I bought a new Ruger MKIII Target at the DFW Market Hall gun show yesterday, and took it to the range today for some shooting. Range report will come below after my initial observations.
The gun is solid in my hand and it grips well for me. I'm not a huge fan of the plastic grips and may upgrade to some wood ones at some point, but for now they do fine. I was specifically looking for a target model with the bull barrel, as I'm not a huge fan of the tapered barrel on the standard model. The target model has adjustable rear sights, but they seemed to be 'on' out of the box without necessary adjustments as you will see below. At longer distances they may need some adjusting, but for plinking distance they were fine.
When I got it home, I wanted to disassemble the gun and clean out all of the factory gunk. MKs are known for being a PITA to disassemble...especially when they are new. Mine wasn't any different. I could easily get the mainspring housing and the bolt out, but was unsuccessful getting the barrel disconnected from the frame. I couldn't find my rubber mallet, so I used a regular hammer with some duct tape wrapped on it in an attempt to strike the barrel off the frame (as instructed by Ruger's videos online). This didn't work, even with some pretty forceful strikes, so I gave up and figured I would shoot it a bit and see if it loosens up. So I cleaned what I was able to reach, no biggie here.
In my attempt to reassemble, I had some problems getting the mainspring housing put back into the gun. Initially it didn't want to slide back into it's position, but I applied some grease to the shaft and ended up getting it worked into the correct position. However, when trying to 'close' the mainspring housing back into position, it kept creeping out of position. After reading some tips on another site I realized I had forgotten to insert the magazine into the gun when setting the hammer forward. The magazine needs to be in the gun to properly work the trigger/hammer and I neglected this fact. The hammer was moving around a little bit without the magazine so I thought when I was setting it forward, or in the decocked position, I was doing it properly. However, after inserting the magazine and holding the trigger, I was able to move the hammer up completely and the mainspring housing reassembled back into the gun no problems. So that's 100% my error, and I'll learn from that mistake and never go there again.
I assume the barrel will eventually come loose from the frame so I can get in there and clean it up. I did end up buying a new rubber mallet so I will try to get it off again next time I get around to cleaning it. I'm not a hardcore cleaner so it might be a few more trips before I clean it again. Personal choice....until it starts to malfunction, I'm not really worried about it. Guns are meant to be shot. Anyways-
So the disassembly/reassembly is somewhat of a PITA, but as everyone says, it gets easier with practice and use the of gun. I wouldn't let this impact your decision on buying a Ruger.
Regarding my range time, the gun performed flawlessly through about 300 rounds of 4 different types of ammo. I didn't experience a single malfunction whatsoever. I shot Federal Bulk, Remington Golden Bullets, CCI MiniMags, and SK Match. Pictures are below (When I got home I realized I had forgotten to take pictures of the SK match target :banghead: ). All of the shots were about 1 second apart; I certainly didn't rapid fire but I didn't sit and take my precious time either. Fired a shot, got on target, fired a shot, etc. Some some of the grouping would probably shrink if I took my time and shot slowly.
I started with Federal Bulk, 80 rounds. 15 feet.
Then I shot 50 Remington Golden Bullets. Rem. 22LR is generally hated because of it's inconsistency, dirtiness, and failure rate. While yes, I did experience some inconsistencies in the ammo while it shot, I didn't have any malfunctions. It looks like I might have had a few fliers...I don't think I pulled the shots but I might have. I blame the ammo since Rem is junk. 15 feet.
Following the Remington was 30 CCI MiniMags. I wish I had brought more but I had a partially shot container and that was all I brought. These seemed to group really well; like I said previously I wish I had brought more. 15 feet.
Here's 100 Federal rounds at 20 feet.
Overall I thought the gun shot great and I'm happy with it. I had been in the market for a .22LR for a while, and I had a good opportunity yesterday to get one, so I did. Let me know if you have any questions or comments.
The gun is solid in my hand and it grips well for me. I'm not a huge fan of the plastic grips and may upgrade to some wood ones at some point, but for now they do fine. I was specifically looking for a target model with the bull barrel, as I'm not a huge fan of the tapered barrel on the standard model. The target model has adjustable rear sights, but they seemed to be 'on' out of the box without necessary adjustments as you will see below. At longer distances they may need some adjusting, but for plinking distance they were fine.
When I got it home, I wanted to disassemble the gun and clean out all of the factory gunk. MKs are known for being a PITA to disassemble...especially when they are new. Mine wasn't any different. I could easily get the mainspring housing and the bolt out, but was unsuccessful getting the barrel disconnected from the frame. I couldn't find my rubber mallet, so I used a regular hammer with some duct tape wrapped on it in an attempt to strike the barrel off the frame (as instructed by Ruger's videos online). This didn't work, even with some pretty forceful strikes, so I gave up and figured I would shoot it a bit and see if it loosens up. So I cleaned what I was able to reach, no biggie here.
In my attempt to reassemble, I had some problems getting the mainspring housing put back into the gun. Initially it didn't want to slide back into it's position, but I applied some grease to the shaft and ended up getting it worked into the correct position. However, when trying to 'close' the mainspring housing back into position, it kept creeping out of position. After reading some tips on another site I realized I had forgotten to insert the magazine into the gun when setting the hammer forward. The magazine needs to be in the gun to properly work the trigger/hammer and I neglected this fact. The hammer was moving around a little bit without the magazine so I thought when I was setting it forward, or in the decocked position, I was doing it properly. However, after inserting the magazine and holding the trigger, I was able to move the hammer up completely and the mainspring housing reassembled back into the gun no problems. So that's 100% my error, and I'll learn from that mistake and never go there again.
I assume the barrel will eventually come loose from the frame so I can get in there and clean it up. I did end up buying a new rubber mallet so I will try to get it off again next time I get around to cleaning it. I'm not a hardcore cleaner so it might be a few more trips before I clean it again. Personal choice....until it starts to malfunction, I'm not really worried about it. Guns are meant to be shot. Anyways-
So the disassembly/reassembly is somewhat of a PITA, but as everyone says, it gets easier with practice and use the of gun. I wouldn't let this impact your decision on buying a Ruger.
Regarding my range time, the gun performed flawlessly through about 300 rounds of 4 different types of ammo. I didn't experience a single malfunction whatsoever. I shot Federal Bulk, Remington Golden Bullets, CCI MiniMags, and SK Match. Pictures are below (When I got home I realized I had forgotten to take pictures of the SK match target :banghead: ). All of the shots were about 1 second apart; I certainly didn't rapid fire but I didn't sit and take my precious time either. Fired a shot, got on target, fired a shot, etc. Some some of the grouping would probably shrink if I took my time and shot slowly.
I started with Federal Bulk, 80 rounds. 15 feet.
Then I shot 50 Remington Golden Bullets. Rem. 22LR is generally hated because of it's inconsistency, dirtiness, and failure rate. While yes, I did experience some inconsistencies in the ammo while it shot, I didn't have any malfunctions. It looks like I might have had a few fliers...I don't think I pulled the shots but I might have. I blame the ammo since Rem is junk. 15 feet.
Following the Remington was 30 CCI MiniMags. I wish I had brought more but I had a partially shot container and that was all I brought. These seemed to group really well; like I said previously I wish I had brought more. 15 feet.
Here's 100 Federal rounds at 20 feet.
Overall I thought the gun shot great and I'm happy with it. I had been in the market for a .22LR for a while, and I had a good opportunity yesterday to get one, so I did. Let me know if you have any questions or comments.
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