[IndianaBoy]

Cleaner than it has been since new. The trigger feels quite a bit crisper too. There was an unbelievable amount of grit in there. 22 long rifle is a nasty, dirty little cartridge. I always do a field strip and clean after a long range day... but this was much needed. I should have gone ahead and gotten some volquartsen parts while it was apart... for some trigger improvement. In case anyone is really observant, the firing pin stop pin is not visible, nor are the grip screws. Everything else is there.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v239/gnieman/markii003_REDUCED.jpg

[Kruzr]

It's hard to se but I sure hope the detent button for the safety is still in the safety. :uhoh:

(I find that a dab of grease on it keeps it in place when reassembling.)

[IndianaBoy]

Yup.. it's there.


That thing is a little PITA though isn't it!

[grizz]

How long did it take to fully disassemble like that? Does the owners manual describle how to do that? I always field strip my MK III after usage, but I've never been brave enough to do a complete tear down.

[IndianaBoy]

It probably took me 20 minutes. If I did it often, I'm sure it could be done much faster. Putting it back together takes a little care.... there are a few parts that are not simple to orient. I put the sear spring in incorrectly the first time, but it was obvious something was wrong as soon as I had done it. Reassembly took about half an hour, lubing as I went, where it was needed.


Here are directions if you want to do it. I think anyone who is reasonably handy, mechanical can do it with no problems. Just make sure you are on a surface where if you drop a small spring or other piece, you can find it.

Mark II

http://www.1bad69.com/ruger/internals.htm


Mark III

http://www.guntalk-online.com/detailstrip.htm

[JohnKSa]

The manual doesn't help past basic disassembly.

It takes awhile the first few times, but once you've done it a couple of times you get faster. Unless you like disassembling and reassembling things (like I do), there's not really much reason to take it down that far.

[10-Ring]

Betcha it sat for a while before you put it back together! When I first got mine I hated to just field strip it, now it's no big deal...but what you've done to that pistol for the sake of cleanliness should be commended! :cool:

[IndianaBoy]

Heck no!

I put it back together immediately while the orientation of all the parts was still fresh in my mind. :)

I did polish the sear with some flitz first though......

[MatthewVanitas]

That's really cool. I've just been using dental floss to get the gunge from between the internal parts.

Is it best not to do a full strip too often? Will the friction loosen up some of the small parts if they're taken out too much?

Come to think of it, do the upper and lower loosen up if you take them apart too much? Seeing how tight it was when new, and how it's easier to disassemble now, I'm concerned that the fit will get sloppy over a decade or two.

You can tell that I'm not too mechanical...

-MV

[model 649]

Rather than just throwing V. parts at it, try to see what it's really running like and what you want to be different. V. parts are nicely made, but whats there is usually pretty good. The worst thing about mine was that the trigger pull was inconsistent. Sometimes good and sometimes long and noticeably heavier. I first polished the sear face smooth and even on a hard stone. That helped improve the ease or lightness of the trigger pull. I then discovered what the inconsistency was caused by: the hammer was loose on its hub bushing and pin and so, the sear never engaged the hammer hook area the same way twice. Sometimes it used alot of the sear face, sometimes less, or anything in between. The Clark hammer bushing kit corrected this problem, and cost a lot less than replacing ALL the parts. I now have a smooth 2.5 lb. trigger that repeats very well and more $ for ammo.
BTW, isn't that your firing pin stop above the firing pin in your pic?
Josh

[Punkermonkey]

Nice, wanna do mine next?:neener:

[IndianaBoy]

BTW, isn't that your firing pin stop above the firing pin in your pic?

Nope that is the spring that lies under the firing pin.


The trigger pull on mine is consistent but heavy, I need to stone the hammer/sear engagement. There is some noticeable roughness there. What would be an appropriate grit for such a job?

[model 649]

I used my "Hard Arkansas" (white) honing stone(NOT gritty). The idea is NOT to remove metal but to polish the metal smooth. I did not do anything to the hammer hook itself, just the sear face.
Josh

[Spackler]

Geez, and I hate to even do the basic field strip. I usually just blast it out with gunscrubber and bore-snake the barrel. I never have gotten the hang of putting the thing back together.