New MKIII512 - trigger "broke in less than 100 rounds

[GL17oxford]

Brand new MKIII512 Target model with bull barrel. Bought it new Saturday March 7, 2009. Sunday March 8, 2009 - with just less than 100 rounds through it the trigger ceased to fire the gun. The trigger returns forward fine, but will not drop the hammer. Magazine (tried each) loaded, unloaded, etc. Pull trigger and no resistance - but trigger returns forward so it isn't the trigger return spring.

I have not tried disassembly/reassembly until I talk to Ruger tomorrow. Any clues?

 

[wildturk]

Usually a very reliable gun. Could be something was missed during assembly and it's just a metal shaving or something like that. Although one of the more complicated Rugers to disassemble it might be worth at least doing a field strip in case it is something minor. I realize you shouldn't have to do this with a new gun, sometimes it happens. That might save you from being without the gun for a while depending on the backlog at Ruger. If they do want it, get them to send you a shipping label, it simplifies the process and ships it on their dime. Welcome to the Forum, lots of good people here and a wealth of information.

 

[tuttletom]

Did you check the lock. And does the magazine have a lock so the gun cannot be fired without a magazine.

 

[GL17oxford]

I had been firing the pistol, several magazine fulls. It suddenly stopped responding after inserting another reloaded magazine. I had never engaged the internal firing saftey lock, and the trigger is not locked, it travels all the way back to the stop.

Tries both magazines, trigger simply will not fire the pistol.

 

[Ski]

I had been firing the pistol, several magazine fulls. It suddenly stopped responding after inserting another reloaded magazine. I had never engaged the internal firing saftey lock, and the trigger is not locked, it travels all the way back to the stop.

Tries both magazines, trigger simply will not fire the pistol.

I don't have one of these pistols ... but since it does have an internal safety lock, even though you have not engaged it, why not try engaging and disengaging the lock mechanism and then try firing it again. Again, since I do not have one of these and thus have no idea exactly how the lock mechanism works, I am just grasping at straws here.

 

[JLarsson]

How much resistance is there when you cycle the bolt by hand? It's possible the sear isn't engaging the hammer for some reason and the hammer is following the bolt down, though I'd expect the possibility of a slam-fire if that were happening. It's also possible that the hammer strut is broken or has come loose from the hammer somehow. But I'd expect you'd hear it rattling around inside if that were so.

A malfunction of the magazine safety is possible, but I don't have a Mark III so I don't know how it works. If it were mine, I'd remove the mainspring assembly and take the receiver/barrel assembly off the frame so I could examine the internal parts closely for breakage or malfunction.

 

[Geri]

Ceck the disconecter, it could be stuck in the position that will keep the trigger from engaging the sear.

 

[GL17oxford]

Waiting for Ruger Customer Service to call me back. One interesting Item I thought about is to take the pistol apart you have to drop the hammer. The trigger does not do that now. :?

 

[Pinecone]

GL, The trigger is probably not "doing" it because the hammer is already dropped. I'm with JLarsson. Do a field strip so you can "see" the internal parts and "what" they are doing before you send it off to Ruger. It could be something as simple as a "loose" trigger pivot pin, sear pin, sear spring pin, etc...........................Dick :wink:

 

[GL17oxford]

Just got off the phone with the Ruger Tech and it is on its merry way to Phoenix. Cannot field strip, the spring assembly cannot be removed. He even had me bang it barrel down to try to reset the trigger. The assembly will not come out more than about half an inch.

He told me he will have to take off the grips and disassemble the pistol. Interesting.

 

[GL17oxford]

News update - called today and it will be at least SIX more weeks to get it back. brand new pistol, first day on the range. I doubt if I will risk buying another new Ruger.

 

[GL17oxford]

More news - update is pistol was received March 11, and it will take at lease six weeks to return it. I am not impressed, brand new pistol - and planning six weeks at the factory. I doubt if I will try a Ruger again.

 

[contender]

I'm sure Ruger will get it fixed and running just fine. However, if we all took the position that anything new that had a problem that we'd never buy them again,,,, well, there would be a lot of folks doing without a lot of things.
Just look at the recalls in our cars & trucks.
It a man made mechanical object. With that a small percentage do develop a problem. It because us poor old humans occasionally make a mistake.

 

[GL17oxford]

April 9 and still waiting. I wonder why Ruger is so backed up. More problems than expected or just not enough gunsmiths?

 

[Anonymous]

I too purchased a Mark III SS Hunter three weeks ago. It didn't seem right after a good take down and cleaning it still had issues. It would only Slingshot the bolt closed one out of five tries and it had misfires every 10 rounds or so. When I took it apart I noticed a lot of rough and jagged edges within the gun. I wanted a trigger job for NRA bullseye competitions. The gunsmith did a wonderful job on the trigger, he filed down a lot of the rough edges and got the bolt to slingshot now. The bad news he told me was the frame is twisted, this is way the magizines will not drop free. After I hit the release button it drops a 1/2 inch and gets stuck, I have to pull it out. It is not real tight but enough it won't fall free.

I think I'm going to keep it as is just to avoid the long wait to get the frame replaced and I know the factory will replace the trigger job with factory trigger and I'll be back to sqare one.

 

[ddeaton]

Ruger is in the middle of a couple recalls also and are very busy. I am sure they will take good care of you. You will probably get some free goodies for the wait. Dont give up on Ruger, good people, good firearms, very busy now.

 

[GL17oxford]

Received today, April 30. Was sent to Ruger on March 10.

 

[GL17oxford]

Shot it last night and trigger is much smoother - ticket said "repaired barrel" and "repaired frame". I think it just might have been production running too fast and not deburring enough. Did notice that after about 30 or 40 rounds the trigger sear wasn't resetting, and to re-release the trigger and then it shot ok. No FTE's this time either. All sounds like "cleaning up" was done.

I'll get e BullsEye trigger job done by a very competent local gunsmith and I assume all will be good. It did shoot very nicely while I was sighting in my MatchDot sight.

 

[langenc]

""...............The bad news he told me was the frame is twisted, this is way the magizines will not drop free. After I hit the release button it drops a 1/2 inch and gets stuck, I have to pull it out. It is not real tight but enough it won't fall free""


I have one also and the mags dont drop 1/2". Probably about 1/2 of that. The loaded chamber incicator gets blamed for that on other sites.