SGW Gunsmith
Blackhawk
If any of you folks who own Ruger Mark II stainless steel pistols, and you have a pistol with a two piece bolt, this may interest you. How do you tell if you have a two-piece bolt? The bolt ears are tapered and they only have "three" rings around the ears. There is a very visible "line" between the bolt ears and the bolt body. I have found the two piece bolts to be accompanied with the "one-piece" mainspring housing, rather than the three piece laminated mainspring housing. So, what's the big deal? Well, I've discussed this issue with Rugers Customer Service Manager, and while it's not an everyday event, they do get inquiries for bolt replacement at the tune of, from 2 to 4 per year. This is what can happen:
If the above catastrophe occurs, your only alternative is to install the replacement bolt Ruger sends you. Now, if this happens to your two-piece Ruger Mark II bolt and you send it to Ruger to get a "deserved" replacement Mark II style bolt, you will get a Ruger Mark III bolt instead. Why? Because they don't have any Ruger Mark II bolts left in stock. I asked if they would do a special run to cover any of the Ruger Mark II two-piece bolts that separate during normal firing and use. Nope, not cost feasible, is what I was told. OK, so then what? Once again, I called and talked with Joe, the customer service manager at Ruger. What if I were to come up with a method that would prevent the bolt head from separating from the bolt body. I then described what I had in mind, and he thought it would be a sure-fire method to prevent bolt head separation. So far, I've done 14 Ruger Mark II bolts and two from pistols that I own, because I want to KEEP my Mark II bolt, and none of these bolt heads have separated after the preventative fix. The cost to do this is very reasonable, and it will keep your Ruger Mark II complete with all its original parts, as a Ruger Mark II. Contact me for more information if you find that you have one of the Ruger Mark II Stainless Steel pistols with the two-piece bolt and the fix just might interest you. For your information, here are what the three Ruger Mark bolts look like:
If the above catastrophe occurs, your only alternative is to install the replacement bolt Ruger sends you. Now, if this happens to your two-piece Ruger Mark II bolt and you send it to Ruger to get a "deserved" replacement Mark II style bolt, you will get a Ruger Mark III bolt instead. Why? Because they don't have any Ruger Mark II bolts left in stock. I asked if they would do a special run to cover any of the Ruger Mark II two-piece bolts that separate during normal firing and use. Nope, not cost feasible, is what I was told. OK, so then what? Once again, I called and talked with Joe, the customer service manager at Ruger. What if I were to come up with a method that would prevent the bolt head from separating from the bolt body. I then described what I had in mind, and he thought it would be a sure-fire method to prevent bolt head separation. So far, I've done 14 Ruger Mark II bolts and two from pistols that I own, because I want to KEEP my Mark II bolt, and none of these bolt heads have separated after the preventative fix. The cost to do this is very reasonable, and it will keep your Ruger Mark II complete with all its original parts, as a Ruger Mark II. Contact me for more information if you find that you have one of the Ruger Mark II Stainless Steel pistols with the two-piece bolt and the fix just might interest you. For your information, here are what the three Ruger Mark bolts look like: