New member with a short report

[manic mechanic]

Hello just recently found this great site and been lurking and learning. I was the first person to purchase a pistol at our new Sportsmans Warehouse in town 11-1-07 and made it the Ruger MKIII 22/45. Mostly got it for the kids to learn on, but I'll use it for a less expensive way to get more trigger time. Wednesday my brother and I hit the range for a quick hour of break-in time. First 20 shots were perfect, no failures of any kind, then 3 out of every 10 rounds failed to fire. Feed and ejection were good, so I figured it was just the ammo. Shot a total of approx. 200 rounds, mostly Federal value pack, some 30 year old Remingtons, and 25 or so 30+ year old Wild cats. Wasn't going so much for accuracy, just trying to get her broke in. I'll have to get my buddy the bullseye shooter to check out the sights for adjustment. I'm not a terrible shot, but he's got 30+ years more than I do behind a trigger.
This morning I was going to order the updated hammer pivot pin, went and got the pistol out to check the test fire date, which was 4-07, found they were not opened yet for calls. Looked a little closer at the pivot pin and noticed it had sunk into the frame, I'm thinking that was probably causing the failure to fire, maybe causing light firing pin hits. So I called S/W and they said to bring it down and they'd ship it back and get it warranteed and contact me when the receive it back. Hopefully it will be a quick fix. I wonder if they'll just install the updated pin and call it good, or replace the frame?
It really was fun shooting it, got a little frustrating with all the failures to ignite, but over all I was beginning to like the new pistol.
Here's a pic of what the pin damage to the frame looked like without pulling it all apart, I also sent a copy along with the gun.

[toyfj40]

he's got 30+ years more than I do behind a trigger.

Welll... I HOPE ALL my experience is BEHIND the trigger!

MM: welcome to the forum.
now that's a bummer! but just another lesson as to why at some-time,
we need to have more than just ONE-Ruger MK !!
I think it was mighty-nice of S/W to take the initiative to handle
the return for you.
I'd expect Ruger will 'do it right', they usually do...

I hate to 'kick this dead horse', but the "Rem-RimFire-ammo"
has a reputation as dirtier-than-normal, especially the Thunder-Bolts,
the Golden & Targets seem to be better...
but I stay with: Federal, Aguila & CCI.
The "Rem" do seem to be more of a dirty-firing-problem in
Semi-Auto-actions... less when the brass stays in the chamber
until after the "loud noise", waiting for a manual eject.

I presume you gave the new Pistola an initial Field-Strip
to check for "crud" and leave a little GunOil on the metal-to-metal
surfaces...

best of luck on the "repair", let us know how it progresses.
--toy

[Georgezilla]

Welcome to the forum! Sorry to hear you already had to send your pistol to the factory, but I'm glad your dealer is on top of it. My Mk3 hunter was purchased from a Sportsmans Warehouse as well, every time I've been there they have been very helpful

I would guess that the pivot pin sinking into the frame is the culprit. It's a bit hard to tell from the picture but the wear on your hammer looks uneven. This could mean the pin sinking into the frame changed the axis of the hammer, thus making the hammer strike at an angle instead of flush, which would cause light strikes.

Ruger will probably replace the frame, and of course give you a new style pivot pin. I don't think it will be too much longer than a week or so. My Hunter may have to take a trip back to it's birth place soon, so I feel your pain. I think I'm getting some disconnector wear that I shouldn't be getting. When I get a new battery for my camera I'll have to post some pictures of it and get some professional opinions.

[Bullseye]

Welcome to the forum!

It is too bad that you have trouble with your new pistol. Typically a damaged frame looks like this one.



When it walks, the hammer pivot pin will tear out the inside edge of the frame. I cannot tell from your picture if the frame is damaged or if that is just powder residue left over from firing. The good news is that a new style hammer pin will make a tear out irrelevant. Ruger may replace the frame or simply swap in a new pivot pin. Either way you should be back in business in no time.

R,
Bullseye

[manic mechanic]

Thanks for the welcome guys. All of the gray material by the yellow arrows is broken out frame material. I'm beginning to hope more for a frame replace than just the pin update.
As for S/W being on the ball, I don't think they could have handled it any better. I'll keep everyone posted on the outcome.
toyfj40, I'm with you on being behind the trigger rather than in front !!

[Glenn]

Welcome aboard! Hope things get squared away for you. Ruger has excellent customer service, so here's hoping for a good outcome.

[Bullseye]

That second picture is much more clear, I can see the broken plastic in that one. They'll likely replace the frame, but if for some reason they don't, the new pin will fix the problem too.

R,
Bullseye

[manic mechanic]

Well, after a little over a month being gone back to the Arizona retreat, the 22/45 is back home and raring to go. I can't wait to take the kids out, and hopefully my wife will join in on the fun, down to the range and fire some more break-in rounds thru her. According to the paperwork, they ended up replacing the grip frame and the hammer pivot pin. She came back all wet and shiny.
Do you think I should do another degrease and relube prior to the range visit?
Thanks again and I'll get some pics of the squids firing away, and hopefully one of the wife!!

[Bullseye]

Generally the factory doesn't put preservative on a repair return. They only place it on the newly manufactured pistols because they cannot control the environment and the length of storage before the pistol is placed in service. Some could sit on a dealer's stock shelves for a considerable time before being sold. There are still new, unfired, Mark II's out in storage waiting to be sold.

I'd give it a good going through and a light oiling. Then go out and shoot the heck out of it.

Did they put in the new style hammer pivot pin?

R,
Bullseye

[manic mechanic]

Yes, it is the newer style shouldered pin. I told the salesman at S/W to tell anyone that buys one that has the old style to just go ahead and call Ruger for the updated pin and from what I had seen here it wasn't a very difficult thing to change out.

[Bullseye]

No, the whole procedure only takes a few minutes to complete. The majority of the time is field stripping and reassembling the pistol, actual pin replacement is only about a minute.

R,
Bullseye

[Fast Frank]

This is the first I have heard of this problem.

Thanks for the heads-up!

I have a Mk3 2245 target, and it's been a great little pistol. (You already knew that, right?)

I just looked at my frame.

It has no damage. That pin seems to be located by a spring and a slot in the pin, and it's doing fine.

I see no shoulder. Is this an old style pin that just chose to work correctly?

I've had this pistol about a year and have put box after box of federal bulk through it.

I couldn't even guess how many... Several thousand?

I'm going to call Ruger tomorrow.

[neophyte]

Bullseye: Following along with "manic mechanic" repairs got me to wondering about my MK11 target model. Nothing wrong that I readily can see. Preventive maintenance?

I have had the unit since 1994, I like it. I want to keep it going strong for approx. 20+ more shooting years

Thanks

[greener]

neophyte, since your question was addressed to Bullseye, I've posted a sticky note on my monitor to see how close I come to the answer.

Clt. NC? West of Warsaw?

[Bullseye]

Neophyte,

Your frame doesn't need a new style pin. The difference is in the 22/45 Mark II and 22/45 Mark III frame dimensions.



For some reason the designers decided to thin the frame width on the Mark III 22/45. They sacrificed some of the support along the left side of hammer pivot pin boss. The newer frame is considerably thinner and the hammer pivot pin can drift sightly, even when properly installed, to a point were the stress imposed by the mainspring causes the frame to fail. The good news is the older frame is much thicker in this area and doesn't fail from stress.

The new frames began tearing out almost immediately after the Mark III 22/45 version was introduced. To date, I am unaware of any Mark II 22/45 frame failing around either side of the hammer pivot pin.





Since the frames are different and the new style pin has a head on it, I'm not sure that using it on a Mark II 22/45 would allow it to sit properly in the older frame. This could cause a reverse situation, that is where the right side of the older frame tears out because the new pin is forced to sit farther to the left. Sitting too far to the left could cause the older frame's right pin boss to tear out due to lack of material support.

I have seen many Mark II 22/45's misassembled in a variety ways but I have yet to see a frame failure in any older frame. Not true for the Mark III 22/45's, many of these were assembled correctly and still the hammer pivot pin walked just far enough to over stress the boss and tear it out.

The bottom line is; for the newer frames - the hammer pivot pin with a head on it is a necessity. For older frames - the original hammer pivot pins are functioning as intended and should not be replaced.


R,
Bullseye