22 Handgun
03-18-2016, 08:54 AM
#21
Spike
Join Date: Mar 2016
Location: Aiken, South Carolina
Posts: 55
I have had a number of 22 autos and some have found new homes but the ones I kept are the Ruger MKIIs and a MKIII.
When I worked for the Army Small Cal Lab one of the guys in our office said this commercial range rented Rugers MKIIs to shoot and he said they looked well worn. I asked to find out if the range kept round records on their stock and he did.
The only thing they could come up with was the total number of 22 LR rounds they had purchased and divide that by six MKIIs and it was 315,000 average per gun. Obviously some could have had less and some could have had lots more.
The Chief of Police in a close by town is a good friend and I got my MK III and scoped it and had it zeroed at 50 yards POA/POI and I called him and told him to ease out to my place. He did and I let him shoot it and after a box of ammo went down range he said, "I have got to have one of these!" He went to local gun supply place and ordered one and I put the scope on for him.
He has about 20 pecan trees in his back yard and he has done in about 200 squirrels that came to remove his pecans over the years. He takes them out at 50 to about 80 yards shooting out of his bedroom which is on second floor.
I can confirm Nomercy448's statements about them.
I got certified by the State Law Enforcement Div to teach CWP classes. Most of my students have never shot a handgun and I teach them the basics and I tell them to bring 500 rounds of 22, ears, glasses and thats all. I supply range, targets etc and teach them the basics before I let them try and qualify and I allow them to use my MKIIs and I also have two S&W 22 K frame revolvers. My lowest qualifiers have fired 98s, most shoot 100. I do not let them shoot "the course" till I know they know sight alignment, trigger control and can hit a 1" dot at 7 yards seven out of ten shots.
When I worked for the Army Small Cal Lab one of the guys in our office said this commercial range rented Rugers MKIIs to shoot and he said they looked well worn. I asked to find out if the range kept round records on their stock and he did.
The only thing they could come up with was the total number of 22 LR rounds they had purchased and divide that by six MKIIs and it was 315,000 average per gun. Obviously some could have had less and some could have had lots more.
The Chief of Police in a close by town is a good friend and I got my MK III and scoped it and had it zeroed at 50 yards POA/POI and I called him and told him to ease out to my place. He did and I let him shoot it and after a box of ammo went down range he said, "I have got to have one of these!" He went to local gun supply place and ordered one and I put the scope on for him.
He has about 20 pecan trees in his back yard and he has done in about 200 squirrels that came to remove his pecans over the years. He takes them out at 50 to about 80 yards shooting out of his bedroom which is on second floor.
I can confirm Nomercy448's statements about them.
I got certified by the State Law Enforcement Div to teach CWP classes. Most of my students have never shot a handgun and I teach them the basics and I tell them to bring 500 rounds of 22, ears, glasses and thats all. I supply range, targets etc and teach them the basics before I let them try and qualify and I allow them to use my MKIIs and I also have two S&W 22 K frame revolvers. My lowest qualifiers have fired 98s, most shoot 100. I do not let them shoot "the course" till I know they know sight alignment, trigger control and can hit a 1" dot at 7 yards seven out of ten shots.
03-20-2016, 12:50 AM
#22
Typical Buck
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 538
Well, I have about 1200 rounds through this lil 22/45. Only issue I had was the silly magazine disconnect. First shot wouldn't go if I didn't hammer the magazine home. Replaced the disconnect with a tandemkross bushing, what a freaking mess that was. Took about 10 minutes to disassemble and insert new bushing. Took about 2 days to get that miserable thing back together.
03-20-2016, 04:32 PM
#23
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Kansas
Posts: 3,902
Which part(s) of take-down and reassembly gave you fits? Most Ruger Mark I/II/III's and 22/45's have a dreadfully tight bolt stop pin, but once you get it driven out, a few minutes with emory cloth will help make take-down much easier. Getting everything back in place is kinda annoying, since it's such tight quarters in there for man-sized fingers, and there are a few tricks to get things taken apart, but just doing a hammer bushing shouldn't take too much out of a guys afternoon.
Assuming my batch of parts come in this week, and assuming I can get some shop time over the holiday weekend, I'll be doing an action job on another Mark III next weekend. Hopefully remember to take some pictures along the way and post up a thread in the Gunsmithing Projects Sub-forum.
Assuming my batch of parts come in this week, and assuming I can get some shop time over the holiday weekend, I'll be doing an action job on another Mark III next weekend. Hopefully remember to take some pictures along the way and post up a thread in the Gunsmithing Projects Sub-forum.
03-21-2016, 03:32 AM
#24
Typical Buck
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2007
Posts: 538
Which part(s) of take-down and reassembly gave you fits? Most Ruger Mark I/II/III's and 22/45's have a dreadfully tight bolt stop pin, but once you get it driven out, a few minutes with emory cloth will help make take-down much easier. Getting everything back in place is kinda annoying, since it's such tight quarters in there for man-sized fingers, and there are a few tricks to get things taken apart, but just doing a hammer bushing shouldn't take too much out of a guys afternoon.
Assuming my batch of parts come in this week, and assuming I can get some shop time over the holiday weekend, I'll be doing an action job on another Mark III next weekend. Hopefully remember to take some pictures along the way and post up a thread in the Gunsmithing Projects Sub-forum.
Assuming my batch of parts come in this week, and assuming I can get some shop time over the holiday weekend, I'll be doing an action job on another Mark III next weekend. Hopefully remember to take some pictures along the way and post up a thread in the Gunsmithing Projects Sub-forum.
1) Bolt stop pin was rediculously tight, wasn't expecting that. Took nearly everything I had to get it back together. After a couple dozen tries (actually several dozen), it loosened somewhat.
2) Sear fell back under hammer when replacing bushing, didn't catch this one until I tried to reassemble about the 5th time
3) Got it all put back together (got lucky), putting grips on and I noticed the sear pin had slipped and was sticking out of frame on 1 side and not the other. Had to tear down again.
4) To slide bolt in, you have to lower hammer. To get main spring in, you have to pull trigger and release hammer. Where I had most issues was the hammer strut would get caught between sear pin and main spring. I realized that by tilting barrel of gun back just prior to closing main spring, strut would rotate into cup of main spring before closing.
What a crazy freaking design this thing is. Now that I understand it, field stripping won't be much of an issue. Funnest darned gun I've bought in many moons.
03-21-2016, 05:20 AM
#26
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Kansas
Posts: 3,902
Yeah - Wayspr, the Mark I/II/III design really wasn't meant to be serviced beyond an oil change by the owner. Compared to other pistols of its day, it's not really that complicated, but it's certainly not intuitive, certainly not short on parts count, and it's certainly VERY easy to slip up for a first-timer who doesn't know exactly how to hold their tongue when disassembling and reassembling.
The Mag disconnect was nothing but negatively received. That and a few other "safety features" came at a time where Ruger was kowtowing to the anti-gun lobby. A few models have since been offered with these features removed (LC9s Pro, for example), but largely, Ruger views the mag disconnect as a necessary safety feature.
Luckily, there are plenty of Mark II hammer bushings out there to be had to eliminate the Mag disconnect in the Mark III: Clark Custom Guns, Tandemkross, Volquartsen, etc. I've bought enough bushings for what I have, and a bunch of extras to have on hand in case they dry up in the future. Pretty easy part to have machined, but custom bushings cost a lot more than $10.
Even though I'm only teaching once or twice a year these days, I'm a handgun instructor at heart, so I can appreciate how many times I've seen ND's from "empty" pistols with no magazine at the range. For pure greenhorns, it's a nice safety feature to prevent this from happening. BUT, on the other hand, for pure green horns, it's really easy to forget to put the mag back in or take the mag back out at the right times during disassembly and reassembly. The latter causes much more frustration than the former. For us experienced cats, it's frustrating to not be able to dry fire the weapon and cycle on a no-mag condition.
But I do agree with Wayspr - the Mark I/II/III's and 22/45's bring an undeniable level of shooting enjoyment which is a rare simple pleasure today.
If only it was as easy to find bulk 22LR to keep them fed as it used to be!
The Mag disconnect was nothing but negatively received. That and a few other "safety features" came at a time where Ruger was kowtowing to the anti-gun lobby. A few models have since been offered with these features removed (LC9s Pro, for example), but largely, Ruger views the mag disconnect as a necessary safety feature.
Luckily, there are plenty of Mark II hammer bushings out there to be had to eliminate the Mag disconnect in the Mark III: Clark Custom Guns, Tandemkross, Volquartsen, etc. I've bought enough bushings for what I have, and a bunch of extras to have on hand in case they dry up in the future. Pretty easy part to have machined, but custom bushings cost a lot more than $10.
Even though I'm only teaching once or twice a year these days, I'm a handgun instructor at heart, so I can appreciate how many times I've seen ND's from "empty" pistols with no magazine at the range. For pure greenhorns, it's a nice safety feature to prevent this from happening. BUT, on the other hand, for pure green horns, it's really easy to forget to put the mag back in or take the mag back out at the right times during disassembly and reassembly. The latter causes much more frustration than the former. For us experienced cats, it's frustrating to not be able to dry fire the weapon and cycle on a no-mag condition.
But I do agree with Wayspr - the Mark I/II/III's and 22/45's bring an undeniable level of shooting enjoyment which is a rare simple pleasure today.
If only it was as easy to find bulk 22LR to keep them fed as it used to be!
