Ruger MKIII 22/45 Upgrades

[PaFrank]

I have one of these and it is a great little inexpensive target pistol.. Besides for my own enjoyment, it is what I use to teach first-timers to shoot with.

The problem is, it has a few "lawyer" parts that inhibit reliable functionality, as well as a few soft stamped parts that can give the same results. (failures de jour) The design also prevents magazines from dropping free when the mag release is pressed, requiring the operator to physically extract the empty mag from the pistol. And then of course there is the bolt release which can only be activated by pressing the bolt(slide) release. You cannot just pull back on the slide and release to put the gun into battery. These issues are confusing to beginners especially as the graduate to different pistols.

I found and installed a bunch of upgrades I found from a company called Tandemkross that improved the function of this pistol immensely. They are:

1. Loaded Chamber indicator replacement. Eliminates the drag and fail to feeds when the gun gets dirty. (may not be legal to re-sell like this depending on where you live so don't lose the old part!)
2. Titanium firing pin. less that half the weight of a factory pin (theoretically reduces lock time)
3. Hardened extractor
4. Hammer bushing (allows removal and safe operation with Magazine disconnector removed. Mags now drop free)
5. Sling shot parts kit. (allows slide/bot to be release by pulling and releasing bolt, vs via only the slide release button
6. Extended Mag release. I didn't install this one for a couple reasons... i'm a lefty and I think it would get in my way, and it was probably the biggest PITA to install besides the extractor.

All these upgrades took me about 2 hours from start to finish to install and test fire... going back and forth to my PC to watch the installation videos.

I'm glad I finally installed this stuff and highly recommend it. They have a bunch of other upgrades and stuff for other pistols as well.

Here's a link if your interested. https://www.tandemkross.com/

 

[VoodooMountain]

I really like my mkiii and mkii and have no issues with them that I can think of. I have no problem with the setup out of the box for my intended use.

However, I wish Ruger would offer a competition version or something that would have the slingshot kit, mag disconnect removed, lci removed, trigger upgrade, and maybe a mag release extension.

 

[1KPerDay]

Slingshot mod is free and easy; simply remove the spring and detent from the slide stop. It then works by gravity just like the MKI

 

[Blue68f100]

The LCI I use a indicator it's time to clean the gun when it starts sticking. Normally around 2k rounds. I've always use the Clark bushing /pin set when removing the mag safety. If done right you go from 3 rotating surfaces down to 1, eliminating trigger creep. Mine is the Std MKIII not the 22/45 so thats all that is needed unless you want to lighten the trigger. Then the VQ spring set works just fine.