Range time with Ruger MKII's

My cousin called last week letting me know he'd bought a new-to-him Ruger MKII and wanted to set up a range time for us to go shoot together. I told him I would but he needed to BYOB (bring your own bullets), so we scheduled to meet up one afternoon.

I pulled three of my MKII's out of the vault, reminding myself to grab both MKII standard magazines and MKII 22/45 magazines. We had a great time, but my cousin's MKII standard with 4 inch tapered barrel was experiencing a few failure to feeds and jamming up the works, while I was not having any problems with any of mine. Eventually, I asked him if he wanted me to take a look so he handed it over. After making sure the gun was clear I gave it a visual once over and asked him if he'd field stripped it and cleaned it yet.

"No," he replied. I've never had one apart and I hear they're a bugger bear to get back together.

I guess I didn't conceal my rolling eyes very well because he looked at me and said "what?"

"Hey, my boys were field stripping and cleaning mine when they were 8 or 9 years old. If they can do it, I can teach you to do it."

He followed me home and I took him to my gun cleaning workbench. I pulled one of my MKII's from the bag, made sure it was clear, and told him to watch me field strip, clean, and put it back together. After I reassembled it, I told him to pull his out and do the same to it. After making sure his was clear, he field stripped it with no problem. I coached him through a proper cleaning, and with it being pre-owned, it looked as though it had never been field stripped. Who knows, maybe that's why the previous owner sold it. Once we got all the built up gunk out of it and cleaned it up, he put it back together correctly on the first try.

"Hey, that wasn't so hard," he said.

"Very good, now you can practice on my other two pistols."

I handed him my MKII 22/45 and told him the process was the same. He walked right through the disassembly, cleaning, and reassembly without a hitch. I then handed him my MKII Target with bull barrel and again he got it apart, cleaned, and back together without a hitch.

As I'm watching him clean up the last one I'm thinking, maybe some of these grown men who whine about how hard MKII's are to deal with just need a little mentoring. In all fairness, maybe they didn't have a dad or grandpa like my boys did to show them.

Even without a Dad or mentor there is no excuse. The manual provides a adequate description of the process, and there are plenty of videos on line showing how to do it. There are a lot harder things to put together than a mkii

The light finally came on, (more like a kerosene lantern), and I went out to the bolt and nut pan and found a 5/16" diameter bolt with a unthreaded section long enough to use as a line up pin. I sawed the threaded end off, deburred and cleaned it up.

Now when I start to reassemble the barrel to the frame, I use the line up pin to check the alinement of the bolt stop pin holes before attempting to insert the pin.

Now if I could just get it to shoot straight.

Good story.

Have a blessed day,

Leon

Mark II Ruger ... fine pistol. Learning to put one back together ... find exercise in learning patience ... and verbal control! Finally learning how to get one back together right the first time every time ... Satisfaction. Sincerely. bruce.

Bruce, maybe I need you and Faulkner to give me some pointers. I have my MK II apart quite often. Today I was messing with the trigger on the 6 7/8" barreled one, and got it back together, but it took about 30 min to get the latch to lock up properly. I had the 5 1/2" bull barreled one apart to look at concerning the trigger, must have taken all of 2 minutes to have it completely back together.

I think sometimes I'm getting old, might be part of the reason for my problems.

Have a blessed day,

Leon

The Ruger MkII pistol, my favorite .22 semi pistol of them all.

Go fourth and you'll never go back.

ETA: Well, maybe after a few minor modifications, that is.

Love the MKII's, great little pistols. I have a 5 1/2" bull barreled one that I love to shoot and sometimes take a few close-in squirrels with late in the season when they are feeding on the ground.

After reading this thread I broke it down and put it back together just to satisfy myself that I could with no problems. Mine is "very tight" and I have to use a rubber hammer to get the barrel off and then back onto the frame......not gonna complain because it has a great trigger and is very accurate, so the need for the hammer is no big deal to me.

Don

woodsltc said:

Love the MKII's, great little pistols. I have a 5 1/2" bull barreled one that I love to shoot and sometimes take a few close-in squirrels with late in the season when they are feeding on the ground.

After reading this thread I broke it down and put it back together just to satisfy myself that I could with no problems. Mine is "very tight" and I have to use a rubber hammer to get the barrel off and then back onto the frame......not gonna complain because it has a great trigger and is very accurate, so the need for the hammer is no big deal to me.

Don

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I prefer them to be tap-of-the-hammer tight. That's one reason I'm not so fond of my MKIV, it and all the other one's I've field stripped don't seem to be so tight and subsequently not as accurate.

Hey Faulkner:

Do you have an opinion on the hammer strut support device for the Mark II pistols that I see advertised in the American Rifleman? Supposed to make re-assembly a snap. Ruger MK Reassembly |the One-Time Fix |Hammer Strut Support

I am wondering if it solves the problem experienced by so many shooters.

ordnanceguy said:

Hey Faulkner:

Do you have an opinion on the hammer strut support device for the Mark II pistols that I see advertised in the American Rifleman? Supposed to make re-assembly a snap. Ruger MK Reassembly |the One-Time Fix |Hammer Strut Support

I am wondering if it solves the problem experienced by so many shooters.

Click to expand...

Just so happens one of my co-workers ordered one and I helped him install it. It works exactly as advertised. For someone who is not so mechanically inclined or if someone who (like me) field strips their handguns after every shooting, it might be worth while to install.

I bought a MK II in high school from a classmate in about 1975 and it had the 4-3/4 barrel and an after market adjustable rear sight, there was no manual with the gun. I just figured out how to strip it and there was a little trick to putting it back together but figured that out pretty quickly also and I was not very smart in high school

ordnanceguy said:

Hey Faulkner:

Do you have an opinion on the hammer strut support device for the Mark II pistols that I see advertised in the American Rifleman? Supposed to make re-assembly a snap. Ruger MK Reassembly |the One-Time Fix |Hammer Strut Support

I am wondering if it solves the problem experienced by so many shooters.

Click to expand...

I agree with Faulkner. I purchased an HSS for my MKIII Standard and it absolutely works. Seemed a little pricey at $16 bucks, but it certainly makes reassembly easier.

It is funny you posted this. I bought a used MKII heavy barrel and never cleaned it since I thought it was hard to put back together. Honestly when I go to the range and shoot a 22 it is a S&W Model 41. I had to watch a youtube video on how to get the MKII back together, but it wasn't that bad. It made me appreciate the S&W Model 41 even more.

brucev said:

Mark II Ruger ... fine pistol. Learning to put one back together ... find exercise in learning patience ... and verbal control! Finally learning how to get one back together right the first time every time ... Satisfaction. Sincerely. bruce.

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No experience with the MKII, but I've had a MKI (A54), 6 7/8 tapered bull bbl, since Christmas 1961 and since passed on to my son. Was my go-to target pistol till the M41 arrived in 1991, 30 years later. Then, it was mostly retired.

Question is, is the MKII more difficult to re-assemble than the MKI? The MKI was a bear to figure out for a 13YO, but it did get done ...eventually.

Rob

wetdog1911 said:

....Question is, is the MKII more difficult to re-assemble than the MKI? Rob

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Exactly the same. Joe

Ole Joe Clark said:

Bruce, maybe I need you and Faulkner to give me some pointers. I have my MK II apart quite often. Today I was messing with the trigger on the 6 7/8" barreled one, and got it back together, but it took about 30 min to get the latch to lock up properly. I had the 5 1/2" bull barreled one apart to look at concerning the trigger, must have taken all of 2 minutes to have it completely back together.

I think sometimes I'm getting old, might be part of the reason for my problems.

Have a blessed day

Leon

Click to expand...

I use the factory pin for a line-up tool inserting it from the top of the barrel before trying to insert it from the bottom.

Most of the reassembly problems are caused by the hammer being in the cocked' position. Reach thru the back using a q-tip to push the hammer up into about a half-cock position. This will allow the strut to fall in the correct cavity of the mainspring.