MK II Lifespan

[charlessummers]

I've got an old MKII bull barrel pistol that has had the hell shot out of it. It's been shot so many times that everything is loose in it. Take down is a breeze, and the barrel pretty much falls off now instead of needing a tap or two to come loose. I was thinking about calling Ruger about it to see what they could do with it, if anything. At least, it would be a test for their customer support.
Has anyone else shot their MKII to death, or does it even seem possible?

#boredatwork

 

[contender]

I have a bull barreled MKI that could fit the description you mentioned. It still shoots just fine,,, and I have zero interest in returning it to Ruger. I haven't had any noticeable wear on anything,,, nor the accuracy. I don't think you can fully wear one out.

 

[WIL TERRY]

There are two MKI pistols in South Africa that have over 5,000,000 documented rounds a piece through each, and this data is at least twenty years old as I write this. BOTH are T-totally original and still going strong. NOW....how many do you have through yours ?
My MKII pistols have 59,083 through 'em as we speak and I may have to clean one of the damn things before I croak.
And so it goes...

 

[Mobuck]

I wouldn't bother until it starts to malfunction.

 

[rugerguy]

as they said above, takes a licking and keeps on ticking.....NOTHING< till something breaks, and most likely will be from "misuse" or overcleaning improperly...I know guys who still have, use MkI ( RSTs) from the 50's and they have NEVER been apart........not rode hard, NOT put away wet ( USED, NOT ABUSED! ).........two of them have been soaked in a pan of kerosene ,once in a while, swabbed out, blowout with an air hose, oiled and blow out the excess ,again, with an air hose...keep the bores swabbed before use, and oiled down, when in storage late winter up here in NE Ohio..... 8) :roll: :wink:

 

[charlessummers]

I have absolutely no idea as to a round count. I wish that I'd kept count, but that was a long time ago. One of the few "problems" is one pin that tried to work its way out every now and then. I keep an eye on it and push it back in often. It has developed a problem now cycling the action. It acts like it's not assembled correctly and is hard to cycle. I know it's together right... I've done this many times with several different MK II / IIIs. Think I'll open it up again this weekend to figure that out.

I'm sure I don't have 5,000,000 rounds through mine, and I'd love to see the one that has. They are tough little guns, but mine is the Mk 22/45 and has the plastic/polymer lower.

 

[WMB30]

MK II Lifespan--- A long time ago an old timer told me forever plus 3 days

Bill

 

[SGW Gunsmith]

I've got an old MKII bull barrel pistol that has had the hell shot out of it. It's been shot so many times that everything is loose in it. Take down is a breeze, and the barrel pretty much falls off now instead of needing a tap or two to come loose. I was thinking about calling Ruger about it to see what they could do with it, if anything. At least, it would be a test for their customer support.
Has anyone else shot their MKII to death, or does it even seem possible?

#boredatwork

Unless you've already had this done, I would suggest that ALL the springs be replaced. And as long as you haven't fed your pistol a regular diet of "Stingers", and kept the interacting parts correctly lubricated, you grandchildren will be happily using that Ruger until it's passed along to their grandchildren.

 

[charlessummers]

New springs would probably bring this back to life. I'll look into that.
On a side note, I couldn't wait and broke it down last night after my reply. The little pistol is cycling once again, although I don't know exactly what was the cause. I'll order new springs and pack it with me next time I go to the range.

Thanks everyone.

 

[kevin masten]

Agree totally with foregoing comments. The original Ruger std and MKI pistols when used and cared for properly has an infinite life span ,IMO. Other than wearing out the bore I don't believe it can be rendered into an unusable hunk of iron. If it were possible I would carry mine to the great shooting range in the sky if that is my reward.I believe God would smile on that and Bill Ruger.

Regards

 

[SGW Gunsmith]

New springs would probably bring this back to life. I'll look into that.
On a side note, I couldn't wait and broke it down last night after my reply. The little pistol is cycling once again, although I don't know exactly what was the cause. I'll order new springs and pack it with me next time I go to the range.

Thanks everyone.

I don't believe you can go wrong for the low cost involved, but if you have any problems, contact me at [email protected]

 

[Coop]

My Mark II 6-7/8" Bull Barrel Gov't Model, purchased new in 1995, has over 60,000+ .22 LR cartridges thru it. It has never failed to fire, and has no faults.

You may ask, "how do you know how many?". Well, I keep the end labels of every brick of .22 LR ammo I have ever purchased since my first ever firearm purchase (1995 - Browning Buckmark).

I also have detailed reloading data on all my centerfire cartridges (rifle and pistol/revolver) since April of 1996, when I started reloading. My current reloads number over 130,000 centerfire cartridges, and over 10,000 12 GA shotshells.

 

[45flattop]

Agree totally with foregoing comments. The original Ruger std and MKI pistols when used and cared for properly has an infinite life span ,IMO. Other than wearing out the bore I don't believe it can be rendered into an unusable hunk of iron. If it were possible I would carry mine to the great shooting range in the sky if that is my reward.I believe God would smile on that and Bill Ruger.

Regards

I know that I literally lost count of the thousands of rounds I've put through my
1967 vintage RST-4 since it never occurred to me that I might want to track the
usage but the number is well over 50,000 by this time, I used to buy a pallet
worth(5000) at a time from an old friend who ran a gun shop as a side line
hobby and I've been through 10 of those before my friend passed away and
I began to buy what I could where I found the best price. So yes, the well
cared for Rugers do seem to be immortal, hardly any bluing wear can be
seen on my oldest one even after so much hard use.

 

[Major T]

I have Dad's MkI that I helped him pick out used in about '60-61. It rode in a rug under the seat of his farm truck almost to the end, ten years ago. He shot thousands of rounds through it chasing either Ravens or geese away from his crops, usually ten rounds at a time. Finish is mostly gone, he lost the rear Micro sight (replaced with the new version adjustable), but the pistol is far from worn out. It is still accurate.

I recently traded Brother out of Mom's Standard model. His wife wanted a small .38. Not a good trade financially for me, but he is my brother and the gun was Mom's, so.... It was hardly used, great blue, but the right grip panel is scuffed. Not sure how that happened.

Jack

 

[jpickar]

Well my Stainless MKII target has had exactly 37 rounds through it and it is a little stiff yet. Maybe I need to get busy to catch up to you guys! ha ha

 

[Pat-inCO]

Has anyone else shot their MKII to death, or does it even seem possible?

I got a Mk-I in '66 that I could NOT get used to the taper barrel. Sold it
and got a Mk-II Stainless Target. It was hard to get along with for the first
few thousand rounds in that it got crankie after about two hundred rounds
and needed cleaned. That went away after (guess) five thousand rounds.
That was back in the early 70's.

I got another MK-II, heavily used, about thirty years ago, for teaching.
I figured it would be nice to let a student use a gun that I would not be
concerned if it picked up a new scratch (as if you could tell). Funny,
I've had several students want to know where they could get one. 8)

IMO, you'll have to ask my grand kids about that in another thirty years.

8)

 

[SGW Gunsmith]

Well my Stainless MKII target has had exactly 37 rounds through it and it is a little stiff yet. Maybe I need to get busy to catch up to you guys! ha ha

Geeez! It's almost painful to think about all the fun you've missed out on! I couldn't walk past my safe if I had one of the Ruger Mark II's in there that's only been fed 37 rounds of ammunition. :shock:

 

[Rick Courtright]

Well my Stainless MKII target has had exactly 37 rounds through it and it is a little stiff yet. Maybe I need to get busy to catch up to you guys! ha ha

Hi,

Almost a month has passed: what's the round count up to now?

And here I thought ONLY 7100 rounds thru my MkII might have me in the running for LOW round count!

Rick C

 

[Kevin]

For about 7 years, my first and only gun was a stainless Mark II bull barrel. I know it has at least 50,000 rounds through it. That's back when bulk ammo from WalMart was $4 for a box of 550. It's as loose as the OP described his gun. And no, the accuracy hasn't fallen off any. But unfortunately it isn't as accurate as my S&W Model 41.

22 rimfire is my favorite caliber and I love to take 3 or 4 out to the range and try comparing them as best I can. On my list is a new barrel from Volquartsen. I'd love to see if that would bring this Mark II up to the Model 41's accuracy.

 

[Rick Courtright]

22 rimfire is my favorite caliber and I love to take 3 or 4 out to the range and try comparing them as best I can. On my list is a new barrel from Volquartsen. I'd love to see if that would bring this Mark II up to the Model 41's accuracy.

Hi,

If only for giggles, you might consider adding a CZ 75B with a Kadet conversion kit to the stable. The conversion kits are scarce, and you could buy a whole new Ruger and a couple of bricks of "not too outrageously priced" ammo for the price of one, but I like mine better than my 5.5" bull barrel Mk II. It's at least as accurate, and so reliable it sometimes makes me wonder why I keep the Mk II! And it would be interesting to see how it stands up the Model 41--I've never seen a head to head between that particular pair of guns.

Rick C