Ruger MK3 22/45

danastles

danastles

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I picked up a 2010 ruger mkiii 22/45, 4.5in slab side barrel with fixed sights (bnib).
After shooting for a day my thumbs are chewed! The bolt release lever is stiff as hell. The magazine safety has to be the biggest failure I have ever used in a pistol. you really have to take your time and make sure the mag "clicks in" or it will not feed right. have any of you had the same issues? did they smooth out? i realize i need to break this in but i didnt think it would be this bad on the thumbs. i will be removing that mag safety, adding a target sear sometime in the near future. the sights are fixed with white dots. fairly accurate so far. one thing i do not like is the amount of creep in the trigger. it is similar to my early mark 1 however.
It definately does not like the winchester hv lead rounds. The feed ramp keeps gouging the projectiles and jamming the gun. Havnt tried any othe stuff yet but I will tomorrow. i am thinking the copper jacketed loads will function exponentially better. I have done my research on these however if you folks have any tips for smoothing this out please pass them along, including your experiences with this model or similar. i will include pics and updates at a later date.
 
I just picked up a Mk III target competiton. I was hoping to try it out tommorow I'll try a different brand of ammo and see how that works.
 
The bolt release is very stiff if you don't pull back on the bolt at the same time. If you do then it's a POC.

You are very correct about one thing though. Ruger built in a LOT of junk features for whatever lawyer inspired reasons they have. The mag/trigger disconnect is one and the slide stop not working like all the other guns is another. These are easily fixed along with the trigger feel with either some home tinkering or a few bits bought from the aftermarket outfits that feed our Ruger Obsession.
 
The bolt release is not bad at all on my 22/45 (my 12 year old can work it with no problems), but it has had at least 3000 rounds through it over the last couple of years, probably much more. I have removed the mag safety and that is an improvement, but the trigger pull is still a bit creepy even with a target sear in it.

Yes, the mags must be carefully seated to ensure they are all the way in. I keep thinking of some base pads to help with that, but haven't got to it yet.


Mark
 
After i got mine, i sat in front of the tv and watched a movie while clicking the safety back and forth. Helped quite a bit. I also spent a few hours racking and dropping the slide (again in front of the tv). I then took it to the range and put a brick through it before bringing it home, detail stripping and cleaning, smoothing, flushing, and deburring everythign that I could. Word of warning, though, it took me about 6 minutes to take apart, and abotu 5 hours to get it back together. The hammer has to be foreward and in the exact perfect spot while reassembling. After finally "getting it" for th efirst time, it's a piece of cake.
 
yes i made the mistake of taking it apart last night too. i had to clear the house of individuals while putting it back together....i was not a happy guy. i needed a hammer and a punch to seat the mainspring housing (think thats what it called) it for sure does not click together like lego and i will not be doing that again for a long time. very tight tolerances to the point of almost damaging the gun reassembling. there is no need for that. once i change the mag safety, sear, possibly hammer and target trigger i will see if it improves. however, this will require taking it apart again. dammit.
 
I've had the same model as OP for a few years. Other than the ridiculously complicated reassembly, and the redundant safeties - Mine has been pretty darned well flawless. Probably the best value for ANY firearm I have purchased in the past 20 years, as far as reliability vs cost.
 
danastles said:
yes i made the mistake of taking it apart last night too. i had to clear the house of individuals while putting it back together....i was not a happy guy. i needed a hammer and a punch to seat the mainspring housing (think thats what it called) it for sure does not click together like lego and i will not be doing that again for a long time. very tight tolerances to the point of almost damaging the gun reassembling. there is no need for that. once i change the mag safety, sear, possibly hammer and target trigger i will see if it improves. however, this will require taking it apart again. dammit.
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Sorry to say but if you hammered the mainspring housing back, it likely is in wrong. I would say the strut is out of it's pocket. Hopefully you didn't bend it..

Should go in with finger pressure. Like 10 year old girl finger pressure.

Ruger has a super video about take-down/re-assembly on their site.
 
no i didnt bend it...but once it gets in, it will not go all the way in without force. then the trigger is held with the gun pointing up and it closes.
i have watched all of those videos and i can assure you mine does not go back together like that, not even close. i can take apart and re assemble every one of my guns and this is an abnormal assembly believe me. even if i lock the bolt back on an empty gun with the magazine in, just to let the bolt release off requires the bolt to be held back, and the release button is so stiff that i can barely let it down, never mind 10yr old girl finger pressure. maybe its just my gun.
this whole unit is stiffer then anything i own. my girlfriend can barely operate the bolt release. i will have to pound atleast 1000 rnds thru it before it loosens up i assume.
 
GLOCK_PERFECTION said:
I know it can be hard to reassemble...... But after a few times, it become a lot easier :)
Click to expand...

Yeah...my MkII was very difficult to disassemble and reassemble the first couple of times, but now it's much easier. Having to hammer the parts into place worries me however. At the most, a few taps should be all it takes. I'd do a careful check of functionality when shooting it again.

One of the reasons I like the MKII over the MKIII is that it doesn't have all the extra safety features. I know the 22/45 has the special grip and all, but I'm not a fan of the model either...
 
After I first got my ruger mk3 hunter, the bolt was very stiff on it too. Usually id just apply pressure to the bolt release and then pull back on the bolt. After about 3 or 4 range trips it smoothed out and its easy to release.

Ammo wise, I've had no problems using cci minimags, cci blazers, and winchester dynapoint GT.

I've found that dissasembly issues are mostly from the position the hammer is sitting in, seems like you have to change its position every step of reassembly
 
The magazine safety (and other silly features such as the enormous loaded chamber indicator on other Ruger guns) are not because of Ruger lawyers...they are on the guns because states like California require such features for guns to be sold. Annoying for sure, but some politicians have somehow gotten the impression that these features save lives.
 
I have two one is easy to strip and one is a complete b#+%d, I removed the mag safety and installed a sam lam bushing which make the trigger better and the mag insert is easier. Removed the lci and installed a filler piece which reduced ejection jams. Did the slingshot mod (with spring) which means you can use the bolt release button or pull back on the bolt. In essence convert your mk iii to a mk ii........lol hope this helps.
 
danastles said:
no i didnt bend it...but once it gets in, it will not go all the way in without force. then the trigger is held with the gun pointing up and it closes.
i have watched all of those videos and i can assure you mine does not go back together like that, not even close. i can take apart and re assemble every one of my guns and this is an abnormal assembly believe me. even if i lock the bolt back on an empty gun with the magazine in, just to let the bolt release off requires the bolt to be held back, and the release button is so stiff that i can barely let it down, never mind 10yr old girl finger pressure. maybe its just my gun.
this whole unit is stiffer then anything i own. my girlfriend can barely operate the bolt release. i will have to pound atleast 1000 rnds thru it before it loosens up i assume.
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If you took the time to read the manual, you would see that it is not designed to be released without pulling the bolt back.
Assembly and disassembly is also not hard to do, taking a hammer to it is not necessary at all, and you likely f**ked something up.
http://www.ruger.com/products/2245Target/extras.html
. 7.Don’t touch the trigger. Pull the bolt to the rear as far as it will go. (See Figure 4, above.) Release the bolt so that it will fly forward. (On 22/45 models, the bolt stop must also be depressed to permit the bolt to fly forward.) This will place a cartridge into the firing chamber. If the pistol is not to be fired immediately, the safety button should remain “on” — with the “S” showing
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ruger

The Ruger website has some great videos on disasembly and reasembly for the 22/24. I took mine apart no problem, took me 2 days to get it back together!
Once I'd watched the video it took just a few minutes to reassemble. You Tube also has some good videos.
 
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