question on ruger mark III

[horatioo]

I want a pistol to practice with. I have pretty much decided on the Ruger mark III. Is there any reason not to just get the cheapest one I can find? Or are the more expensive ones worth spending more on? What attribute is worth extra money? I just want one to practice with.

Thanks

 

[Motob3000]

Mark III

I have owner a Mark II (6" 7\8 slabside barrel, target grips, volquartsen compensator, Red dot sight on dovetail) Government Competition for about 8 years now. You cannot go wrong buying a Ruger Mark series pistol.

They offer several different versions.

The biggest difference you will notice is weight. The bull barrel and longer barrel models weigh quite a bit. However, their weight will lessen already minimal recoil. Longer barrel gives you a little more accuracy and velocity. The trigger and internal components are more or less the same. Mine is SS.

They do make a 22/45 which copies the grip of a 1911. My father had one and I liked the way it felt. If a 1911 feels really good in your hand then you might want to pick one up at a gunstore and see for yourself.

I chose mine because I wanted a super accurate plinker. If you plan to let younger shooters use this gun, then you might want to stay away from bull barrels and slab sides they will make it more difficult for a young adult to shoot.

The Mark II is still a favorite of mine and it always goes to the range with me.

 

[NWPilgrim]

The standard is fine for practice. I have a 6" from the early 1960s that is still working great. I think the 6" Standard balances better than the 4", but you should handle them yourself to decide if possible.

The reasons to upgrade would be:
- to get adjustable sights (main reason for me)
- to get stainless instead of blued (my preference)
- to get scope mount for optics (I don't use it)
- to get a heavier bull barrel (not needed for plinking)

I have the Target model, stainless, 5.5" bull barrel, and the old Standard model, fixed sights, blued, 6" tapered barrel. They are both great plinkers.

 

[geetarman]

I have had experience ( not good ) with the Ruger MKIII.

I bought one last year and at first it seemed to function fine. I previously had a Browning Buckmark in all black and the front sights were hard to see against a dark background so I gave it to my son and bought the Ruger.

It got to the point the Ruger was not reliable at all. Stovepipe jams with hollow points, roundnose, and it did not make any difference as to ammunition manufacturer.

I called Ruger and they sent a shipping label and I returned the firearm. I got it back within two weeks with a letter stating they had replaced the extracter and the ejecter and reworked the slide and feedramp.

I went to the range and the thing crapped out again.

I disassembled the pistol, took a Dremel tool and ground the thing up into several small parts that I threw away and kept the receiver/barrel as a trophy and bought another Browning Buckmark in stainless steel with the high viz sights and bought the kit to convert my son's pistol to the high viz sights.

Both Brownings work just fine.

I know a lot of people have the Ruger and swear by them. Mine was not that way and I am glad to be rid of it.

 

[Winterhawk56]

I purchased a Ruger MKIII Target a month ago. I have yet to shoot it but plan to in a week or two. Hopefully mine is not a lemon?

Thanks for the information and if I have this trouble I also looked at the Browning.

 

[booker_t]

I've put upwards of 2000 rounds through my MarkIII, it's never jammed, misfed, failed to extract, anything. Used CCI MiniMags, Federal, Winchester, both round and hollowpoint. Never any issues.

geetarman, sounds like the problem was on your end not the gun. And your solution to cut it up into pieces and keep the receiver as a trophy? Makes you sound like a lunatic. Just saying.

 

[geetarman]

booker,

You can view my actions anyway you please. Two positive things came out of this experience.

1) I saved someone else from dealing with it.
2) I have a Browning that WORKS.

As I stated in my post, many swear by their MKIII pistols. Mine was a piece of crap.

I have Rugers in my collection now and will continue to own Rugers. This was not one of their shining examples of workmanship and one does not have to look very far on the web to find PLENTY of complaints about the MKIII.

I have absolutely NO regret about what I did to that gun.

 

[rptrower]

I have a Ruger MkIII 22/45 which I bought new in 2006. It is a very accurate & reliable target pistol. The only problem I had with it was the narrow grip. I added a set of after market grips which made the pistol more stable in my hands & help reduce the size of my shot groups. I own many pistols & IMO you can not go wrong regardless of which model you buy. If you have the bucks I would recomend you buy the 6 7/8" SS barrel model.

 

[Pahoo]

If you are set on the MK-III, then get the Hunter in 5-1/2" length or the Slad Side. Look at the grips on that Hunter !!!: eek:


Be Safe !!!

 

[1-UP]

I would have dealt with your Ruger 22/45 with a smile

Biggest reason to upgrade I can think of would be adjustable sites. The ergonomics are all relative to personal preference so bull bbl vs target vs standard are all up to what feels good to you.

The 22/45 has integrated grips which will limit your choices if you ever want to swap them (Or you'll have to do some smithing).

The Ruger extractor is stamped so if you got a bad one it *can* lead to stovepipes. If you got one that's finicky, it costs $12 to get an exact-edge replacement from Volquartsen. Some folks never have a problem, but it's effortless to swap out and inexpensive enough that I'd probably just do it as a matter of course.

Some folks find that rounding their magazine lips also improve performance. /shrug, I've never needed to do anything beyond the extractor.

 

[HisSoldier]

First thing I did was take the miserable mag safety out, then backed the safety lock screw all the way out of the gun and threw it away while cursing lawyers everywhere. Then the loaded chamber indicator went bye bye. I worked over the sear with a Power custom series 1 jig, and altered the grip so it was easier to get at the mag release (Mk III). It's a great target gun now, and worked well out of the box, I just despise all the useless stuff Ruger feels they have to put in their guns now.
The Buckmark has an aluminum frame, there is no way I'd pay for a gun with an aluminum frame.

 

[Departed402]

They're good plinkers. As for a practice gun, Rugers have an "extreme" grip angle. It will be an easy transition to another handgun with a sharp grip angle like a glock. They also make a mark III 22/45, which is a mark III with a 1911 style grip, if you want the different angle.

I've fired both the 22/45 and a mark III hunter a lot. Both were great, but I ran into problems with the 22/45. With the 22/45 the feeding system would jam on occasion. I'm not entirely sure what the issue was, but I think it had something to do with the angle of the magazine. I don't know if Ruger did enough homework to see how the 1911 grip angle would feed in the mark III. I had 4 different magazines, different ammo,and cleaned/lubed it and still had the problem.

Got rid of the 22/45 for a mark III hunter, and I haven't had a problem yet.

 

[Blondie.357]

I bought a Ruger mark III a couple days ago and took it to the range immediately after I purchesed it. It jammed CONSTANTLY, half the time I was dealing with the jams.

Although I wasn't to upset, I knew I should of gone home and cleaned and lubed it up first, but I was so anxious to shoot it, I went straight to the range.

Well the next day, after thoroughly cleaning and lubing it "after spending hours trying to put it back together, but thats another story" I went back to the range and shot an entire 525 round box or remington .22s.

Not one single misfeed or jam. I was very pleased.

I was frustrated by the 1st reassembly, but I already have it down now. I have come to really appreciate the solid design of it.

 

[Citizen Carrier]

Geetarman, were your stovepipe jams like this?

The open end of the case facing out the ejection port with the rimmed base hooked behind the next round of ammunition trying to feed into the breech?

What is happening is a problem with your magazines. This is a problem I've encountered both with Mk II and Mk III guns.

The short version of this story: Your spent case is hitting the far side magazine lip before it comes into contact with the ejector. This causes the spent case to "tumble" inside the action rather than be spit clear by the ejector out of the action.

The way to verify that this is what is happening is to slowly work the action with a spent case in the breech and a magazine in the well. Pull the bolt back slowly and observe through the port. You should see the base of the case hitting the magazine lip before it hits the ejector.

The fix for this is simple. You just file or dremel down that lip slightly where the case comes into contact with it. Only remove as much as needed for the case to reliably and continuously hit the ejector and not the mag lip.

Don't worry, the mag will still retain cartridges just fine. And you don't need to file down the other lip to match either.

 

[geetarman]

Citizen Carrier,

My jams were the round hitting the lower edge of the feed ramp and getting a large crease in the round.

I tried the magazine fix that I found on the web and that did not seem to help.

When I got the gun back from Ruger and they told me what they had fixed and replaced and the gun still failed to function, I knew I had a hangar queen.

I have at least 6 Rugers now and have no problems with them. This gun was not that way and I am glad to be rid of it.

Thanks for the post.

 

[horatioo]

I looked at a mark II for $270. It had the bull barrel and a longer barrel. It had rusted some on the top but that had been sanded off. Was that a good buy?

 

[Pahoo]

How long of a barrel? The longest made was 10" and shortest was 4". Did see one in a 2-1/2" but sure it was a cut job. The MK-II is a great choice as well as the MK-I. No, $270.00 is not a good price by my measure. I thought you had settled on the MK-III ? ..



Be Safe !!!

 

[1-UP]

$270 for rusted bull barrel is not so hot. I picked up a SS 5.5 target with excellent condition with an extra set of wood grips for $285. Occasionally I see a better deal, though they don't sit long.

If I tore it down and the internals looked fine (Which I'd be skeptical of), maybe $220.

 

[tom234]

Whatever you do buy an adjustable sight model that is drilled and tapped so you can have the option to install a red dot or scope later. I opted for the MKIII678 model with 6 7/8" barrel to have more velocity and longer sight radius. SS is optional and IMHO they are much more expensive and overpriced. I spent the added SS price on a VQ trigger & sear, extra magazines, a UCL, and a cheap red dot scope.

 

[bravastar1]

I would find a MKII with adjust sights. I dont care for the loaded chamber indicator. I lie older guns.