Ruger 22/45 mkIII

[zahc]

My dad has a MkII, which we all love.

I decided I needed one, so I bought a MkIII 22/45, new. It's a total POS. Besides the trigger being worse, the slide release being more fiddly, the magazine interlock, and the stupid loaded chamber indicator, it's not reliable. In particular, it refuses to strip the first round out of the magazine about half the time. It just jams the bullet against the bottom of the feed ramp, as if the magazine was not seated high enough. It does this with both magazines and a variety of ammo.

Am I doing it wrong, or did I get some kind of lemon?

[MechAg94]

Send it in for repair?  I haven't had the pleasure of shooting a Mark III.  The price tags are a bit high for me. 

There are lots of used Mark II's out there for sale.  I would take a look at those.

[RoadKingLarry]

I've got a MKIII that I've had for a couple of years now.
It has been stone cold reliable since the first round.
I don't even notice the "loaded chamber indicator" and the mag disconnect isn't really an issue in a range gun.
I'd get a hold of Ruger about yours and see what they have to say.

[cordex]

I don't even notice the "loaded chamber indicator" and the mag disconnect isn't really an issue in a range gun.

I removed my mag disconnect because it caused the magazine to hang up on ejection and had to be pulled out.  Now it drops free - indeed, shoots out like a rocket if completely empty.

As to your feeding issue, I've noticed that seating the magazines properly sometimes requires a little extra pressure over and beyond what I would expect.  The mag disconnect and mag release can hold it in place with sufficient tension to make it appear to be locked, but in reality it is slightly out of place and can prevent reliable feeding.  Try this: After inserting the magazine, hold the gun pointed downrange and press up/forward from the back of the magazine.  Then strip a round and see how it does.  Do that consistently for a few magazines and see if things change.

The only issues I've had with mine are failing to clean it after lots of suppressed shooting.  I had no idea how filthy a .22 can get with a can mounted.

If you try seating the magazine better and cleaning the gun and neither fix resolves your problem, I'd check with Ruger.

[220_SWIFT]

My Mk III Hunter has run basically flawless for thousands of rounds. I would say first, strip it down and clean and lube it.  If any problem persists, contact Ruger.  The only issues mine has had have been with cheap bulk pack 22lr.  Even then, it is not a common occurrence.  Maybe one failure to feed out of a 500 rd box.   

[zahc]

I'm not going to take it apart and lube it, because it's brand new. It hasn't even had a chance to become dirty. The chamber area is still shiny. It's only fired maybe 200 rounds, of which probably 15 or 20 failed to feed on the first round.

[RoadKingLarry]

The first thing I do to every new firearm is strip it and clean it and lube it, always.

[lee n. field]

The first thing I do to every new firearm is strip it and clean it and lube it, always.

because what it comes packed in, lube wise, isn't always what you want to run it with.

[220_SWIFT]

I'm not going to take it apart and lube it, because it's brand new. It hasn't even had a chance to become dirty. The chamber area is still shiny. It's only fired maybe 200 rounds, of which probably 15 or 20 failed to feed on the first round.

Being brand new is the exact reason you SHOULD strip it down, clean & lube it.  For not even having a chance to become dirty, you would be surprised at how dirty it is.  Not to mention, that oil they cover it in is designed for storage protection, not to make it run smooth.

Your gun, your choice, do what you want.  But tear down and a proper cleaning & lube is the first thing I do with a newly acquired firearm.   

[T.O.M.]

When I bought mine, it was at a gunshop with a range.  I literally paid for the gun (after NICS) and a box of CCI ammo, walked into a lane on the range, loaded , and started shooting.  Fired 100 rounds without a bump in the road.  Smooth and accurate.  Still is.

[Jamie B]

Being brand new is the exact reason you SHOULD strip it down, clean & lube it.  For not even having a chance to become dirty, you would be surprised at how dirty it is.  Not to mention, that oil they cover it in is designed for storage protection, not to make it run smooth.

Your gun, your choice, do what you want.  But tear down and a proper cleaning & lube is the first thing I do with a newly acquired firearm.   

Exactly correct!

[Brad Johnson]

I have a 22/45.  Dead reliable with anything but truncated ogive (flat-tipped) rounds.  Wildcat ammo, the kind with the blunt front, absolutely refuse to feed properly.  It digests everything else with absolute reliability, included the much-maligned Remington Golden Bullets that come in the Wally World value packs.

Brad

[erik the bold]

I have one with 6 years of bowling pin league on it's odometer.

36,000+ rounds

It's going back this month to be "refinished"

Disconnect, which is not available as other than 'factory installed' is all buggered up

OTOH, I only paid $200 new, so not such a bad deal........   

[280plus]

Its the MAGS!! (or one of them). First off, Ruger's trigger out of the box always sucks. Crunchy, creepy. Put a Volquartsen kit in it but DO NOT try to replace the mainspring because you will never get it back together. Then, feeding, what's happening is the top round is too loose in the mag. Take a needle nose pliers and very gently tweak the "lips" (if you will) inward a hair until the round stops being all sloppy in there. You want to feel a slight resistance as you are pushing the rounds into the mag. If it becomes difficult to slide the rounds in you went too far. There should be just a very slight up/down wiggle to the round if the mag is adjusted properly. I'll bet if you try to wiggle the round in there right now you will find a lot of slop for the tip to be moving up and down. Reduce the slop and your problems will be over. I have both a MK II and a MK III. Both feed reliably with properly adjusted mags. Let me know when you try to dis and reassemble it. There's a few tricks that will save you from pulling your hair out during that process. Once you learn them, it's cake. 

[zahc]

That's exactly the problem. When the mags are loaded, you can move the nose of the top cartridge up and down. The rim is captured, but the front is free to move up and down; there's no tension on it. If you deliberately move the nose of the cartridge all the way upward in its slop, and insert the magazine without bumping it back down, it feeds fine. Otherwise, it jams the nose of the cartridge against the bottom of the feed ramp.

I don't see how I can adjust the magazine to fix this. Pinching it shut more, does not seem like it will provide more upward tension on the nose of the top round.

[zxcvbob]

That's exactly the problem. When the mags are loaded, you can move the nose of the top cartridge up and down. The rim is captured, but the front is free to move up and down; there's no tension on it. If you deliberately move the nose of the cartridge all the way upward in its slop, and insert the magazine without bumping it back down, it feeds fine. Otherwise, it jams the nose of the cartridge against the bottom of the feed ramp.

I don't see how I can adjust the magazine to fix this. Pinching it shut more, does not seem like it will provide more upward tension on the nose of the top round.

I was about to post "bad magazines" but 280 beat me to it. You might need to spread the mag lips a little at the front. You can also try polishing the feed ramp -- but don't change the shape unless you really know what yur doing.

Field-strip, clean, and oil the gun couldn't hut.

I just got a new Ruger Mini-14.  Before taking it to the range I field stripped it (and it looked clean) and ran a bore snake down the barrel.  It short-cycled 90% of the rounds the first time I shot it.  Shot OK, but wouldn't pick up the next round, and sometimes the empty case got caught in the ejection port.  I blamed the cheap Tula ammo that I'd bought one box of to see just how bad it was.  But I was doing that new rifle BANG (clean) BANG (clean) routine, so it wasn't that annoying.

I cleaned the rifle when I got it home and I greased the bolt, the slide (or charging handle, whatever you call it) and the op-rod spring.  I still had half a box of the Tula crap-ammo, so I shot it up next time at the range.  It worked just fine.  The whole previous misadventure was just a lack-of-lubrication user error.

[280plus]

Take your needlenose pliers grasp each lip one at a time longways, same direction of the rounds along the top of the mag, and tweak/twist them inward slightly. It may take a couple tries to get the final adjustment correct. Just like you were inserting one side of the pliers inside like a round and the other side outside the mag. Be very gentle as it is spring steel and brittle/easy to break. You're trying to tighten them in around the rounds to eliminate MOST but not all of the slop. Hard to describe, hope this helps, if not ask more. ;-)

[280plus]

We're talking about the lips in front of the notch that allows the rim to pass through. The ones that cradle the bullet head. You want to make the distance between them smaller by a hair or so. When you insert the round there should be a SLIGHT resistance to insertion. If it's suddenly hard to get them in then you went too far. This WILL take a little patience but once you get them to feed properly you'll be all set.