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As I have posted before, I just purchased a new MKIII Hunter. I have 6 magazines that will not lock into the gun. The bolt is very hard to pull back. A gunsmith just did some upgrades for me like the Volquartsen recommended parts. The gun shot fine after that. What's up? Could he have disconnected the mag release? At this time the grips are off of the gun because I am changing them. This is not causing the difficulty right? Sorry for the long post. Thanks for any help. Cheryl

If the magazine is difficult to lock into the frame it can be caused by inserting the mag with a closed bolt. The follower will add force to the mag as it presses against the underside of the bolt. Are the magazines any easier to insert and lock with an open bolt?

R,
Bullseye

With the bolt open and mag seated you should have about 1/16" of play (up/down). If not you may need to file a little on the latch dent on the magazine. I had 1 of the 2 factory mags that gave me problem. If the grip screws are too long they can cause problems too.

I'll ask the obvious question here ... don't be insulted, please.

You are sure you don't have mkII mags, right?
Compare the ones that do lock in with the ones that don't, someone might have mislabeled magazines, or otherwise screwed you over.

HI Guys, Thanks for the replies. No, these are all MKIII magazines. I tried the bolt open and closed with the same results. However, I do seem to have more than 1/16" space. Are there instructions about this problem? Thanks for the help everybody! Cheryl

If new mag I would think that catches would be fine. So the problem may be with the catch it self. There was a report on another forum where a user found that the follower pins in the new mags were smaller. The smaller dia follower pin was not pushing the mag catch up.

I am sending the gun back to the gunsmith who did the original upgrades. Thanks everyone for your help. Cheryl

With the grips off of the gun the hammer pivot pin may have slightly backed out of the frame making the bolt hard to cycle. This effect would also make the bolt release operation stiffer and that could cause tougher magazine seating.

R,
Bullseye

I had the smith look at my Ruger Hunter. Not sure why, but he said it needed a new magazine catch. Everything is good as new now! Ready to go to the range! Thanks everyone for your replies.

Cheryl

That makes sense, looking back at the original problem, and is something that would take a direct observation to determine rather than indirect queries. I see two possibilities for the catch: a bad plunger and spring, or a defective edge for locking in the mag bump. Either way, it is great that you pistol is back up and running properly.

R,
Bullseye