MKIII Dissasembly & Assembly Issues

[Jhuppdog]

Well after 650 rounds I thought it was time to tear down the gun and give it a good cleaning. I watched the videos and read the procedures and everything was pretty straight forward. My issue is the removing of the receiver from the frame and then then putting the two back together. I know that it says it MAY be necessary to give the back of the receiver a small strike with a plastic hammer, but it took me multiple strike with a large rubber mallet to get my receiver and frame to come apart. It took 5+ strikes to get the receiver to go on to the gun and seat properly on the frame. After my first attempt to assemble the two, I removed the receiver and looked at the lug that goes into the the bottom of the receiver. The lug on the frame is flat on top and shaped like a half moon on the bottom. The hole on the bottom of the receiver for this lug to go into does not look like this. The shape is different. I wish I would have taken a picture but instead went forward with the re-assembly. After the second try and quite a few strike with the mallet and the gun was assembled. Everything works fine I am just concerned with the amount of force it takes to free the two and why the lug and the hole for the lug to not match in shape. Is this amount of force usual or do I have an issue?

Thanks,

Jeremy

 

[BuckJM53]

Jeremy ... It's not uncommon for a new MKIII to be pretty tight for the first few field strips. While they will lossen up a bit over time, I still have to use a mallet on mine even after more than 30,000 rounds and nearly 60 field strips. I don't think you got an issue.

 

[Eliminator]

Jeremy,

Like Buck said, you do not have an issue. I currently own five Ruger .22 pistols and they all vary in the amount of force required to remove the receivers from their frames: on three of them I can use the heel of my hand (with varying degrees pressures) to disassemble/assemble, one of them takes a mallet, and the other literally falls apart once the mainspring housing is removed. They all function great.
I once sent a Mark II back to Ruger because I thought the fitment between the frame and receiver was too loose. All they did was peen the bottom of the receiver boss (which narrowed the opening) in order to get the receiver to fit tighter to the frame lug. When I got it back it functioned the same and was no more or less accurate. The fitment of these can be crude and yours may or may not loosen up. If it were mine, I wouldn't loose sleep - it's fine.

 

[blume357]

Jeremy:
Welcome to the Ruger MK owners association... you just paid your dues for membership.

 

[bullockdgmanor]

Yeah, I have to smack my Mark III receiver pretty hard when I take it apart...just like you, I use a large rubber/plastic mallet and it takes several hits to get it apart. I feel like I'm happy to have a gun with a good tight fit, even if it means a slightly more difficult disassembly/reassembly.

Dan

 

[Jhuppdog]

Thanks for the reply's. I have read that some fit tight but I never thought that they would fit this tight. I am just worried that with the amount of force it takes to remove the receiver and the frame that I would damage the gun. Maybe over time it will loosen up a little. Do you have the same issues with 22/45's?

 

[blume357]

Well, just to be difficult... Somebody tell me why one needs to knock the barrel / receiver off the frame anyway? I did it once just to see if it could be done... and yes I had to use a rubber mallet and smack the ever lovin' begeebeers out of it.... but really can't see a reason to do it again with a routine swabbing down.

 

[DMN]

Well, just to be difficult... Somebody tell me why one needs to knock the barrel / receiver off the frame anyway? I did it once just to see if it could be done... and yes I had to use a rubber mallet and smack the ever lovin' begeebeers out of it.... but really can't see a reason to do it again with a routine swabbing down.

I agree. I did it on the first cleaning of my MKIII standard. I haven't done it since. That was over 4,000 rounds ago. I think people do full teardown cleaning too much. Spray, blow, snake....that's it. No problems.

 

[Jhuppdog]

Well tearing it completely down may not be necessary but I feel as though I am able to get in there and clean it a little better then when the two stay assembled.

 

[DMN]

Well tearing it completely down may not be necessary but I feel as though I am able to get in there and clean it a little better then when the two stay assembled.

Are you going to do that after every trip to the range???

 

[Jhuppdog]

Well tearing it completely down may not be necessary but I feel as though I am able to get in there and clean it a little better then when the two stay assembled.

Are you going to do that after every trip to the range???

No, but I do plan on tearing it down after about every 1000 rounds or so. Is this not normal?

Jeremy

 

[CDR-USN]

I'm one of those military types that learned the first order of business with any weapon is to learn to field strip the sucker. New MK III NIB. had it apart in about 10mins and back together the first time in almost 90mins. Second time around went much quicker. Don't let anyone scare you about our MK III. Very well made, but may be Ruger could have helped us a little bit here in construction. But it is a great weapon and just keeps on pumping out those little 22lr rounds.