left are scraped, the one on the right was not cycled through the action.

Can I expect this to go away after a break in? Is this normal for .22 auto pistols? Should I send it back to Ruger, or just polish the feed ramp? If so, how do you do that?

Please help guys. Thanks!
 
Don't mess with the feed ramp - - or better yet, don't mess with that little stamped-out-of-the-breechface-piece of the breech that Ruger calls a feed ramp....

Call Ruger and have them fix it.

(Sadly, I really think the fix is going to be a new gun since that piece is part of the serial numbered part of the gun & can't be fixed.

There is absolutely no extra material on that feed ramp that can be removed without adding to the troubles.
I'm concerned that once you try to smooth that thing out some, Ruger will say it's been messed with and that's not something they will cover.
 
note

Have you tried different .22s, other types and brands?
From the Mark IV manual:
The RUGER® MARK IVTM pistols are chambered only for the. 22 Long Rifle cartridge, standard velocity or high velocity, manufactured to U.S. Industry Standards. Do not attempt to load .22 Long, .22 Short or any other type .22 caliber cartridge into the magazine or in the chamber of the pistol.
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How does the pistol shoot?
Accurate?
Feeds ammo well?
It's been my experience that imperfections on the nose of bullets don't make a measurable difference in how a gun actually shoots.
Definitely don't whittle on it.
Truly bad ones should go back to Mother.
 
Guys I cycled some Winchester 555 copper plated 36 grain hollow points and was getting the same badly scraped cases and some gouges near the hollow point. Just am not liking what it's doing to the bullets, and spraying copper fragments all over.

Called Ruger in Arizona and they said send it in. Going to get it shipped out tonight. Bummer, hopefully they fix it.
 
Well, if Ruger said they'd fix it, and you don't mind the hassle of sending it in, that's your call.

Personally I would have first tried polishing the transition area of the chamber on top of the feed ramp (assuming that's where you've narrowed down the scraping to be occurring.) Some 1500 grit automotive finishing paper wrapped around a pencil or appropriately sized rod should knock the sharp edge off, without being aggressive enough to actually change the angles or remove appreciable amounts of steel.
 
Isn't exactly unusual for any .22 to do that. Moreso with an entry level pistol.
Imperfections on the nose of bullets don't matter with any cartridge. Rimfire or centre fire. The only part of a bullet that matters is the base.
 
I think you're co-mingling two different issues.

Scraping the loaded round? Sure, that happens.
Pieces of...something coming back- it's likely unburned powder.

How does it shoot?
 
It did good at 8 yards. I mean hard to tell from the pics but lots of copper guys, decent sized strands of it. The gal on the phone said it doesn't sound like it should be doing such a thing. I'm sending it in and letting them take a look at it, they're the experts. I will be sending the pictures as well so they can see.
 
New gun,? DON'T FREAKIN' TOUCH IT!! (Meaning, do not attempt to fix the problem yourself) Send it back to Ruger.

(Sadly, I really think the fix is going to be a new gun since that piece is part of the serial numbered part of the gun & can't be fixed.
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Maybe, and maybe not. Sometimes, when the serial numbered part (most often a frame) can't be fixed, the factory will offer a replacement gun.

Sometimes, the factory will replace the serial numbered part, and stamp it with the original serial number. The factory can legally do this. It's still legally the same gun, repaired. Generally speaking a gunsmith cannot do this, only the maker can. A gunsmith can, if needed due to repair or customization MOVE the serial number (reapply it in a different location) but only the maker can replace the part and use the original number.

Good Luck with your Ruger. shaving the bullet and or the cases means a sharp edge where the ammo should not contact it, or something is just enough out of alignment for that to happen.

It is common enough for this to happen, and sometimes it does go away with use. Sometimes people just learn to ignore it. It may not happen with all brands of ammo or bullet styles & weights, or it might. Let the factory figure it out, Ruger is very good about taking care of their customers.

A question, was all the shooting done with one magazine? If more than one was used, be sure to send them all to Ruger with the pistol. (unless they specifically tell you not to, of course.) Sometimes its the mag, not the pistol.
 
New gun,? DON'T FREAKIN' TOUCH IT!! (Meaning, do not attempt to fix the problem yourself) Send it back to Ruger.
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Thank, gang. The gun is on it's way back to Ruger as we speak. Should get to the factory today.

I included both mags that I was using (the two that shipped with the gun) and detailed pictures and a description of what was going on. The final straw was when I cycled a different brand of copper coated ammo and a big chunk of copper came flying out and I could see it. :mad:

I pray that Ruger doesn't just send it back without fixing it or something. I have heard some mixed things about the repair department in Arizona. We shall see, I'll keep you all updated.
 
My 1976 MkI had a bit of shaving problem at first. The ramp had a not rough but uneven finish. It was intentional to cut down on contact with bullet and any shaving I suppose.
I polished ti a bit with a ink pen eraser. The metal is or was real soft.From your photos it was not near yours. I would let the factor fix, in reality, they would replace the barrel. I hesitate to recommending any polishing.
If it is the foot of or bottom of the ramp is sharp or too much right angle, perhaps reconturing or polishing the edge would do it. A little might be too much though.
Send it back
 
From what I can tell there is nothing wrong with that pistol.
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Oh yeah? Well we'll see what Ruger has to say on the matter. Pretty sure it's not supposed to be doing that. It got to them Friday, I'll keep you all posted on any updates.
 
Maybe, and maybe not. Sometimes, when the serial numbered part (most often a frame) can't be fixed, the factory will offer a replacement gun.
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Here's the thing..
On a Ruger Mark-anything, (I, II,III,IV), the barrel and the breech are the gun. The "frame" is just a grip.
The barrel is the part that holds the serial number and is considered the "gun".

That (so called) feed ramp, is a sliver of metal stamped out of part of the breech.

Fiddle around with it too much and you'll risk having the gun fail to feed 100% & all the time.

There is no excess metal that can be removed.

Possibly 1/10 of 1%, but, even that is risky.

Tinbucket right above did the right thing by using an ink pen eraser - and nothing at all more abrasive,,,,not even polishing compound...
 
I've been working on and with Ruger Mark pistols since 1970. The feed ramps are machined integral to the barrel, and are NOT a stamped sliver of metal.

I've polished hundreds of ramps per customer request, but that's definitely not the solution for the ~~NEW~~ Ruger Mark IV pistols and those that shave lead and plating off the bearing surface of the bullets being fed into the chamber.

The cause of the shaving lead off the periphery of the bullet are roll-over burrs from a dull cutter used to chamfer the chamber mouth. Those burrs need to be removed and the edges of the chamber mouth polished "judiciously" to eliminate the bullet shaving. I've put a 0.005 radius on the chamber mouth edges using a tool I made specifically for that purpose and the lead/plating shaving has disappeared and rounds slide right into the chamber. It also helps to have the first round out of your magazine position as in the right hand picture:



Cartridges will then go right into the chamber rather than crash into the feed ramp as featured in the left hand picture.
 
SGW-
I'm interested in looking at your pictures so I have a better understanding of the area you're talking about. But it says the page can't be displayed. Any chance you could change the host or whatever so we can see 'em?
 
This post was 3 years ago but I'm having the same problem with a brand new Ruger Mark IV. I'd love to hear back from the original poster: Model12Win
 
This post was 3 years ago but I'm having the same problem with a brand new Ruger Mark IV. I'd love to hear back from the original poster: Model12Win
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He was banned from here a long time ago. Why don't you just start a new thread?

Ruger does excellent repair work and will take care of their guns if there is a problem with them.
 
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