Ruger MKIII First-time Dissassembly

ijw

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I purchased as my first firearm a Ruger MKIII. I'm trying to take it apart for a cleaning before my first shooting session and I'm having a bear of a time getting the bolt stop pin out with the mainspring assembly. Can anyone describe their experience field stripping their MKIII for the first time so that I know how hard to bang on it with a rubber mallet? I'd read that these were hard to take apart the first few times (or perhaps all the times), but this seems a little crazy.
 
I've got a MKII, but I think the MKIII field strip is roughly the same. You shouldn't need to bang on it. Make sure the hammer is in the proper position. I think it needs to be in the fired position, but I don't remember and my manual is not handy: Check your manual to be sure. Next, pull the catch-lever out. That should pop out the lower end of the mainspring housing. Pivot it away from the frame and you should be able to pull it straight down. Maybe you need to put a little thumb pressure on the back of bolt, but it should pull right out.

Once you have it apart the fun begins: Putting it back together can be even more interesting, particularly getting the pin/lever on the back of the hammer back in the right recess of the mainspring assembly. Again the hammer has to be in the right position to let the pin pivot freely, the bolt stop pin inserted inserted and the mainspring assembly partially pivoted into place, then the gun rotated is backwards (muzzle up) to drop the hammer pin into the right recess.

Good luck.
 
Ruger MKIII

I own a Ruger MK III, I had a similar problem when I field stripped it for cleaning. I had a rough time getting it apart, the bolt pin was tough to remove. I eventually got it apart, the worse part is getting it together. When i was reassembling the bolt pin would not go back in correctly. Me being the impatient type i forced it and then the action would not work properly. Long story longer, I decided to strip it again and bolt pin would not come out all the way. Then it wouldnt go back in either. 120.00 for overnight to the factory for reassembly (factory was awesome in doing the reassembly for free). Waited 6 weeks to get it back and have not attempted it since. My advice is to go to a gun shop and have someone walk you through the procedure. I especially love the part in the manual about "gently" tapping the parts with a hammer and a piece of wood. In my opinon, the field stripping is more difficult than it should be. I should have bought a S&W. The gun shop i bought it at recommended the Ruger over the S&W .22. Good luck!
 
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Keep practicing. The first fe times were tough, but once i figured out the trick to it, I can field strip mine in a few minutes, no problem. Key parts or getting the hammer down when re-assembling. I actually use a pen that i whack with a tiny hammer to tap the bolt stop out and tap it back in. Even then, i sometimes use a rubber mallet and a strip of leather to tap the receiver off the frame...its a tight fit!

I swear if you follow these instructions exactly, you WILL get the hang of it:
http://www.guntalk-online.com/detailstrip.htm

They hype over how hard it is is over-done. Its really not that hard once you understand why youre doing what youre doing.

That being said, i used to field strip it alot, but ive got 4000 rounds through mine since my last field strip and i havent done anything beyond shooting gunscrubber into the action and scrubbing with a brush....it almost seems to work better a little dirty.
 
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It seems there's a little "bump" at the end of the recoil spring that you have to push the bolt stop pin past and this was causing me all my trouble. A wooden dowel and a couple taps with a hammer to get the pin past that and I was all set. I left the receiver on the frame (I've heard/read it's REALLY tough to get that off and on) and cleaned the barrel, then brushed down the action and put everything back together. The manual was pretty easy to follow regarding that part of the reassembly; just keep the hammer pushed forward and get the hammer strut in when you're pushing the mainspring assembly latch in and you're all set. Only thing I ran into was a "duh" moment on my part when the mainspring latch was running into the frame as I was trying to close it back up; I didn't have it pulled all the way open and just needed to extend it all the way before sliding it into the frame.

What are your favorite ways to open the latch, by the way? I used the tip of a wooden chopstick, but it didn't feel too solid and I'm open to suggestions there.
 
its actually easy

be a little patient. DO not take off the grips, these hold in the
hammer pin... if the hammer gets out of alignment your all done.

do you have a set of instructions...???

secondly the hammer and its position are important..

let us know what happens.

JimB
 
Thanks for everyone's help and suggestions. I've got it ready to shoot and look forward to taking it out to the range soon. If I shoot this as much as I want to in the near future I'll get plenty of practice taking it apart to clean it [smile]
 
Well after reading this and some of the links I decided I would field field stripped my MkII today. It sure was dirty on the inside. Cleaning it went well, but I had a heck of a time getting it back together properly; when it was together the slide wouldn't open. I finally was able to get it open I had something misaligned. Should I worry about anything when I go to fire it the first time after disassembling?
 
From what I've read, if you get it back together and can't open the action the most likely cause is that the hammer strut didn't get set into the right place on the mainspring latch. When putting it back together it's very important to put the gun in certain orientations (muzzle down, muzzle up) to make sure that certain parts fall into place correctly. Open the latch and make sure that the hammer strut gets into the little depression in the back of the mainspring by pointing the muzzle up as you swing the mainspring assembly into the frame.
 
Yeah, I think I figured that out and was fooling around with the orientations; even though I know it's unloaded I hate having to wave the thing around trying to get everything in the right spot. It seemed good after I fooled around with it for a few minutes.
 
If the slide sticks or wont open, something isn't right inside. Take the backstrap out and reassemble... As much as I hate waving the thing around, it's the easiest way to get it back together the right way. If together correctly the slide with open and close normally without sticking.
 
If everything seems to function properly at home anything I should be worried about once I take it to the range?
 
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