Rugers Mark l - ll - lll Disassembly

Getting the strut on main spring is the trick. I have a blue bull barrel target that is tight and hard to separate. Then I have a SS Slab-side that falls apart, light tap. Practice a few times and it gets easy. William Batterman and Alexander were 2 geniuses!

TomV said:

FYI:
I have a patent pending that will end all this trouble of reassembling the Ruger Mark III pistols (not the 22/45) and probably the Mark II and Mark I. I have made working prototypes and am awaiting a second batch of pre-production prototypes from the manufacturer. In a few months, I may have production items for sale: low cost, simple one-time installation. After that, pistol bolt and remaining reassembly should take less than a minute and prohibit errors. I might market the item on this website if there should be an interest in this, or through major gun/parts companies, etc.

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How did you improve this Tom?

Once installed, it is non-moving and it automatically places the hammer strut into the mainspring, with NO possibilty of error. Price is not fixed yet, but will probably be about $10, including shipping and it is made of steel. I have been using a hand made prototype in my Ruger MK III Hunter for quite a while, and am just getting details worked out with my manufacturer. Production items for sale are still probably a few months away. I have been thinking about starting a thread on this forum about it, and seeing if there is interest in direct retail sales or even pre-orders. Again, I must mention that this is a patent pending concept. I think it will work in the Mk II, but I am not sure, and I don't know about the Mk I. I might offer a free production item to the first to try it in the Mk II and the Mk I. --Tom V

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Some folks have trouble with mechanical things. I know a guy who will attempt to thread a nut on backward regardless of whether you hand a right hand or left hand thread.

Still requires a mallet and punch to disassemble and a drill bit to pound in to line up the pin hole for reassembly. I am hopeful that one day after MANY takedowns things will loosen up.

Compared to every other handgun I own the MKIII sets the standard for being a ROYAL P.I.A. My Buckmark is a breeze to field strip. The new S&W Victory looks like the best of both (Ruger & Browning) worlds.

I have a Ruger Standard, a Mark I bull barrel and a Mk II. The Mark I & II always require the rubber mallet to get the barrel off the receiver and back on. The Standard, made in '64, lifts right off with no problem and back on in exactly the right position and the bolt stop pin slides in easily. Don't even need the mallet. I've noticed that on the Marks the rear of the barrel assembly has to slightly overhang the back of the frame in order to get the bolt in the correct position to fully insert the bolt stop pin.

Bkat

I took my first Mark II apart to clean. Read the blasted instructions several times, and after multiple attempts it finally went back together. The problem is, I don't know what I did that last, successful attempt that was different than the previous 20 tries that didn't work.

I can clean the darn thing without disassembly, and will NEVER take it apart again.

And btw, I've been working on cars, without stripping threads or damaging vehicles, since I was about 8. I can strip an M16, a 1911, Glocks, Beretta, etc, etc, Ruger revolvers all day long. To me, the Mark 2, 3, etc, are nice pistols but the design for takedown and reassembly is crap. Good grief,did ruger design this or Peugeot?

Doug, Ruger designed it that way just to annoy you. :lol: I feel your pain--been there myself as have most other Mark owners. What step of the process was causing the problem?

No problems, six different guns of every vintage.

No problem. I just don't take them apart anymore.

I chose "have had no problems" because I haven't, BUT...the question is a bit of a trick; it's sort of 3 different questions. You really shouldn't lump all Standards/MKIs, MKIIs, and MKIIIs into one big group and ask if "they" are difficult to disassemble or not. I have only ever owned (and will only ever own) Standards and MKIs, and that's likely a big part of the reason that taking them down has never posed an issue for me. I have exactly zero experience with anything MKII or MKIII, so I can't say how easy or difficult they are to take apart and put back together. From what I gather on these here internets, taking apart a MKIII and putting it back together is about as much fun as performing your own root canal, but again that's nothing more than hearsay on my part. We all know a few of those folks who could break an anvil with a rubber mallet, and some of them are very vocal, so maybe the "trouble" with MKIIIs is overblown. I'll never know.

My first one was back in the late 50's or early 60'. After that long they get easy to reassemble. Still have to use a rubber hammer on them.

I have no issues. That may come from installing my own hidden pre-travel screws long before the interweb showed nice pictures and directions. There's a lot of install, uninstall when adjusting the screw.

My bother has taken his in a baggie to my friend's shop twice.

He will not mention it to me or bring it me. (he has a serious case of first born syndrome)

My guess is that those who have problems with their MK series Rugers don't want to wake up on Christmas mornings or their kids birthdays.

TomV said:

FYI:
I have a patent pending that will end all this trouble of reassembling the Ruger Mark III pistols (not the 22/45) and probably the Mark II and Mark I. I have made working prototypes and am awaiting a second batch of pre-production prototypes from the manufacturer. In a few months, I may have production items for sale: low cost, simple one-time installation. After that, pistol bolt and remaining reassembly should take less than a minute and prohibit errors. I might market the item on this website if there should be an interest in this, or through major gun/parts companies, etc.

Click to expand...

I have been notified by the US Patent Office that my patent application has been approved. I am currently negotiating with a manufacturer to have this item produced for me. This item will completely prevent the loose end of the hammer strut from being lodged under the sear spring cross-pin, as happens so often now. It will be made of stainless steel, and precision cut by laser. I am considering offering these Hammer Strut Supports (HSS) on a first come-first serve, pre-order basis, but it could be as long as 2 or 3 months before they could be shipped to individual buyers. I also have yet to set up a way to receive the orders and payments. Item price should be well less than ten dollars. Is there a general interest here for something like that?

wwb said:

Jeepnik said:

One observation. There are some folks I wouldn't trust to put air in my tires. There are some folks who can't be trusted to reassemble a Ruger Mk series pistol correctly. I suspect there is some cross over in the two groups.

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One of the best descriptions of lack of mechanical ability I've ever heard:

"That guy is so bad, he could cross-thread a fire hydrant."

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I have been on Volunteer FD for 20+ years. Yep, I have cross threaded a hose on a fire hydrant. That is why my Mark ll stays together.
gramps

It was a little tricky. I had to send a Mk III back to Ruger a few years ago, because I had not noticed the firing pin "stop" pin had slid out of the bolt, and the pin went so far forward, that it put a dent in the breach face! Grrrrr. Costed me a hundred and thirty-three bucks.

It would be interesting to see what occupations folks that can't reassemble a Ruger MK pistol have.

Or better yet, did they have Lincoln logs or an Erector Set as a child. Seems many of my generation grew up with such then ended up fixing all manner of things. Perhaps we were born with a strong mechanical sense or it was instilled by those toys.