I am new to this site. Thanks to the creator(s) who have done a great job!
I am concerned about a safety issue.
I am a new owner of a Mark III Hunter and had a great time this weekend putting it through its first paces. It worked amazingly well (though it does not seem to love some Remington ammo). I'll be shooting this pistol for a long time.
I took it home and field stripped it for the first time for cleaning. Re-assembly was challenging, but it appeared I got it right. Really have to follow those instructions to the letter! Just to be sure I broke it down and reassembled it twice more. I think I go it right.
I thought I'd run 3 .22 snap caps through it to make sure I got it right. After loading the magazine, then the gun, then chambering a round, I pulled the trigger, the firing pin struck, but the cap was not ejected. I have only had the gun for a week and only ran some snap caps though it once, but I thought they ejected. Did I miss something in the last few steps of re-assembly? Or is it the blowback that can only come from a live round that causes the ejection of the shell?
Is the Extractor (Key No. 25/Part No. KA02200) supposed to stick straight out the end of the Bolt (Key No. 17/Part No. KA0211) or is it supposed to angle in towards the bore? Mine is angling in. Could this cause my problem?
I don't want to take it out and fire it until I know all's OK.
Thanks-
Carl
Safety Concern for Ruger Mark III
Moderators: Bullseye, Moderators
Welcome to the Website!
Congratulations on your new Mark III Hunter. You should get many, many years of enjoyment out of it.
Snap caps are not a good indication of how your pistol will function under normal operation. The pistol uses a blowback system for ejection and to simulate this you'd have to pull the bolt back fairly hard. Snap caps also tend to get warped rims from dry firing with a rimfire firing pin and can be harder to extract than normal cartridge cases. (The extractor has to grab onto the warped rim to pull the cap from the chamber) This doesn't mean there's anything wrong with your new gun, the caps may just be sticking in the chamber.
Your extractor is spring loaded to point toward the chamber. This way it will hold the expended case securely all the way back to the ejector tab. This is normal for the extractor.
Hopefully you've given your new gun a thorough cleaning. The pistol is covered with a thick oily substance which is designed to protect the metal from corrosion in storage. This preservative tends to gum up quite easily and will cause the pistol to jam, especially true in cold weather. Give it a good cleaning with a rag soaked in Hoppes and then lighty apply some gun oil, again just add some oil to a rag and wipe it on.
Enjoy your new pistol. Hope this helps.
R,
Bullseye
Congratulations on your new Mark III Hunter. You should get many, many years of enjoyment out of it.
Snap caps are not a good indication of how your pistol will function under normal operation. The pistol uses a blowback system for ejection and to simulate this you'd have to pull the bolt back fairly hard. Snap caps also tend to get warped rims from dry firing with a rimfire firing pin and can be harder to extract than normal cartridge cases. (The extractor has to grab onto the warped rim to pull the cap from the chamber) This doesn't mean there's anything wrong with your new gun, the caps may just be sticking in the chamber.
Your extractor is spring loaded to point toward the chamber. This way it will hold the expended case securely all the way back to the ejector tab. This is normal for the extractor.
Hopefully you've given your new gun a thorough cleaning. The pistol is covered with a thick oily substance which is designed to protect the metal from corrosion in storage. This preservative tends to gum up quite easily and will cause the pistol to jam, especially true in cold weather. Give it a good cleaning with a rag soaked in Hoppes and then lighty apply some gun oil, again just add some oil to a rag and wipe it on.
Enjoy your new pistol. Hope this helps.
R,
Bullseye
Thanks, Bullseye. Much like your great website, your answer is informative, helpful and gives me even more than I am looking for.
I cleaned it lightly before first firing. During my first trip out with it I swabbed it out after every 40 rounds to "season" the new metal. Then I did the full field strip, cleaning and re-assembly after that trip to the range which led to my question that you answered.
I noticed that the new gun seemed to be covered with something stickier and thicker than oil when I received it. The "action" in the magazines seems a bit sticky, too. I think this may be due to this substance. Would you recommend spraying a degreaser on/in the magazines, then lightly coat them with oil to make sure they are not being fouled by this substance?
And since you were so helpful and I seem to be in the question asking mood (I hope that's OK), why do the magazines just slip right in sometimes and then, at other times, get stuck so that I have to pull them part way out and reinsert them. They appear to be going in at the same angle, yet sometimes get hung up and sometimes don't. Have you run in to this?
Thanks, again, Bullseye.
I cleaned it lightly before first firing. During my first trip out with it I swabbed it out after every 40 rounds to "season" the new metal. Then I did the full field strip, cleaning and re-assembly after that trip to the range which led to my question that you answered.
I noticed that the new gun seemed to be covered with something stickier and thicker than oil when I received it. The "action" in the magazines seems a bit sticky, too. I think this may be due to this substance. Would you recommend spraying a degreaser on/in the magazines, then lightly coat them with oil to make sure they are not being fouled by this substance?
And since you were so helpful and I seem to be in the question asking mood (I hope that's OK), why do the magazines just slip right in sometimes and then, at other times, get stuck so that I have to pull them part way out and reinsert them. They appear to be going in at the same angle, yet sometimes get hung up and sometimes don't. Have you run in to this?
Thanks, again, Bullseye.
Carl,
It is a very good idea to also clean the preservative oil from the magazines. As you have keenly noticed, it is much thicker than lightweight oil and will attract unburnt powder residue and grit. Use the same technique I mentioned earlier; apply a liberal amount of Hoppes to a rag and wipe off the parts carefully, then apply a very small amount of oil to another clean spot on the rag and wipe everything down again.
Your pistol is a Mark III, which has a magazine safety disconnector lever. It is this lever that is causing the magazines to intermittently stick. It presses on the back of the magazine body and rotates upwards to release the sear when a magazine is inserted into the pistol grip. When new, this lever will allow magazines to drop free, most of the time, but this will soon stop as the magazines get worn where the lever contacts the metal body. If you do not desire a magazine safety or wish to have your magazine drop free all of the time, then the remedy is to get a Mark II hammer and hammer bushing and replace the Mark III parts with them. I have done this with my personal Mark III and it makes a big difference in magazine installation/removal and eases pistol disassembly.
The Mark III pistol (including the Hunter models) are just a modified version of the Mark II pistol and can use virtually all the same aftermarket parts available for it. Grips are the only exception I've found, but a small cut on the underside of the grip and they can be modified to work with the Mark III also.
This website exists mainly to answer questions. I started it so people could ask me directly things just like you have. It is also my hope that people would come and exchange ideas with each other but that hasn't happened fully quite yet.
Thank you for your gracious comments, and welcome again. Feel free to ask all the questions that come to mind, if I can't answer it then perhaps one of the other members will.
R,
Bullseye
It is a very good idea to also clean the preservative oil from the magazines. As you have keenly noticed, it is much thicker than lightweight oil and will attract unburnt powder residue and grit. Use the same technique I mentioned earlier; apply a liberal amount of Hoppes to a rag and wipe off the parts carefully, then apply a very small amount of oil to another clean spot on the rag and wipe everything down again.
Your pistol is a Mark III, which has a magazine safety disconnector lever. It is this lever that is causing the magazines to intermittently stick. It presses on the back of the magazine body and rotates upwards to release the sear when a magazine is inserted into the pistol grip. When new, this lever will allow magazines to drop free, most of the time, but this will soon stop as the magazines get worn where the lever contacts the metal body. If you do not desire a magazine safety or wish to have your magazine drop free all of the time, then the remedy is to get a Mark II hammer and hammer bushing and replace the Mark III parts with them. I have done this with my personal Mark III and it makes a big difference in magazine installation/removal and eases pistol disassembly.
The Mark III pistol (including the Hunter models) are just a modified version of the Mark II pistol and can use virtually all the same aftermarket parts available for it. Grips are the only exception I've found, but a small cut on the underside of the grip and they can be modified to work with the Mark III also.
This website exists mainly to answer questions. I started it so people could ask me directly things just like you have. It is also my hope that people would come and exchange ideas with each other but that hasn't happened fully quite yet.
Thank you for your gracious comments, and welcome again. Feel free to ask all the questions that come to mind, if I can't answer it then perhaps one of the other members will.
R,
Bullseye