REMEMBER when your dad used to say, “If it doesn't fit, don't force it?" Well, he wasn't talking about Ruger .22LR autos. When I take apart and put together Ruger .22s, I bring several different hammers with me. Once, back in the late 70s, a guy brought his Ruger 6-inch standard auto into a gun store I frequented. It was all in a bag because He couldn't put it back together. Since it was busy and I had some free time, I told the shop-owner that I'd help out. The gun owner had not shot the bloody thing and ten minutes into the project I couldn't do a thing. It was very tight from the factory. So I asked the fellow to take a walk -- that he shouldn't be there to see what I was going to do. He took of and a half hour later he returned to find his gun reassembled and working perfectly. But I had to use several mallets and some other tools to coax...a euphemism, to be sure...the thing back together.
It helps greatly to shoot several hundred rounds through these guns before you even
think about taking them apart. And like Jeff Cooper used to repeatedly tell people, don't work too hard on cleaning .22LR guns. Use a toothbrush and solvent to clean the debris out of the chamber and put a patch (1) with some oil or BreakFree on it. The reason, he said, is that modern .22 ammo propellant actually inhibits rust and is an excellent preservative. Thus, one need only remove the clutter.
I have a .22LR Mark III 22/45, and the plastics you mention are extraordinarily robust and made of very durable materials. Mine functions flawlessly, but I greatly prefer my stainless steel Mark II. The first Ruger .22 auto was made the year I was born, and it's fascinating to see old ads from that year and finding it to be so familiar. Very few changes, and just as much a pain in the ass to take apart and put together then as they are now.
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