Mark II locked up

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27 Beck
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Mark II locked up

Post by 27 Beck » Mon Nov 08, 2010 1:35 pm

I was at the range yesterday shooting my Ruger MKII. I had had it apart earlier in the week for a deep cleaning, so I thought I would be GTG for a range session.

Was doing fine till about round 160. Hammer went click, but gun did not go bang. Went to pull the bolt back, but it would not budge. Trigger free with no engagement to sear.

Mods while gun was apart for cleaning were: new Mark III complete bolt, VQ sear, Clark bushing and pin. Put new Hogue rubber grips and Hogue screws on to give it a new exterior look. This gun has had a total of 5 to 600 rounds thru it since new.

Today after reading some threads on here, I thought it might have had a trigger or sear pin that walked. Took grips off (checked first for any loose grip screws) Both pins in correct location. Removed both pins, and then the MSH. MSH came out without any excessive resistance. Removed bolt, separated lower from receiver/barrel assembly. Checked all parts with an untrained eye, :shock: and did not see anything that looked like it was bent or rubbing. The unfired cartridge was a CCI Mini-mag that had a correct firing pin strike.

Will reclean and put all parts back together.

Any ideas what made the gun lock up?

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blue68f100
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Post by blue68f100 » Mon Nov 08, 2010 2:24 pm

Maybe the strut on the hammer was not in the main spring (hammer) correctly. Normally it's the pin that backs out like your research found.
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Post by Bullseye » Mon Nov 08, 2010 4:19 pm

If the bolt only came back about 1/2" then I'd say the strut slipped off of the mainspring cap. Other than that could be the hammer is following the bolt when it closes.

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Post by 27 Beck » Mon Nov 08, 2010 4:43 pm

Bullseye wrote:If the bolt only came back about 1/2" then I'd say the strut slipped off of the mainspring cap. Other than that could be the hammer is following the bolt when it closes.

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Bolt would not move any at all. Frozen solid.

Why would hammer follow bolt when it closed? Would using a MK III bolt in this gun cause this to occur?

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Post by Bullseye » Tue Nov 09, 2010 6:27 am

If the hammer followed it would likely be to timing, as the sear did not catch the hammer hooks allowing the hammer to close with the bolt.

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Post by 27 Beck » Tue Nov 09, 2010 8:46 am

Bullseye wrote:If the hammer followed it would likely be to timing, as the sear did not catch the hammer hooks allowing the hammer to close with the bolt.

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So could an out of spec VQ sear cause this issue? I have read VQ has some out of spec sears floating around. Just wondering if this issue is a one time fluke, or something I can expect to happen again using the VQ part?

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Post by blue68f100 » Tue Nov 09, 2010 9:18 am

I dought that an out of spec sear would cause it. Normally these cause operation problems, sear want release, safety will not engage. The only other thing I have come up with is maybe the disconnector some how ended up in a position that kept the bolt from moving. But since your round had a hammer strike it answered that possibility.
David

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greener

Post by greener » Tue Nov 09, 2010 5:41 pm

27 Beck wrote:
Bullseye wrote:If the hammer followed it would likely be to timing, as the sear did not catch the hammer hooks allowing the hammer to close with the bolt.

R,
Bullseye
So could an out of spec VQ sear cause this issue? I have read VQ has some out of spec sears floating around. Just wondering if this issue is a one time fluke, or something I can expect to happen again using the VQ part?
Did your try to open the mainspring before you started disassembly?

If it didn't open, I'd bet on the hammer strut Or something caught in the MKIII bolt

If the hammer follows the bolt in (sear doesn't engage) and everything is in the right place, then the pistol is in the normal fired position. you should be able to retract the bolt and cock the pistol, or open the mainspring and disassemble the pistol. If the hammer is forward and the bolt doesn't move and the mainspring doesn't move then the hammer strut is out of place, most likely. I'd get it functioning and shoot some more to see if it repeats.

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Post by 27 Beck » Tue Nov 09, 2010 6:43 pm

greener wrote:
27 Beck wrote:
Bullseye wrote:If the hammer followed it would likely be to timing, as the sear did not catch the hammer hooks allowing the hammer to close with the bolt.

R,
Bullseye
So could an out of spec VQ sear cause this issue? I have read VQ has some out of spec sears floating around. Just wondering if this issue is a one time fluke, or something I can expect to happen again using the VQ part?
Did your try to open the mainspring before you started disassembly?

If it didn't open, I'd bet on the hammer strut Or something caught in the MKIII bolt

If the hammer follows the bolt in (sear doesn't engage) and everything is in the right place, then the pistol is in the normal fired position. you should be able to retract the bolt and cock the pistol, or open the mainspring and disassemble the pistol. If the hammer is forward and the bolt doesn't move and the mainspring doesn't move then the hammer strut is out of place, most likely. I'd get it functioning and shoot some more to see if it repeats.
No, I just removed the grips to see if a pin had shifted. Then proceeded to push the pins out so the gun would unfreeze. When I did take the mainspring out, it opened and removed normally.

I will reassemble and shoot it again to see if the problem reoccurs.

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Post by Bullseye » Tue Nov 09, 2010 9:28 pm

For clarification; did the bolt lock-up, or was it just hard to open because the hammer was uncocked? Did you ever determine what part(s) caused the lock-up?

As I look back and reflect on this thread, I'm not sure there is enough information here to positively determine a cause yet.

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Post by 27 Beck » Wed Nov 10, 2010 9:13 am

Gun went click, cartridge did not go off. Attempted to clear the cartridge by pulling back on bolt. Bolt would not budge, not even 1/8 of an inch. Upon disassembly found the cartridge was hit by the firing pin, just did not fire.

Gun disassembled by removing the hammer and sear pins. I did not try to remove the mainspring until I had removed the pins.

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Post by Bullseye » Wed Nov 10, 2010 11:07 pm

It sounds like the hammer strut could have jumped off of the mainspring cap and got lodged on top of the mainspring housing, this condition would jam the bolt like that. This may have been an unusual occurrence or that hammer strut is a tad too short. If it happens again, that is were I'd look by first disassembling the pistol with the mainspring housing rather than pulling the pins.

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Post by 27 Beck » Wed Nov 10, 2010 11:45 pm

Took gun to range today and ran ~250 rounds of CCI MiniMags, CCI SV, and Blazer ammo. Absolutely ran like a well tuned sewing machine. Hope it was a one time happening.

If it reoccurs, I will take apart by removing the mainspring.

greener

Post by greener » Thu Nov 11, 2010 9:35 am

Great! Sounds like a one-time event.


Of course, us folks who like to worry about things would sit around waiting for the next random one-time event to occur. :lol:

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