Ruger .22/45 lite questions

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fishblade2

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I am making efforts now to obtain one of these guns and I know since they are fairly new that many things about the gun, especially concerning upgrades, might not be known, but I wanted to ask a couple of questions about this gun before purchasing one. I realize that different barrels are a possibility but not so much as the Mark 3 since it's an aluminum frame. I will soon want to place a Bushnell reflex most likely on the gun but I wanted to make sure that the gun was capable of this feature. Is there any problems that you guys know of already that the gun will have will finding a good silencer on it since the area around the barrel is open? Lastly what about upgrades for the gun. What upgrades are already out there or are in the making that you guys know of?

Thanks for the help!
 
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I personally find the original Ruger MkI-III to be beautiful, the 22/45 to still be very nice looking, and I find the "Lite" to be pretty ugly. Haha...sorry.

I have a MkIII 22-45 with bull barrel. I personally would only go with the lite if you think you want to go with a suppressor. The heavier steel bull barrel will be a bit more stable for target shooting if you are shooting the pistol without a supressor.
 
I also want to know if the magazines of the Mark 2 and 3 can fit into the lite and if the Ruger .22/45 lite has a magazine disconnect.
 
The Lite has the same three screwholes for mounting a rail as the regular 22/45.
Those threads obviously will not be as strong as the steel versions.

Don't understand your suppressor question.
Area around the barrel is open?
Works exactly the same way as the threaded steeltop 22/45 works, screw off the thread protector cap & screw on the suppressor.
Anything that'll fit the steel one will fit the Lite.

Upgrades?
Lower poly frames are the same (both with mag disconnects), any upgrades for the regular 22/45 will work in the Lite's poly frame section.

Not much you can do with the upper, aside from swapping sights & adding an optic.
You're stuck with the factory barrel on the Lite, it's retained by a nut at the muzzle that's torqued & epoxied at the factory. You don't do anything with that nut, you don't remove the barrel from the alloy tube/receiver.
Denis
 
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I also want to know if the magazines of the Mark 2 and 3 can fit into the lite and if the Ruger .22/45 lite has a magazine disconnect.
Click to expand...

The magazines will work as long as they are for the 22/45. Regular or "standard" Mark II and III magazines will not work. Look at some photos of each type of magazine and you'll see why.

I would assume the "Lite" model does have the mag disconnect. This can be removed if desired and does require purchasing a differnent bushing or rigging up something yourself with washers, etc.

Hope that helps.
 
"Mark" is ONLY a generation descriptor in the Ruger .22 pistol lineup. It's not a model designation.
The current 22/45s ARE MARK IIIs (or Generation 3s), based on third gen features common to ALL current .22 Ruger pistols built following the general pattern of the original Standard Model way back when.

A better way to ask the question is- Will standard steel-framed pistol mags work in the polymer-framed 22/45s?
And the answer is no. Design's quite different.

Also, as I mentioned above, both the regular and Lite threaded-barrel 22/45 versions have mag disconnectors.
Denis

Black,
He was refering to the aluminum receiver on the 22/45 Lite, which is the serialized "frame", in one sense.
 
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The magazines will work as long as they are for the 22/45.
Click to expand...

This is not correct without modifying the gun, on the MKIII 22/45 there is a dimple on the back of the trigger that needs to pass into the mag body when firing, so there's a cutout in the MKIII mag to allow this to happen. If you insert a MKII mag the trigger cannot fully pull. There have been reports of people who have been able to fire theirs without modification which could be an out of spec trigger. Best bet is to install the VQ MKII kit and a MKII bushing which ditches the mag safety, mags eject when the catch is pushed, and allows use of MKII 22/45 mags, which are easier to get right now. That's what I did and the 2 lb near match grade trigger is worth the upgrade alone.

The LITE is not everyone's cup of tea. Personally, I was looking for something light weight but accurate and am a fan of the MK series, so I jumped on one first chance I had. I thought the looks were cool, something old and new at the same time. The "gold" does not look nearly abrasive in real life as it tends to in pictures.

I like mine so much I made a dedicated line of holsters for them.

IMG_1768.JPG


IMG_1764.JPG
 
Pac-Lite and Ruger 22/45

JUST prior,and I do mean just - to the Ruger lite coming out.

A close friend and I ordered a Pac-Lite upper and a 22/45 Ruger lower to put together a super light trail/shooter.

We are both retired LEO's and both of us have wanted that set up for about a decade.

I wound up paying a bit more,but I have a very nice looking and amazingly accurate pistol.

Only problem that I have,and others stated the same - is the M-III mags that came with the Ruger are taking a set way too soon.

Cannot leave them for more than a day w/o a FTF.
 
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The magazines will work as long as they are for the 22/45.

This is not correct without modifying the gun, on the MKIII 22/45 there is a dimple on the back of the trigger that needs to pass into the mag body when firing, so there's a cutout in the MKIII mag to allow this to happen. If you insert a MKII mag the trigger cannot fully pull. There have been reports of people who have been able to fire theirs without modification which could be an out of spec trigger. Best bet is to install the VQ MKII kit and a MKII bushing which ditches the mag safety, mags eject when the catch is pushed, and allows use of MKII 22/45 mags, which are easier to get right now. That's what I did and the 2 lb near match grade trigger is worth the upgrade alone.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the clarification. As I have removed the mag disconnect from my MkIII I had forgotten about that.
 
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