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Help reassembling Ruger MKiii

kelton said:
Mine was a nightmare to get apart and the whole time I knew it would be worse when I reassembled it. I tried to think of it as a right of passage. Ruger should really include a coupon for a free bottle of booze upon completion of assembly. [laugh]
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Ha. Completely agree.
 
BostonBullit said:
You don't want to hear this right now but it's not difficult once you know the mechanics of what's going on.
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I hear you, but name another common production gun that is so convoluted to field strip and reassemble. I have not run into one.

The fact that the hammer strut is free to move and the gun has to be in a specific position to reassemble is bogus.

That being said, I am not giving up on my Mark II Competition model any time soon!

Chris
 
I have a 22/45 I bought used a couple years ago. It is still a pain to reassemble after cleaning, so it only gets cleaned when it stops working!! Those utube vids are a godsend when it comes to putting it back together again. You may be missing the part where you insert the mag, then pull the trigger, then keeping the trigger pulled, the mainspringhousing latch should lock back in place. Good Luck!!!
 
James77 said:
Ok....I have made some progress.....I can actually get the mainspring pin to slide up, and it can lock into the handle.

But I am still stuck with only being able to pull the bolt back halfway, I ma thinking it is down to that hammer strut.
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You need a bigger sledgehammer.
 
I recall seeing ads for some sort of conversion kit that solved this problem, i.e., it simplified the takedown and reassembly process. But I never saw a gun with a kit installed.
 
I had a Mark 3 pistol for years and shot thousands of rounds out of it and I never took it apart even once, and it fired every time I pulled the trigger. So why bother ? Just shoot and enjoy.
 
Sparky123 said:
I had a Mark 3 pistol for years and shot thousands of rounds out of it and I never took it apart even once, and it fired every time I pulled the trigger. So why bother ? Just shoot and enjoy.
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My Hunter came to me used, and required some Volquartsen luvvin to be 100% reliable. That said, I still clean it on the reg.
 
So I was inspired by this thread to take apart my MK II. Wow. Its filthy inside. The inside of the frame and trigger assembly area has a ton of greasy, dirty, sticky crap all over everything. I cleaned the parts of the "upper", so to speak, but left the "lower" alone. Function tested fine, but I'd like to get the inside cleaned. FWIW, the re-assembly wasnt so bad.

Is it ok to use something like brake cleaner to spray out everything? Im just thinking there may be some parts in there that Im not aware of that wont react well with something like that. Usually with my other guns, I just brush out this area with a toothbrush and patches. Afaik, youre not supposed to get any oil in there. (correct?) I was prepared to do the same with the MK II but its caked with all this greasy dirt. No way I can just brush it out.

I see a couple of pins that seem to be holding the trigger and hammer in place. Would it be better to push those out and clean all the parts outside of the gun? I usually dont mess around with these on my other pistols, but Ive never seen a gun this dirty on the inside.

Any advice? Breakcleaner blast-out vs disassembly? Looking around the basement, I dont have any breakcleaner on-hand, is starter fluid ok?

Dont mean to hi-jack, just figured it would be silly to start a second MK cleaning thread. Hopefully others can pick something up from any responses.

Thanks.
 
Ha! I actually got it!! Someone should get a gold star :)

I see what I was doing wrong. I followed the directions in the manual exactly, and it worked after a couple tries. Takes a little playing around though with the mainspring housing bolt and getting that pin lined up.

Thank you everyone for the replies and help with this!!
 
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this was the first gun i bought when I got my ltc-a......i took it apart and luckily a cool NES member came by my place and got it back together for me [rofl]...not ashamed to admit I couldnt get it back together [smile]....
 
MAGG said:
this was the first gun i bought when I got my ltc-a......i took it apart and luckily a cool NES member came by my place and got it back together for me [rofl]...not ashamed to admit I couldnt get it back together [smile]....
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[laugh] Nor should you be. It was a terrible experience for me....3 or 4 nights I have been trying this.

I had a few guys PM me also offering help....really cool people on here :)

Now I am part of the club that actually got this BS back together.
 
headednorth said:
So I was inspired by this thread to take apart my MK II. Wow. Its filthy inside. The inside of the frame and trigger assembly area has a ton of greasy, dirty, sticky crap all over everything. I cleaned the parts of the "upper", so to speak, but left the "lower" alone. Function tested fine, but I'd like to get the inside cleaned. FWIW, the re-assembly wasnt so bad.

Is it ok to use something like brake cleaner to spray out everything? Im just thinking there may be some parts in there that Im not aware of that wont react well with something like that. Usually with my other guns, I just brush out this area with a toothbrush and patches. Afaik, youre not supposed to get any oil in there. (correct?) I was prepared to do the same with the MK II but its caked with all this greasy dirt. No way I can just brush it out.

I see a couple of pins that seem to be holding the trigger and hammer in place. Would it be better to push those out and clean all the parts outside of the gun? I usually dont mess around with these on my other pistols, but Ive never seen a gun this dirty on the inside.

Any advice? Breakcleaner blast-out vs disassembly? Looking around the basement, I dont have any breakcleaner on-hand, is starter fluid ok?

Dont mean to hi-jack, just figured it would be silly to start a second MK cleaning thread. Hopefully others can pick something up from any responses.

Thanks.
Click to expand...
Are all mkiis all-metal? If so take the grips off and blast away with brakekleen or gunblaster/bore scrubber.
I personally wouldn't use ether!
 
Congrats James!! Good to see you were able to do it. I know I felt really good, after I finished reassembly the first time myself!!
 
I use Gun Scrubber on my MKIII Hunter to blast out all the crud in the frame. Then use Hornady One Shot dry lube to make sure it's plenty lubricated afterwards. The one shot works well as it's not a wet oil which the crud easily sticks too.
 
Resurrecting this thread: I got my 22/45 mark III apart so I could take the bolt out. I had the bolt unable to move rearward problem, figured out that it was the hammer strut that was the problem. Got the strut in what seemed to be the right position, everything seemed to fall into place well. Now however, I have the problem that the trigger won't drop the hammer. I go to take the mainspring out to redo things - it is stuck, can't pull it out more than about a 1/4". I'm guessing that because the trigger won't drop the hammer it's keeping the mainspring assembly from swinging free. Any ideas?? Once I get this thing back together, I think I'm not going to take it apart again until 1. I have replacement parts for either the mag disconnect removal or the easy takedown 2. My son is old enough to tinker with it.
 
Sounds like you didnt get the strut into the main spring correctly. You will need to try to get the hammer to fall forward then you should be able to get the main spring out. If you tip the gun on its nose and pull the trigger the hammer should drop to the fired position and allow you to remove the main spring.
 
Chet0729 said:
Sounds like you didnt get the strut into the main spring correctly. You will need to try to get the hammer to fall forward then you should be able to get the main spring out. If you tip the gun on its nose and pull the trigger the hammer should drop to the fired position and allow you to remove the main spring.
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With the magazine inserted!

A number of folks here pointed me to a phenomenal step by step instructional with pics that made this whole process exceedingly easy. I messed up a number of times and had to restart, so I'm now an expert! I'll try to send those links to you tomorrow when I get back to the computer.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
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I think I have the same problem with mine. Its been in my safe for the last couple of months. I just have not felt like dealing with it.
 
First get rid of the magazine disconnect and the loaded chamber indicator while you're at it. The disco makes it much more difficult to work on. The trick is usually for me to pull the trigger while tipping the gun forward and if necessary pushing on the hammer from the rear of the gun. Then you can get the strut to engage the main spring. Also you're wise to grease the lugs and the pin to ease assembly and future dissaembly.
 
Right now the trigger won't pull and release the hammer, correct? Can you reach up inside the magwell and push up the magazine disconnector to release the sear, and while holding it pointing downwards, pull the trigger to release the hammer and make it fall forward?
 
rutilate said:
Right now the trigger won't pull and release the hammer, correct? Can you reach up inside the magwell and push up the magazine disconnector to release the sear, and while holding it pointing downwards, pull the trigger to release the hammer and make it fall forward?
Click to expand...

I'll try this. Could the magazine not be engaging the disconnect? The magazine seems to be firmly seated and "clicking" into place, but pulling the trigger doesn't (seem) to do anything - it travels all the way back, but there is no click. Without the magazine seated, the trigger feels different and won't go all the way back.
 
If you look in the mag well you will probably see the strut hanging there. You should be able to move it while pulling the trigger. The hammer needs to be forward to remove the main spring.
 

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