Mark III Hunter - New User Experience

ecdoesit · Post by **ecdoesit** » Sat Mar 29, 2008 1:35 am

I recently purchased a Ruger Mark III Hunter. It is a nice looking all-stainless steel pistol with Cocolo grips. I had heard alot about this gun and had great expectations which have mostly been met with the exception of my expectation that the gun would not jam as often as it is currently doing so.

Before I dive into my experience, I should say THANK YOU BULLSEYE!!! I am absolutely sure that without Bullseye and this website, Ruger would have alot more support calls from users. Particularly useful was Bullseye's illustrated field stripping disassembly and re-assembly instructions. I tried using the Ruger videos and these were not useful. The only guide that worked for me was Bullseye's. Admittedly, I never bothered to follow the wordy instructions in the manual, but given Bullseye's clear and precise illustrated guide, why bother?!?

Anyhow...here are some points from my first experience with this Ruger .22 pistol:

1. I think stripping the pistol and cleaning it should be done before firing the pistol the first time. The reason for this is that it appears cleaning and applying a light coat of oil seems to improve the shooting experience. On my first time taking the Hunter out to the range, I did not clean it and I had alot of stove pipes and jams with 3 different ammo types, namely Remington Goldent Bullet, CCI Mini Mag, and WalMart Federal Bulk Pack/Value Pack. I had something like 3 stovepipes/jams out of every 10 rounds fired.

2. After my first rather negative experience, I cleaned my pistol and took it out to the range again. On this trip, the WalMart Federal Bulk/Value pack seemed to do better, with remarkably less jams/stovepipes. CCI Mini Mags did about the same in terms of extraction/ejection performance. The Remington Golden Bullets had a lot of duds and more stovepipes/jams.

3. On the whole thus far, I am not impressed by the round extraction/ejection performance of the Ruger Mark III Hunter with various ammo brands. It seems to me there should be no excuse for the excessive jamming/stovepiping. I have absolutely no experience with .22 caliber pistols other than this one, so I can't say that other pistols are more reliable, that my experience thus far with the Ruger is abnormal or normal, or that things will/will not improve. I think as a matter of principle, new products should not fail on this scale. Perhaps I am being impatient. Only time will tell, as I "break in" the gun I hope things improve.

4. I had to sight in my Hunter. It did not come sighted from the factory. Once I sighted it, it seemed fairly accurate. It is propably more accurate than me; in fact I purchased this pistol to hone my shooting skills, so I should hope the gun is more accurate than me.

greener · Post by **greener** » Sat Mar 29, 2008 7:42 am

I've seen a number of reports on new Rugers having ejection problems. Most seem to correct themselves after a thorough cleaning and some a number of rounds fired. Most of those types of problems I've had have come either from ammo or crud buildup on the bolt. I've had enough niggling problems with RGB's that I don't shoot it. If the extractor is clean and nothing is binding it, I'd look for something that may be binding the bolt. If all else fails, try the VQ extractor.

Ruger had (and may still have) a problem with some stainless pistol front sights coming loose. I had to clean the screw and hole on my Hunter and use blue loctite to keep the screw from loosening.

My MKIII Hunter is pretty darned accurate. The only two things affecting the its accuracy are the ammo and the shooter. It is capable of half-inch groups at 25 yards with a scope and a good rest and may be capable of that farther out. The Hi-Viz sights take some getting used to.

I've had to adjust the sights on all my rimfires from the start. I also adjust them for distance and ammo fairly regularly. I haven't worried to much about the sights being correctly set by the factory since they come with adjustable sights. I just figure that it is some combination of ammo and shooter and adjust.

bearandoldman · Post by **bearandoldman** » Sat Mar 29, 2008 12:09 pm

greener wrote:
My MKIII Hunter is pretty darned accurate. The only two things affecting the its accuracy are the ammo and the shooter. .

More of the problem in the shooter that in the ammo, you old coot.

I have shot some under 1/4 inch groups at 25 yards with my Great Eight with a 6-24 Tasco on it off a good rest.

Post by **Bullseye** » Sat Mar 29, 2008 5:44 pm

Before I dive into my experience, I should say THANK YOU BULLSEYE!!! I am absolutely sure that without Bullseye and this website, Ruger would have alot more support calls from users. Particularly useful was Bullseye's illustrated field stripping disassembly and re-assembly instructions. I tried using the Ruger videos and these were not useful. The only guide that worked for me was Bullseye's. Admittedly, I never bothered to follow the wordy instructions in the manual, but given Bullseye's clear and precise illustrated guide, why bother?!?

I'm happy to hear that you find my web help pages useful EC. I didn't create them to assist Ruger. I created them to help Ruger 22 Auto owners. The biggest complaint I heard from the owners was how hard they were to disassemble. I didn't want people to miss out on a great shooting little gun so I decided to step up and make those virtual assistance guides.

Keep shooting that Hunter things will improve. Sometimes mass manufacturing processes create individual parts that need a little breaking in before they operate together to their fullest capability. I see many of these new pistols that have rough textures on the bolts and inner receivers creating more friction than originally designed. After lots of shooting, the parts hone each other's mating surfaces to a smooth finish and they function much more smoothly together. As pistols go, the Ruger 22 Autos are mostly inexpensive and provide plenty of enjoyment for their owners over their long useful lifetimes.

Welcome to the forum EC!

R,
Bullseye

greener · Post by **greener** » Sun Mar 30, 2008 5:49 pm

bearandoldman wrote:
greener wrote:
My MKIII Hunter is pretty darned accurate. The only two things affecting the its accuracy are the ammo and the shooter. .
More of the problem in the shooter that in the ammo, you old coot.

I have shot some under 1/4 inch groups at 25 yards with my Great Eight with a 6-24 Tasco on it off a good rest.

The barrel of that thing is so long it probably leaves powder burns on the target at 25 yards.

Glad to see you have dug out of the snow.

bearandoldman · Post by **bearandoldman** » Sun Mar 30, 2008 6:21 pm

greener wrote:
bearandoldman wrote:
greener wrote:
My MKIII Hunter is pretty darned accurate. The only two things affecting the its accuracy are the ammo and the shooter. .
More of the problem in the shooter that in the ammo, you old coot.

I have shot some under 1/4 inch groups at 25 yards with my Great Eight with a 6-24 Tasco on it off a good rest.
The barrel of that thing is so long it probably leaves powder burns on the target at 25 yards. Glad to see you have dug out of the snow.

I always put a piece of Saran wrap over the target to prevent the powder burns on the paper, no one really pays attention to it. Strange looking brown stuff in my back yard, I think it is dead grass and last winters collection of puppy poopers. Can you say Peter Piper picked a pail of puppy poopers?

ecdoesit · Post by **ecdoesit** » Mon Mar 31, 2008 8:07 am

I took out the hunter one time. Shot about 400 rounds. The last fifty I had no problems. When I got home though I checked and it seems I have a compound problem of magazines that sit too high in the breech such that the spent cases are hitting the rear magazine lip before coming into contact with the ejector as well as a weak hold on the depleted cartridge by the extractor. I'm probably going to send it back to Ruger to fix.

melchloboo · Post by **melchloboo** » Mon Mar 31, 2008 9:01 am

If you look at the recent stovepipe thread started by me you'll see some of these issues covered extensively.

I was/am running similar ammo, was having the same problems. I cleaned it out thoroughly (it was extremely dirty after 1000 rounds of that Federal), and over the weekend ran cci standard velocity and remington standard for about 150-200 rounds with no problems whatsoever (other than a remington that wouldn't bang).

When I was cleaning, I shot gunscrubber at the extractor, all kinds of gunk and grime came out of the plunger area. I have been told the Federal stuff burns very dirty, the price of the ammo comes at the price of more frequent cleaning required. I try not to over-oil, but may consider a dry lube depending on what people here think about that for the bolt/extractor area, assuming the extractor needs lube at all.

Also, some of the Federal lots are bad, there is another thread here about that as well. After cleaning, try some other ammo like cci standard and see how it goes.

ecdoesit · Post by **ecdoesit** » Mon Mar 31, 2008 7:06 pm

I've deduced based on all the knowledge in this site that my problem is the extractor. Looking at it, I see that the edge of the extractor has become rounded. I have ordered the extractor from Rimfire Sports and Custom. I will let you guys know how it goes when I receive it and install it and shoot with it.

melchloboo · Post by **melchloboo** » Mon Mar 31, 2008 7:21 pm

I've ordered one as well from the same place last week, eagerly waiting its arrival but not eager to do the install... Note that Bullseye has some instructions up on how to do it if the VQ instructions are not clear.

ecdoesit · Post by **ecdoesit** » Sat Apr 05, 2008 3:22 am

Upon closer inspection I see that the magazine on my new Hunter sits too high and the spent cartridges are being ejected by the rear magazine lip rather than by the ejector.

I really think new buyers who aren't willing to put up with shoddy manufacturing from Ruger should consider buying a Smith & Wesson 41 rather than this hit or miss product line from Ruger called Mark III. I see that this Mark line has a loyal following going back many decades but most of the fanfare is unwarranted given the number of issues with the guns and the availability of higher quality from Smith & Wesson for not so much more cost. By the time you have spent money trying different types of ammo, replacing extractors, and spent money shipping your Ruger Mark III back to Ruger, you'll have spent the difference between the Ruger and the Smith anyways. I recommend new rimfire buyers to spend the extra money and get a S&W 41 or the 617 for revolver fans. This Ruger Mark is a royal pain in the you know what.

ecdoesit · Post by **ecdoesit** » Sat Apr 05, 2008 3:41 am

I should add that I've decided enough is enough and I'm going to send my overpriced Hunter back to Ruger for repairs. I'm not willing to buy the 3rd party extractor, file off a magazine/recrimp the magazine lips/hack off material from the gun or magazine to compensate for shoddy Ruger work. I'm going to have to wait 6 weeks for the gun to come back. Buyer beware -- buy S&W 41 or 617 instead of this Ruger crap.

greener · Post by **greener** » Sat Apr 05, 2008 7:35 am

Sounds like you got a problem pistol. I think I'd have a long talk with Ruger's customer service. I've read several reports of problems with Ruger MK's. My experience with the Hunter, a 22/45 and a used MKII GC has been just the opposite. I can trace the few problems I've had to something I was doing, cleanliness or ammo. Mine do not like Rem TBolts, RGBs or the two types of aquila (very heavily waxed?) I've tried. I get mostly feed problems, but the RGB's gave me feed and ejection problems. I shoot mostly CCI and Federal and have very few problems. My last problem with firing and ejection was with Federal automatch. Turned out to be a problem they had with a few lots of ammo.

The M41 is a great pistol. My impressions of the ones I've fired is that they are better than my Rugers. But I've done well enough with the Rugers that I can't justify 2-3X the cost for the M41.

melchloboo · Post by **melchloboo** » Sat Apr 05, 2008 11:15 am

I would say your rejection of the Ruger is understandable given your experience. A pistol should be something you personally enjoy above all.

But as far as .22LR pistols go, it is still the best bang for the buck. Don't think the simth's are trouble free. Plenty of members in my club have them, and have their share of problems as well. A ruger with a few volquartsen aftermarket parts for reliability and accuracy is a tremendous value relatively speaking. If you stick it out you might be happy with the result down the road.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

Georgezilla · Post by **Georgezilla** » Sat Apr 12, 2008 5:09 am

It sounds like I've had the polar opposite experience than you have been having. My Hunter has been pretty great, but I can't say it's been without problems -- It had a bur on the chamber side of the extractor channel, but with a little advice from Bullseye it was an ez fix.

Other than that it has only ever had two reliability problems, both on the same day, both when it had probably 4,000 rounds through it without a cleaning (it was new and I was scared to clean it

). One was a feeding issue, the nose of a bullet to be fed stuck on the feed ramp. Second, the bolt stop didn't slide up and stop the bolt after the last round in a magazine. Now I've got about 25k rounds through, and with only two reliability issues with it. Drawing on my short one year experience of viewing many other firearm models and makes, the level of reliability I've gotten is almost incredible, it is a shame that you have not gotten the same reliability.

As far as the accuracy I've gotten from it, It's probably better than it should be for whatever reason.

At my very best one handed at 25yrds with iron sights (Just switched to irons from a dot two weeks ago) I can get 2.5" 5 shot groups (I seem to always lose focus after 5

). With a dot and rested I can get sub 1". I can't tell you about 50yrds, that distance is still WAY too daunting for me...

I must say that changing parts on the pistol really helped me understand firearms a lot better, it sorta makes me glad I felt the need to replace some of it's parts.

It's a shame that we couldn't have had the same great experience. I'm not defending ruger but just letting fact be known: Ruger didn't get to be the most profitable American firearms manufacturer by test firing 50 rounds through each firearm they make, after all they did sell over 3 million Mark Iss/IIs. I wiish I could comment on Ruger's customer service but I haven't had any dealings with them thus far, or any firearm company for that matter. The only firearm related company I've dealt with is Fobus, but soon I'll add VQ to that list

Also all Rugers are sighted in, just depends on distance and which way/how fast the wind is blowing. Oh and Ruger sets all the sights on their pistols at random.

Regarding what you said about new buyers should consider getting a model 41, it is a great pistol no doubt. Great accuracy, awesome trigger (it's trigger makes the stock Mark trigger feel horrible), great grips (although the middle finger support rides a bit too high for me, my trigger finger touches it). But, the one I shoot would have had the first round of Federal Bulk stuck in the chamber, same thing with the CCI mini-mags except this time to get the cartridge out you need pliers or a cleaning rod, and last but not least, the Remington golden bullets wouldn't have made it up the feed ramp (but thats not saying much, they do that in a lot of firearms). Minus the RGB, the other ammo issues might be a rarity among 41s, only shot the one. The point is you always run the chance of having one issue or another, no matter the make or model.

For now thats about all the experience I can share with you. I hope Ruger fixes and returns your pistol quickly. I hope your problem gets resolved so that you may have an experience closer to mine.