MK II Extractor plunger issue

[flaviodp]

I am posting this as a heads up for owners of MK II's.
I own a target slab sides MK II since 2003 and love it; recently decided to replace the original extractor because the lower edge was showing signs of wear and part of the claw tip was rounded due to wear. When time came to replace the extractor, found out that the plunger guiding pin which is inside of the spring was broken of the plunger and loose inside of the spring. Never had any problem with the gun (my guess I run about 3-4k rounds to date) and this was the first time that I disassembled the extractor.
It may be a good idea once in while to check the integrity of the plunger.
The guiding pin is welded to the body of the plunger and apparently the weld failed.

 

[Precision32]

Your extractor is not worn out. It was made with the bottom corner of the hoof rounded off. It is supposed to be rounded off.

The pin that broke off is not welded to the body of the plunger. It is a machined part and the pin is just a turned down end of the plunger.

 

[SGW Gunsmith]

The factory Ruger extractor is a stamping, and a very poor representative of a working extractor.



I pulled this extractor out of a fairly new Ruger Mark III Lite pistol, just the other day. See for yourself, the burrs that prevented this extractor from pivoting properly through its function. The round top part of the extractor is from the die that stamps these extractors from a sheet of plate steel. Economical to make, extremely short on satisfactory performance. There is no hook on the front end of the extractor to grab the case rim during the feeding, chambering, firing and positive extraction process. Pull out the factory extractor and throw it in the trash can. Replace it with a Volquartsen "exact edge" extractor with a much better shaped hook on the business end. $12.00, or so, and you'll be much further ahead, than using that crappy factory extractor.