Ruger Mark III 22/45 cleaning question.

[KentuckySteve]

I have finally mastered the puzzle of taking my new Ruger Mark III apart and putting it back together. I'm a genius!

My question is....how often do you have to clean this 22? When I clean it after 500-800 rounds, it never looks very dirty inside.

Also, I have never taken the bolt assembly apart. It looks pretty hard to do. Does it need to be taken apart and cleaned also?

Thanks in advance for any help with this.

 

[MaterDei]

Some people never clean their 22s. I usually clean mine each time I shoot them though I must admit that I do it because I like cleaning them, not necessarily because they need it.

 

[JohnKSa]

Assuming it's just a range gun (not used for self-defense), I would recommend cleaning a rimfire when you notice accuracy start to fall off, when you notice that the fouling is beginning to cause function issues, or when you get bored.

 

[KentuckySteve]

Thank You for the replies.

I do just use it to range fire. Just target practice, they are alot of fun. And the ammo is not too expensive either.

 

[kingpin008]

I also rarely clean my .22's. I have a MK III Hunter, and it's got a few thousand rounds through it so far, and never yet had a reason to run a patch down the bore. I think I've swabbed the breech face with a Hoppes soaked Q-Tip once or twice, but as JohnKSa said, it was more out of boredom than anything else.

 

[JohnKSa]

Missed your second question.

I would rate taking the bolt apart at a slightly higher difficult level than taking the gun down for cleaning. It's got some spring-loaded parts that can move around on you during disassembly and that will have to be held in place during assembly.

Just go slowly and make sure that you keep track of how things go back together.

As far as when it needs to be done--I'd say that you can clean the gun adequately without stripping the bolt. Just make sure you clean under the extractor with a toothbrush or something similar.

 

[SGW42]

I field strip and completely clean both my Mk II and III after every time I shoot them.

With the bolt, I just pop the spring assembly off the top and scrub the face with a nylon brush. I've never removed the firing pin or extractor.

The Mk II probably has 10K rounds through it (maybe 30 or 40 disassembles/reassembles) and still runs like a top.