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Hey all.

I am new to the MKIII, loving it so far, we have a Hunter with the VQ trigger kit and very much enjoy shooting it. The only problem I have now is an occasional light primer strike that results in a failure to fire. I think it might just be a problem with the ammo, but one thing that struck me as odd the first time I looked at the internals of the MKIII is the way the hammer can rub on the side of the safety...the little hat of the hammer strut rubs against it. Is that normal? Ours seems to do it with the OE parts as well as the VQ hammer.

Welcome to the forum!

I've seen a few Rugers where the hammer strut pivot pin rubs on the safety a tad. None of those pistols seemed to have any light strikes.

The problem might be with how you have set up the over-travel screw (The screw towards the bottom of the trigger.). If this screw is set too close to the frame it can cause the hammer to drag against the sear thus weakening the strike. When the pistol is field stripped you can check to see if this is the problem -- Just pull the trigger and move the hammer slowly forward (toward the trigger), watch the hammer and see if it drags against the sear. If it does drag against the sear back your over-travel screw out until it does not.

The strut can rub without causing light strikes. If this is a replacement VQ hammer, they had some problems with improperly staked struts. That rivet can also cause light strikes if it is sticking out too far. What I do is file them down a little then polish the head nice and smooth, that usually clears up a rivet problem.

R,
Bullseye

Thanks for the info gentlemen.

The VQ parts I used were purchased direct from VQ so hopefully the hammer I have is OK, should not be old stock, seems to look fine. I was already thinking of taking a file and polishing wheel to the head of the rivet, I'll give that a shot.

Thanks again.

Nic Volquartsen mentioned just a few weeks ago that they had some quality issues with triggers and hammer that slipped through QA. He specifically mentioned improperly (out of spec) riveted hammer struts. You may have picked up one of these hammers. But you can polish it down a little to fix it. If this is not what you want call or email Nic and he'll ship you another one.

R,
Bullseye