Why so difficult Ruger MKIII

Dixiedog1

Dixiedog1

New member
Why did they have to make disassembly so dang tough on the Ruger MKIII so difficult. My old MKII 22/45 came apart so easily, I pulled the MKIII Target apart today to clean it up and man o' man what a pain. I understand how to disassemble it and have no issues with that but all the fits are so tight it's crazy. You have to really heft on the pin to yank it out...the square lug to barrel fit is so tight it will take a mallet to pop that off. It boggles my mind how each generation of these Ruger .22's is slightly more inconvenient than the last. I bet if they had given .001 more clearance it would be an easy task.



Anybody else suffering the same way their MKIII? I'm debating sending the thing back to Ruger to see if they can do something with it before I did the frame or barrel up.
 
There is an aftermarket kit for that which ends the cussing!
They have had that problem from the very 1st Mark semi auto and has not changed since.
 
The MKI and MKII pistols I've owned weren't nearly this bad. The square lug fit is so tight you really need to whack the thing to pop it apart. I've never seen a Ruger come apart as hard as this MKIII Target
 
I gotta say that the new grip is awesome though

10159.jpg



It feels perfect in the hand
 
We have two mkII Rugers. My boys 80's vintage I have to smack it with a rubber mallet every time. And its not like it doesn't get used we shoot in a club match using around 200 rounds apiece and clean every other shoot. But it functions perfect when together.

sparky
 
I always heard that they are hard to break down and put back. I know a smith that stayed busy putting them back together for folks. For that reason I bought a buck mark a few years ago. While not hard to disassemble it's still takes tools. I've thought about getting a ultra sonic cleaner and just dunking it in for a spell. Maybe not a bad idea for you to consider Dix!
 
I personally wouldn't use an ultrasonic for cleaning an assembled semi auto pistol. The ultrasonic will remove all the oil from it and it would also be nearly impossible to completely dry the pistol with it assembled. I have an ultrasonic I use for reloading already but I'll fight with the Ruger disassembly instead of using that.

I used to have a Buckmark but I never cared for it, the disassembly on the one I had was odd also...you had to remove screws including the rear sight screw if you were going to clean it from the chamber. Originally I got rid of a Ruger MKII to purchase the Buckmark because I had heard so many good things about them. I sold the Buckmark last fall after years of it sitting in the safe

It was a unique looking pistol....had the URX Splash I think it was called




On a side note I got the new Ruger out to the range yesterday and I must just be lucky..the bottom left panel grip screw fell out first shot...the threads in the frame look torn up and that hole doesn't line up with the hole in the grip panel. Not too impressed with that so far.
 
For Stainless Mark I/II/III pistols, A few spins of the mainspring assemblies upper pin that penetrates and locks together the grip frame and upper receiver in a bit of emery cloth and it'll go together and come apart much easier.

For blued pistols, then a tight fitting dowel, rubbed with rouge, spun in the assembled upper and lower together will alleviate that excessive friction as well.

Also, usually a quick rap with a rubber or plastic mallet forward then aft will help release some of the pressure on the engagement lugs and the assembly pin.

I have a couple dozen Standard, Mark I, Mark II, and Mark III pistols and I can vouch that the tight fit is nothing unique to the new production examples.

Slick pistol though. I'm tempted to grab a set of those grips for one of my own Mark's, I just haven't decided which yet!
 
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