Ruger MkIII 22/45RP good and bad...

[Sushigaijin]

I lurk a lot, and have learned a lot of good stuff from this forum. Just thought I'd share something since I have something to share.

I have a few handguns but the economy pushed me into buying the new 22/45RP in the 5.5" bbl. It's a pretty gun that didn't cost much and is typical of Ruger's good value for the money line-up. I took it home, wiped it down (very greasy) and went to the range to break it in. I had two bulk packs, a remington cyclone (very, very, very cheap) and a WWB. The Cyclones were variable and felt inconsistent. Some were sharp and some were soft. All flew a little high compared to the WWB. I could still pull 2" magazines at 50 feet, and had no failures. The WWB were more consistant, but five or six failed to cock the hammer. other than that, all fed, fired, and extracted. I'm sure that this is because the gun is new and needs a couple of range days to soften up. My groups were a bit tighter in general, but not by much.

And here's a momento of the first round through my new gun. it's a WWB. The round sailed about two feet high. I'm just glad it made it out of the barrel. It was a little disheartening. I'm glad the rest worked. Good times.

 

[LawofThirds]

I've had great results with CCI Blazer 22LR. No duds so far out of a couple thousand shots and great accuracy.

 

[Sushigaijin]

Thanks! my last .22 hated Blazer, but I'll definitely give it a go with the Ruger. Are Kabooms common in .22?

 

[Kingofthehill]

Interesting.

FWIW- I just got a new 22/45 MKIII and put it through a good workout of 2 boxes of Federal 550 bulk packs from Walmart the first day. They all ran 100% and only a handful felt "Soft"

Overall Accuracy was very very good and Quarter size 5 shot groups at 12 yards no problem.





Today after work i used this federal ammo.


They all worked and ejected fine but QC seemed to be an issue with powder loads. Every mag i shot i could feel at least 2 per mag that felt very odd. Some more powerful and some less powerful but they were very scattered.

I won't be buying them again and besides, the accuracy was worse than the 550's and they were much more dirty.

 

[Pilot]

Hmmmm. I've had very good luck with Federal Automatch in my Rugers. Maybe you got a bad batch?

 

[Kingofthehill]

That is totally possible. The 550 bulk pack was just more consistant and its not bare lead so thats a plus for me.

 

[340PD]

The MKIII's seem to be more fussy with ammo than the previous guns. Probably due to the Loaded Chamber Indicater and other safety devices.
Keep the action clean and let the gun break in. I did add a Volquartsen trigger kit to my gun as well as a Volquartsen heavy duty extractor. It really makes it a great target gun. These parts can be addid as your addicition grows.

 

[Ben86]

For the range I use federal champion LRN. It's very reliable, feeds great and is very accurate. Federal bulk ammo is the best IMO, followed by Winchester. Stay away from Remington bulk packs. Federal bulk ammo is just seated so much tighter, has more consistent charges and primer and better quality brass.

 

[Taurus_9mm]

I run the Federal bulk packs through my 22/45 also and never have experienced any issues with it. For relatively inexpensive fodder it performs well in the little Ruger.

 

[Sushigaijin]

I'll check out the federal too, it isn't any more expensive than the WWB. I was just surprised because I've fired many thousands of WWB in 9mm and .38sp, and never had ANY variability. I usually consider it the lowest common denominator; cheap, easy to find, and utterly reliable.

Today I took it apart a few times to familiarize myself with the way it works. I think that detail stripping it was the best thing I could have done to understand how and why to shore it up.

I disabled the LCI, Cut down four washers to replace the magazine safety, polished the sear, hammer and disconnect with a bit of #2000, removed the detent for the "slingshot" mod, and even put a tiny brass washer between the slide lock and the trigger, on the trigger pin, to tighten up the sideways slop in the trigger. Now it's tight and crisp, although I think the polishing increased the trigger pull a bit because the sear and trigger contact each other better. It's firmer, but also much crisper and has zero "creep." I'll tap the trigger for travel screws this weekend and shoot again monday. In another 1000 rounds or so I'll have to decide if I want lighter springs, the VQ sear, or any of the other goodies that are floating around out there. It's like barbie for gun people.

 

[Ben86]

Today I took it apart a few times to familiarize myself with the way it works. I think that detail stripping it was the best thing I could have done to understand how and why to shore it up.

It's refreshing to not hear someone whine about how hard it is to take apart and put back together, like it's rocket surgery. Then you go detail stripping it and moding it already. Good job.