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I loaned my Ruger Mk III Competition to a friend so that his wife could take it to a shooting class. He gave her the standard how to load, hold, safe and fire routine. When she inserted her first magazine she put it in backwards and then gave it a good whack with the palm of her hand. Any suggestions on how to get it out?

That's a hard one to take. Best wait for Bullseye to see this one so I'll just be quiet about it. I hope there's no damage. Good luck.

I actually saw you posting over at RFC and replied with this:

What has happened is the magazine safety disconnector hook has lodged into the upper trigger spur window of the Mark III magazine. You can use a tool (hooked scribe) or even a strong paper clip with a hook bent into it, to go in through the pistol's ejection port to clear it. You grab the magazine disconnector safety hook and pull upward. You may have to actually push the bottom of the mag upwards some to release the hook - which is counter-intuitive. Once you get the disconnector hook out of the magazine window the backwards magazine will easily release from the frame.

R,
Bullseye

Thank you, Bullseye.

No problem - anytime! Hopefully you have it all up and running. Now go take that new shooter back out and show her how to do it right. She probably feels terrible about what happened, and that's no way to have a first experience with shooting.

R,
Bullseye

I could not grab hold of the magazine safety lever to save my life. I finally had to bend the metal of the magazine itself away from the lever and that got it out. I broke the tab off the disconnector but had one of those in my parts bag so all is well. I have been in touch with the lady and she is relieved. Her husband is a new shooter so between them they are a project.

Thanks again, Bullseye.

Glad to hear you got it out. I thought you had already removed it with your last posting. That must have needed some force to break the tab off of the mag disconnector.

R,
Bullseye

Tom, sorry to hear about your problem. I am glad you were able to resolve it and had the part you needed.

You were doing a good thing loaning your equipment out. In order for this hobby to survive we must always be supportive of others who are interested, and that is what you were doing.

This is the reason why whenever I know someone is shooting for the first time, I make sure that they know when inserting a loading magazine into a firearm the bullet in the mag must be facing away from them and toward the muzzle. But the case being that you weren't there and they were new shooters, seems unpreventable. At least they will never forget how to insert magazines now

If I loan one of my guns out, I try to get them to the range for some training before there on there own. Doesn't always happen that way. Glad every thing is back in operation again.

Did she get to shoot that night?

FFT,

Glad you got it fixed. And I think it's great that you loaned the gun to someone who is interested in learning to shoot. We need more new shooters in our sport if we want it to live.

Y

I gently inserted an empty magazine backwards into my new Ruger MK III. It was immediately jammed. I have tried for over three hours with different hooks, etc to release the magazine disconnect from the magazine with no luck at all. I called Ruger and they would give no advice except to send it back to them and they may or may not charge me $35 or more to remove the magazine and they will charge me $30 to ship it back.
I am placing the hook between the magazine and right side of pistol. Is this the proper location? I know the hammer is supposed to be down before you can disassemble the pistol (I've owned a MK I for nearly 40 years). Is there a work around that would allow me to disassemble the pistol? Any help would be appreciated.

tdmman, Welcome to Guntalk-Online

If you can remove the main spring and bolt. If this is the metal guns you can normally drive the pins (sear & hammer) and the hammer will release. With the parts loose you should be able to get the mag out. You may still need to hook the mag release to get it to release completely. But now everything is loose/free in the lower grip frame.

Good Luck, these can be really hard depending on whether they were driven in.

Bullseye has a photo some where on this site showing where/how to hook the mag release to get it to release.

I am placing the hook between the magazine and right side of pistol. Is this the proper location? I know the hammer is supposed to be down before you can disassemble the pistol (I've owned a MK I for nearly 40 years). Is there a work around that would allow me to disassemble the pistol? Any help would be appreciated.

Yes, this is the proper side to snag the magazine disconnector hook. Also, you may have to push the magazine farther up into the magwell to release the hook. If it is too far down the magwell then the magazine window will prevent the disconnector hook from swinging out of the mag.

Another method that may work for you, if your magazine is far enough out of the bottom of your pistol, is to remove the bottom block of the magazine. You can only do this if you can see the round cut-out in the follower button track. If the cut-out is visible then you can pull the follower button out of the mag body after taking off the bottom block. Now with the bottom block and the follower removed you can see up into the magazine body and push out the disconnector hook with a long flat bladed screwdriver.

R,
Bullseye

Bullseye and David, thanks for your suggestions. My son visited today and we followed David's advice and drove out the pin holding the trigger and the pin holding the hammer, spring, magazine disconnector, etc. We were then able to take the gun apart. My son, who is very patient and methodical, got the gun back together - with some difficulty. I had thought about going up through the magazine, but did not read Bullseye suggestion until we had the gun back together. If I had read it earlier, I might have tried that approach. Thanks again ...Steve

Very glad to hear you have it back up and running again. The method you used is not as important as having it back in service. Here are some pages that may help in the future for reassembly http://www.guntalk-online.com/detailstrip.htm

R,
Bullseye