Rusty/Pitted Mark III

I have RUST PITS on one side of the bull barrel, on my year old, Mark III, Target, STAINLESS. It sits in a leather holster, and the pitting is on just one side! WEIRD!

Yes, I know stainless can rust. However, I keep my guns in the best condition I can keep them, clean & lubed. I use "Strike Hold" lube, that's been awesome for me, no rust on ANY other gun that I own! I live in the middle of SC, so it does fight humidity, but THAT is why I bought a STAINLESS gun! It's had about 300 rounds through it, never in the rain and been on a few deer & hog hunts.

I love my Rugers, but anybody else have pits or problems with their Ruger stainless?

Also... Anybody know where I can get the bull barrel on my Mark III slabbed or fluted?

THANKS a MILLION in advance!!!

First... NEVER put it away for any extended period of time in a leather holster. Nylon, cordura, kydex, etc. or naked, but never leather. Depending on the tanning process, leather can be very acidic.

Check for a local small machine shop, and bring the disassembled upper. Turning it into a slabside would be about a 20 minute job on an old, manual Bridgeport.... 15 minutes for setup, and 5 minutes to cut it down. All you need to know is the width at which you would like the final cut to leave the barrel.

Welcome to the Forum!
Sorry to hear of your issues. However, stainless is just that, stain,,,,,, LESS. As you've acknowledged it can rust. wwb has it right,,, leather can have acids in it that can cause problems. I have many stainless Rugers & no issues. But where I've seen problems on other guns has been under grips where nobody cleans stuff. Storage in a holster of almost any kind can allow moisture, acids, etc to sit on the metal. Not good.

no need to machine anything, take a bit of fine emery paper, ( or aluminum oxide) and tear off a LONG strip (length of the sheet) and with the gun mounted FIRMLY ( as well as unloaded) in a 'well padded' vise, you can "shoe shine" the affected area and make it match the rest of the gun, I can do it in about the time it takes to type out any full description of "how to"..............polish ACROSS , around ,NOT 'back and forth , the length of the barrel....you'll see and find out quickly how nice it will all come out. :wink:

NEVER leave ANY firearm "sitting in ANY leather holster" , same goes for on top of cardboard......they can and will act like a 'wick' and attract moisture, simply from any changes in room temperature...... 8)

rugerguy said:

no need to machine anything, take a bit of fine emery paper

Click to expand...

He was referring to going to a machine shop to make the barrel into a slabside, not just remove the surface rust. That's gonna take a lot of work with emery paper.

Either salt in the leather or I suspect more likely put away with salt on it.... as in sweat..... I pitted a revolver one time with some spilt margaretta salt... over night.

I'd try to polish it a bit.... then again, bring it up this weekend and we'll at least give it a level three test to make sure it is still safe.

http://www.rugerforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=206035

Dang it, I signed up to get notified if someone answered this thread, but for some reason, I didn't get my notification, or I would have answered sooner.

THANKS a MILLION for the replies and welcomes, fellas! I really appreciate it.

I've done a bit of homework, since I was last here. I've discovered that there just may be a problem with some of the stainless that Ruger used. I think that, at least, I'm gonna have a chat with them. I have never had a problem with ANY other Ruger I've ever owned. I have a stainless 10-22 and a .357 LCR, in addition to the Mark III.

In any event, I'll keep this thread "in the loop", as to what the "fix" entails. Heck, it's very possible that it IS my holster, (good holster hard as hell to come by), OR mebbe a little problem at Ruger.

In fact, if I could get that bull barrel cut to a slab side or fluted, my problem would be fixed, well, kinda..... I probably need to see this through and find exactly what the problem was, because I sure don't want to be chasing rust around for the rest of my life.

THANKS AGAIN for the warm welcomes, fellas!

SEMPER FI!! OOH RAH! :mrgreen:

Sonny

cutting or slabbing does NOT "fix the problem" which the material ( stainless alloy) is the same ALL the way through and through....so if you did it ONCE , it will come back and do it again, so you simply clean it up as I noted, and try and keep it oiled once in a while and NOT left in ANY holster for a prolonged period of time.

Bottom line, stainless steel used in the making of firearms can and will "rust,pit, tarnish or stain", if left uncared for, it is NOT "surgical grade" stainless, oblivious to blood and bodily fluids

wwb said:

Check for a local small machine shop, and bring the disassembled upper. Turning it into a slabside would be about a 20 minute job on an old, manual Bridgeport.... 15 minutes for setup, and 5 minutes to cut it down. All you need to know is the width at which you would like the final cut to leave the barrel.

Click to expand...

THANKS!!! I'll get it checked out! I'm betting that it's the same for fluting....

rugerguy said:

cutting or slabbing does NOT "fix the problem" which the material ( stainless alloy) is the same ALL the way through and through....so if you did it ONCE , it will come back and do it again, so you simply clean it up as I noted, and try and keep it oiled once in a while and NOT left in ANY holster for a prolonged period of time.

Bottom line, stainless steel used in the making of firearms can and will "rust,pit, tarnish or stain", if left uncared for, it is NOT "surgical grade" stainless, oblivious to blood and bodily fluids

Click to expand...

Yeah, I'm pretty familiar with the foibles of stainless, however, like all of my other stainless guns, I haven't had much of a problem because of my constant maintenance of my guns. This one was a real surprise. I'll get it figured out though. If it's because, like it or not, Ruger uses that particular grade of stainless, oh well, I'll just get the barrel machined and go from there!

THANKS!

Sonny

OldCorps said:

THANKS!!! I'll get it checked out! I'm betting that it's the same for fluting....

Click to expand...

Fluting will entail a good deal more setup time, and a whole lot more machining. Still not difficult for a good machinist, but it's gonna cost a fair amount more.

Ditto on the leather. Depending on what grade the stainless is (???), you might be able to passivate it. Then it would. not. rust. - as long as the passivated surface remained unbroken/undamaged.

Has anyone ever heard of passivating stainless firearms?

rugerguy said:

Bottom line, stainless steel used in the making of firearms can and will "rust,pit, tarnish or stain", if left uncared for, it is NOT "surgical grade" stainless, oblivious to blood and bodily fluids

Click to expand...

"Surgical grade" stainless is NOT "oblivious to blood and bodily fluids." It is generally softer than gun or knife alloys, and more resistant to corrosion, but it WILL corrode. Stainless does not develop surface rust---it pits. Once corrosion starts, it is self-perpatuating, due to the electrolytic difference between the surface and the metal in the pit.

Any time stainless is resurfaced, it needs to be "passivated." This involves treatment with an acid to remove carbon atoms from the surface, to increase rust resistance.

Since a Mk ?(or 22/45) is basically a using gun, does it make that much difference?
The Ruger pistol I depend on isn't one of those in the gun locker, it's the beater in the holster hung on the back of a chair. I bought that pistol after the previous owner's dog chewed on the grip. I filed down the roughest spots and it's good to go. One time while trying to finish off a possum in the storage shed, a somewhat misjudged shot killed the possum AND knicked a can of "posting purple" spray paint. Now the front of the frame and a little bit of barrel has a distinct purple tinge. It's still arguably the most accurate handgun I own. It's been dropped in the creek, in the mud, and rained on numerous times while trapping-but none the worse for those experiences.
Ruger 22 pistols are easily replaceable so just move your cosmetically challenged one along and get a new one.

Just last night, I acquired a 70's vintage mark I from a friend of my sons. They were at my range and I noticed it lying on the bench. It was covered in rust. Owner said it had been in his family and had laid in a garage for about 15 years and it wouldnt even fire. He gave me a real deal on it. Brought home and went to work. Got most of the surface cleaned up. Disassembled for a good cleaning. Miraculously the inside looked good. Cleaned and lubed. Took it out for test and it would shoot but would not feed the next round. So I took apart the magazine and worked on it a bit. Made some adjustments on the feed area and tried again. Nine rounds with no problems. Loaded up a couple more times and it seems to be functioning fine now. So while it's still a little rough, It will be a shooter. It has the 6 7/8 in barrel. Glad to have revived the old lady. I'm sure it will continue to improve with increased use.