Klutz Moment-Need Advice

[greener]

Need some help/advice on removing the mainspring on a MKIII 22/45. I read about trigger adjustments and decided to try it. To make a short story long, I didn't do it correctly and am pretty sure I "fixed" it so it will not release the sear. To compound the mistake, I assembled the pistol. Now I cannot remove the mainspring. I'm pretty sure that this is because the hammer won't release. Tried the steps in the troubleshooting page without success. When I try to release the hammer by manually releasing the sear, I can't seem to get the sear to move. I tried this on another MKIII and it appears that nothing happens if the magazine disconnect is not also pushed up. Even when it is, I can't find the proper place on the sear to grab.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[greener]

I got the hammer to fall by inserting magazine, inverting the pistol, pulling the trigger and hitting the base of the grip with the heel of my hand. The next time I mess with the trigger on this pistol it will be to replace it and the sear with VQ parts. The upside of all this is I learned a bit more about how these things function. I may have found a reason to make the magazine disconnect go away.

Bullseye, your troubleshooting section is the best I've seen on any of the shooting fora I visit. When I made a less than intelligent mistake, it was a resource that let me know what I had to make happen. Thanks.

[bearandoldman]

I got the hammer to fall by inserting magazine, inverting the pistol, pulling the trigger and hitting the base of the grip with the heel of my hand. The next time I mess with the trigger on this pistol it will be to replace it and the sear with VQ parts. The upside of all this is I learned a bit more about how these things function. I may have found a reason to make the magazine disconnect go away.

Bullseye, your troubleshooting section is the best I've seen on any of the shooting fora I visit. When I made a less than intelligent mistake, it was a resource that let me know what I had to make happen. Thanks.

Rob, do like I do and check out the trigger adjustments before you put the top end on and before you put the mainspring housing in. I work the hammer by hand and checkout the pre and over travel before finishing the Assembly and have not had a problem yet, You can see all the parts working when you do this of course my 22/45's are MarkII's but I believe you could do it with the top off and the mag in the same way. Still have not heard any word on my great buy at Gander Mountain, supposedly they had about 60 rain checks out so it may be a while..

[greener]

Len, I thought I had the thing working properly. (Actually, I didn't "thought" enough this time.) Obviously, this was a "Ready, fire, AIM" situation on my part. Glad I had another MKIII to look at and Bullseye's trouble shooting guide. Once I created the mess, I was pretty sure that someone would have a solution for us mechanically challenged types. Turns out that the solution involved reading the trouble shooting guide, fiddling with the other pistol, just putting it down for a while and a lot of luck.

Sent an email to my son-in-law who works at the GM in Kazoo to see if he knew anything about the rain checks.

[Bullseye]

Thanks for the kind words. I tried to make the troubleshooting guide as informative as possible. It is still a work "in progress." There's no way to anticipate all the things that can go wrong and describe a solution for them.

In your case, the next step would have been to drift out the sear pin to release the hammer. That is a last resort release technique, especially with a Mark III 22/45 frame, because of a possibility of damaging the plastic frame with the sear pin under tension from the mainspring.

I'm glad to hear it all went well in the end.

R,
Bullseye

[greener]

I thought about drifting the sear pin out but was afraid of damaging the frame. If all else had failed, I may have just found a gunsmith or called Ruger and listed the cost under the "embarassment" category. Wouldn't have been the first time.

[bearandoldman]

Thanks for the kind words. I tried to make the troubleshooting guide as informative as possible. It is still a work "in progress." There's no way to anticipate all the things that can go wrong and describe a solution for them.

In your case, the next step would have been to drift out the sear pin to release the hammer. That is a last resort release technique, especially with a Mark III 22/45 frame, because of a possibility of damaging the plastic frame with the sear pin under tension from the mainspring.

R,
Bullseye

If I had to drift out the sear pin under that condition, I think I would go from left to right so as not to stress the thin left side of the frame, as far as the spring that holds the pin , it should no be damaged if done that way either. Driving from right to left would put all the strain against the sear and not on the frame. Does that make sense to you? now no chocking with the Penguins for advice either.

[Bullseye]

Yes, removing the pin from that direction should reduce the possibility of frame damage, especially on the thin side. One may still have to reshape the sear pin legs but that is relatively easy task to perform.

R,
Bullseye

[bearandoldman]

Len, I thought I had the thing working properly. (Actually, I didn't "thought" enough this time.) Obviously, this was a "Ready, fire, AIM" situation on my part. Glad I had another MKIII to look at and Bullseye's trouble shooting guide. Once I created the mess, I was pretty sure that someone would have a solution for us mechanically challenged types. Turns out that the solution involved reading the trouble shooting guide, fiddling with the other pistol, just putting it down for a while and a lot of luck.

Sent an email to my son-in-law who works at the GM in Kazoo to see if he knew anything about the rain checks.

Having another one handy to look at it is good, having some luck is better yet. Actuall having some luck is PRICELESS
Got to call the manager of the gun department and see what he says, deal with him a lot when butyng shotshelllsfor my club.