Mark II Trigger Work

[cadillo]

Last night I stayed up late to complete the conversion on the second of my Mark III's, but I did one thing differently, which made a huge difference.

On the first I removed the LCI and Mag Disconnect. I installed a Mark II Hammer bushing, VQ Sear and VQ Hammer. It shoots nice and inspired me to convert any and all Mark III's that I acquire.

On the second, which I reworked last night, I did the same except for the addition of the Clark oversize Hammer Bushing and Pin. The bushing would have dropped into the Mark III Hammer providing a tighter fit, but would not install on the VQ Hammer without some fitting. A few minutes with some 800 grit aluminum oxide lapping compound got it working. It's now tight and smooth, much tighter than it would have been on the stock hammer.

There is a huge difference in the quality of the trigger pull using the Clark Oversize bushing. With the resulting tighter tolerances, it is possible to adjust out almost all the pretravel and still get the sear to reset. This is very noticeable when shooting and gives the gun a much more refined feel as compared to the same conversion without the Clark parts. Even more importantly, due to the tighter tolerances, there is NO CREEP at all!

If you are going to invest in a VQ sear and hammer, get the Clark Oversize Bushing and Pin. I will be doing this to all my Mark III's and my Mark II as well.

[Bullseye]

If you want the best trigger feel the oversized pin and bushing set is the way to go. Removing any slop in the dynamic trigger components will eliminate most of the perceived creep and produce a fine trigger pull.

R,
Bullseye

[cadillo]

If you want the best trigger feel the oversized pin and bushing set is the way to go. Removing any slop in the dynamic trigger components will eliminate most of the perceived creep and produce a fine trigger pull.

R,
Bullseye

Bullseye,

It was your sage advice offered to all who log on here, as well as your detailed pictures and instructions related to this model that both inspired and facilitated my efforts to do my own smithing on these guns. I'm delighted with the results.

Many Thanks to You Sir!

[Bullseye]

As always, you're very welcome. I'm happy if something I've posted assisted in any way. I believe having good directions, supplemented by pictures helps the shooting community, as these Rugers are very good pistols for their price. Keeping new owners and new shooters happy helps get more folks interested into shooting sports.

R,
Bullseye

[Georgezilla]

Where would you recommend I obtain these Clark parts?

[cadillo]

Where would you recommend I obtain these Clark parts?

www.clarkcustomguns.com

You'll have to call and place the order by phone, but the site will show their products, prices and contact information.

[Team FAST]

Hello,

I have a couple of related questions pertaining to this discussion:

1. Can someone measure up a MKII hammer bushing and provide the dimensions? I'd like to machine one on my lathe.

2. Regarding the Clark Oversize bushing and pin assy, is the pin itself oversize and therefore has a larger diameter than the stock pin? If so, does it require you to ream the holes in the receiver out to a larger diameter to allow this pin to be installed? Or, does Clark simply reduce the I.D. of the bushing to tighten the tolerance and then use a close tolerance pin of the stock nominal diameter to accomplish their increased precision?

thanks,
erik

[Bullseye]

Welcome to Guntalk-Online.

Here is the dimensions you requested for a Mark II bushing.



You can easily make one on a lathe or you can make one of these if you have a Mark III and you want to replace the magazine disconnector safety.





It has a extra step in it to replace the bushing set up in the Mark III.

If you wish you can just replace the magazine disconnector parts with a Mark II bushing, it will fit into the Mark III hammer without any difficulty.



Hope this helps.

R,
Bullseye

[Team FAST]

Thanks Bullseye!

Any suggestions for a bushing material? Stainless for a stainless gun? Bronze?

[Bullseye]

I just use tool steel for the bushings and pins.

R,
Bullseye

[bd1]

If the Mark II bushing is used on a Mark III will the magazine disconnector safety feature be disabled.

[Bullseye]

Yes the mag disconnector feature will be defeated with a Mark II hammer bushing installed.

This picture above is actually just a plain Mark II hammer bushing in a Mark III hammer.



The edge of the bushing is wide enough to keep the spacing proper for the hammer and the disconnector.

R,
Bullseye

[Team FAST]

Bullseye,

Thanks again for the basic dimensions. I ended up machining my own "MKII style" hammer bushing, but I tightened up the tolerances to improve the fit on the stock pin and the Volquartsen MKII hammer. This is being installed in my MKIII Hunter.

I ended up machining the bushing from 304 stainless (what I had on hand at the time) but I did acquire some tool steel after the fact, so if there are any wear issues with the stainless (galling) I'll make one from tool steel.

I did alter some of the dimensions to improve the fit in my particular installation, and given the actual size of my hammer pin. My bushing ID spec was .1555 +/-.0005 and the bushing O.D (where the hammer rides) was .220 +000/-.001

Here are some pics (click on image for larger version)

Stock MKIII bushing vs. Team FAST custom bushing:


Installed with VQ hammer and Ruger stock pin:


Installed into the pistol with the rest of the VQ MK II "Accurizing Kit"


And lastly, the resulting trigger pull. Note this reading shown is an average of 5 pulls!




And, for reference, here is the trigger pull stock, with about 500 rounds fired. Reading shown is an average of 5 pulls as above. Big difference! And at the range, there is no comparison!



-erik

[Bullseye]

By tightening up the tolerances a few thousandths you essentially made an oversized bushing. That new part will reduce any creep issues caused by fitting tolerances.

Good job!

R,
Bullseye