Ruger Mark III

[cape cod basser]

Have been setting up a Mark III for indoor Bullseye shooting. Have installed better grips and an Ultra Dot Matchdot 2 and doing fairly well with it.
Have had a few misfires and stove pipes with it but have been working on it slowly but surely.

Been reading about all the Volquartsen parts and have been curious to the advantages of them? I like the extended grip on the bolt, but not sure what else there are for improvements with it? Is it a lighter spring to allow for the use of standard velocity ammo? Better firing pin?
What makes it worth more than half the cost of the gun??

Having the trigger worked very soon but I believe all it needs with be polishing of the components as it is real good to me already, but just needs a little bit more..

What else has everyone done to improve on them? What ammo are you finding works best for accuracy for you?

Thanks for the info...

 

[jtnf]

VQ extractor is wire cut, whereas the stock one is fine blanked.
This means that the VQ extractor face is perpendicular to the faces, and quite sharp across its' entire surface whereas the fine blanked part is not perpendicular (and therefor only engages the shell edge with a portion of its' surface.)
I found this part alone solved all the stovepiping problems with my MkIII Hunter.
The VQ firing pin is similarly made with a greater attention to detail than mass-produced, with a "coined" tip.

I did the complete trigger, firing pin, and extractor (using the MkII trigger kit which includes the proper bushing for mag catch delete) and it now eats anything I feed it.

 

[Chet0729]

I have a lot of Volquartsen parts in mine. Trigger group parts, extractor, firing pin. Most parts were replaced due to wear or breakage of the originals. I have a lot of rounds through mine (10's of thousands) and it functions perfectly. I was having a few extraction issues but the extractor was worn and finally broke. Sine I replaced it is has been perfect. Ruger was great, they sent me a lot of parts for free without question.
I have the acurizing kit, bolt tune up kit and I also put in the MKII hammer bushing to eliminate the magazine disconnect.
The MKII busing is probably the best bang for the buck. Mags drop free, take down is a little easier.

 

[Happy feet]

The mark II bushing makes taking it down for cleaning and putting it back together a 5 minute job. The target hammer and sear lighten the trigger pull which helps accuracy. The trigger with set screw adjustments can shorten your trigger pull which also can help with accuracy. These mods will benefit a bulls eye shooter a lot more than an extender on the bolt as you will not be making speed mag changes and if you get hung up/jammed you can ask for an alibi which will enable you to reshoot the stage rather than clearing a jam on the clock.

 

[rutilate]

I just made some changes to a stock MKIII 22/45. I did some research to find the replacement parts with the biggest bang for the smallest buck.

As mentioned above, the hammer bushing replacement is 9.95 and makes a huge improvement in takedown/assembly because you can do away with the magazine disconnect. A number of folks on the rimfire forums said that the accurizing kit isn't really necessary on the MKIII, but the volquartson sear is well worth the money. I chose to install a Tandemkross flat faced trigger with the over travel and reset adjustments. Huge difference. My wife and kids won't shoot any other 22/45 without the same upgrades. For convenience sake, I installed the Tandemkross Kanewolf slingshot mod which allows you to pull the bolt back and release to chamber a round (without having to depress the bolt release lever).

I haven't done the firing pin, extractor, etc as there aren't any problems with misfires or FTE.

THe pistol is phenomenally better now. I'm not sure it is worth doing any more to it. Total investment was $106. According to my research, rimfiresports.com had the best prices on everything and free shipping.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[AHM]

Aftermarket VQ trigger is the only thing I want

Have been setting up a Mark III for indoor Bullseye shooting. ... Have had a few misfires and stove pipes with it but have been working on it slowly but surely.

We have a 5½" Mk III 22/45 Target (grips molded into frame):

We use it for punching holes in targets run off on the home inkjet. The only thing I've modified so far is unbelievably silly: red and white paint in the safety's embossed F and S (respectively).

Been reading about all the Volquartsen parts and have been curious to the advantages of them? ...

Having the trigger worked very soon but I believe all it needs with be polishing of the components as it is real good to me already, but just needs a little bit more.. ...

Why attack the components if you intend to replace them with expensive aftermarket precision parts anyhow? If the Volquartsen parts give you a hair trigger, why waste time on the factory parts?

Also, why incur risk putting the factory parts out of spec? If you ever have to return the pistol to the factory for service, you're going to have to either replace all the custom parts with the originals, or they'll do it for you at the factory. Ruger will return your fancy parts, in a bag, but they won't touch the gun until they've made it stock again, and they won't even return it in its accurized configuration.

If you lose or ruin your stock parts, you won't be able to reinstall them. Ruger service is so good, they may not charge you if it's just a few small parts, but if the failure you want corrected is ultimately blamed (right or wrong) on the custom parts, you're going to feel silly when you revert your pistol to accurized configuration if that reintroduces the problem the factory just "fixed" by swapping out VQ frobs for SR. And if you do restore the pistol to stock configuration before mailing it off, it will be embarrassing if the problem you want fixed is blamed on a bad polishing job on some part you don't even want to use when shooting Bullseye. (It'll also be embarrassing if the problem disappears when the custom parts are swapped out before mailing).


I've looked at Volquartsen's replacement tidbits, and ironically the only item I'm considering at all (albeit lusting after) is their trigger.

With no changes to the stock pistol's innards except for replacing the ruby red factory grease with a light coating of Rem Oil, I've measured the pull at 4lbs, 3.3oz. (average of 5 measurements). I hear that's nice for an out-of-the box SA pistol that's not Olympic quality.

However, the stock pistol's trigger pre-travel seems a little long to me. I don't know whether it's supposed to be long, but it's longer than our SR1911; it's even sloppier than our Crosman 1377A air pistol. So I'd like to get an adjustable trigger and remove a safe amount of the slop. (No complaints about the over-travel). People rave about Volquartsen design and quality, so it doesn't seem worth looking further.


It sounds like you can be talked into replacing your stock extractor. But some questions:

1. How many rounds since you last cleaned the extractor and the bolt channels?
2. For that matter, have you ever detail stripped the bolt?

No blame if you've never gotten the extractor out for deep cleansing. For me, the toughest step in a detail strip used to be getting the extractor out. It could easily take me 15-20 minutes until I fabbed two tools to help me.

On the other hand, I wouldn't spend money replacing the stock extractor unless I was sure that it wasn't dirty or bone dry. We've never run the pistol long enough between cleanings for gunk or grime to cause it to malfunction. But I wouldn't chase phantom burrs or putative erosion with a fistful of $10 bills until I was sure the problem wasn't dirt or lame ammo. It would be smarter to invest in VQ stock and use any dividends to buy more cleaning supplies for my own pistol.

Hope this helps.
=====

ETA:

... According to my research, rimfiresports.com had the best prices on everything and free shipping.

Cool cite, thanks!

 

[Happy feet]

Before changing extractors try different ammo, cci sv 40 gr round nose usually works well.

 

[nstassel]

My Mark III was a disaster in terms of reliability. I changed the bushing and got rid of the LCI, then all of a sudden after about 1K rounds it just started working virtually flawlessly with a variety of ammo.

Then I replaced all the guts with Volquartsen on an impulse when they went on sale at Midway.

 

[cape cod basser]

My Mark III was a disaster in terms of reliability. I changed the bushing and got rid of the LCI, then all of a sudden after about 1K rounds it just started working virtually flawlessly with a variety of ammo.

Then I replaced all the guts with Volquartsen on an impulse when they went on sale at Midway.

And how did it shoot afterwards?

 

[nstassel]

I don't know I just did it last night!

 

[weehooker]

The Volquartzen sear is the biggest bang for the buck. For $25, it can get you a crisp 2.5# trigger (with a little internal polishing while your in there.) The MK II bushing and extractor would be next on my list. Beyond that, every other Volquartzen/Clark, etc components I've had (and I think I've had them all at one point) has been expensive fluff.

 

[cape cod basser]

Like the explanations on the extractor, but how hard is it to change? Sounds like a mod I need to make..

 

[nstassel]

Really simple. Ten minutes and you don't have to tear the frame down or even pop off the barrel.

 

[Catdaddy]

I do find myself wanting to customize my MK III more than anything else I own. Anybody drop on a tactical solutions or volquartzen upper/ barrel?

 

[rutilate]

I do find myself wanting to customize my MK III more than anything else I own. Anybody drop on a tactical solutions or volquartzen upper/ barrel?

Haven't done so. The barrel is the serialized part of the pistol, right? There is a fascinating thread by user flysalot on rimfirecentral who took two stock 10/22s and tested their accuracy with a ton of different ammo and minor, incremental modifications. He found that with relatively minor (i.e. ~250 worth of upgrades), their accuracy rivaled some extremely expensive custom rifles. The point he proved is that to achieve accuracy you don't have to buy the eye-candy upgrades.

I'd be curious to know the accuracy of minimal vs. maximal customization of 22/45s.

 

[nstassel]

Id like to see that link

 

[Strawdog]

My Mark III was a disaster in terms of reliability. I changed the bushing and got rid of the LCI, then all of a sudden after about 1K rounds it just started working virtually flawlessly with a variety of ammo.

Then I replaced all the guts with Volquartsen on an impulse when they went on sale at Midway.

My 22/45 LITE was a stinker, it didn't like various standard velocity rounds, The LCI was a possible issue, and that mag safety dance during tear down and re-assembling was aggravating but doable. I too changed the sear and bushing and found a huge difference more in the handling than reliability. Somewhere around the 6-750 range of mostly HV ammo, feeding issues smoothed out with only minor hiccups. At 1000 or so rounds I noticed another change in reliability. Now with around 1500+? (starting to loose count) rounds down range I am having no issues shooting even the SV ammo, other than CCI Quiet wont cycle but then again I really didn't expect it to.
I never did get the pin out of the LCI so that is still intact, with no issues there. The only other things I have done is change the trigger to an adjustable one, did a gravity mod to the bolt release, and polish the transfer bar. At some point I will want to change out the extractor and switch the stock sights to fire sights. And hopefully that will be all I really need besides a good holster.
I think the biggest contributor to reliability has been the first 500+ rounds of high and hyper velocity rounds sent down range along with several good cleanings.

 

[rutilate]

Id like to see that link

Here you go: http://www.rimfirecentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=535662
Tough not to get distracted by all the other fun stuff there!

 

[weehooker]

I just swapped the sear and bushing out in a friends stock MK III hunter this week. Trigger went to a very sweet and crisp 2# even. As for reliability, like any gun they either need to be worn in with allot of shooting or "polished" in the right places to reduce internal friction. Then they run reliable for competition even with low powered ammo.

p,s Yes the extractor is cheap insurance if you shoot certain ammo's that can act up.

 

[cape cod basser]

Had an issue with the bolt sticking open about a half inch. Polished off the transfer bar and it seems to be ok now.
If you have a hard time reassembling it after tear down, make sure the holes for the mainspring are lined up PERFECTLY. Two hours last night trying to get the pin back in.
Almost listed it for sale.

 

[cape cod basser]

Has anyone else found that the round in the chamber indicator was holding the round back a bit and causing light hits? I took it out last week and filed it down a bit and it has worked fine ever since.. hardly had any light hit rounds since.

 

[rutilate]

Has anyone else found that the round in the chamber indicator was holding the round back a bit and causing light hits? I took it out last week and filed it down a bit and it has worked fine ever since.. hardly had any light hit rounds since.

A moot point now, but I wonder if that was a function of gunk collecting in the crevices, preventing the bolt from closing? Many people have simply removed the loaded chamber indicator altogether. "But what about the hole it leaves?" There is a bigger hole on the other side that doesn't seem to affect performance!

 

[Strawdog]

I have never had an issue with my MkIII 22/45's LCI that I could definitely say was due to that part. During the break in I was having a problem with feed/extraction but it would clear up after cleaning. Now that it has passed that stage with the LCI still intact clean or dirty function is flawless. I personally don't think the need to remove it is as pressing an issue as people have thought.

 

[cape cod basser]

A moot point now, but I wonder if that was a function of gunk collecting in the crevices, preventing the bolt from closing? Many people have simply removed the loaded chamber indicator altogether. "But what about the hole it leaves?" There is a bigger hole on the other side that doesn't seem to affect performance!

Volquartsten makes a metal filler for the indicator.. I was told they had black and polished but I only saw the polished one which is why I just shaved it down a bit. Need to pick up a Dremel tool for this kind of stuff so I could have polished it when I was done to make sure of a good smooth surface...

 

[Chet0729]

Volquartsten makes a metal filler for the indicator.. I was told they had black and polished but I only saw the polished one which is why I just shaved it down a bit. Need to pick up a Dremel tool for this kind of stuff so I could have polished it when I was done to make sure of a good smooth surface...

Tandemcross also has them

 

[cape cod basser]

I am still gettig sporadic misfires no matter what kind of ammo I shoot... How do I determine if it is a firing pin issue or something else/.?

 

[Chet0729]

I am still gettig sporadic misfires no matter what kind of ammo I shoot... How do I determine if it is a firing pin issue or something else/.?

I would tear it down and be sure the firing pin is free. I am currious if maybe you damaged thhe main spring or hammer tail when you were having issues putting it back together

 

[kalash]

Mine started having issues too. Detail stripped and cleaned and now it's flawless.

 

[cape cod basser]

I would tear it down and be sure the firing pin is free. I am currious if maybe you damaged thhe main spring or hammer tail when you were having issues putting it back together

Everything LOOKS fine... I ordered the Tandemcross Firing pin and RIC eliminator kit.. Will see what that does for it...

 

[Bcamos]

Trying to find the best and most reasonable way to mount a microdot to my Mk2. Seems that drilling and taping is the only way to have it mounted close than 3/4" off the receiver.