Ruger Mark III's-Make Them Great for $60

[steamloco76]

Since Ruger introduced the new Mark IV pistols with their push button take-down, many Mark III owners are trading in their pistols on the new model. Some Mark II's are coming in too, but they are still selling for good money, as they don't have the two things people hate on the Mark III, the magazine disconnect and the dumb loaded chamber indicator, which is mainly a fouling catcher.

I've owned three Mark III's, the most accurate or which is a 5.5 inch bull barrel Target Model (probably the most commonly traded model). I set this pistol up for my wife and she really likes shooting it. Three issues kept her from loving it, jams due to the loaded chamber indicator, the magazine disconnect and a horrible trigger. The magazine disconnect is about 40% of the bad trigger and contributes greatly to the frustration level when doing a take-down of the MKII, since the trigger must be pulled more than once during the procedure. Mag in, mag out, mag in, mag out.

I read many posts on Rimfire Central and the Ruger forums, and watched videos regarding modifying the Mark III to Mark II standards. Some people spent over $200 for the full Volquartsen accurizing kits, LCI removal plug and other stuff.
Well, let me tell you, for about $60 and a little careful parts installation the Mark III can have a trigger under 3lbs, no mag disconnect and no loaded chamber indicator, plus you don't have to disassemble the trigger group.

The parts you need are the TandemKross Mark III hammer bushing ($10) which eliminates the magazine disconnect parts, the Voquartsent MKII/III sear ($29) and one of the LCI filler kits ($20) which blanks the slot in the receiver and lets you remove the LCI components. The installation isn't hard, just fiddly. As long as you have a pair of bent nosed reasonably long tweezers, a magnet to pull the pin from the LCI and some patients, you can do it!

Here is the wife's pistol with the TandemKross LCI filler showing. Also has a Volquartsen Compensator-which does reduce muzzle flip on this pistol. I can shoot dime sized groups at 25 yards with this gun using CCI Standard Velocity ammo now that the trigger went from 6lbs with lots of creep down to under 3lbs with just a hint of pre-travel slop.

This is the Loaded Chamber Indicator or LCI. Notice it has two springs and a little metal hand which rides against the head of a chambered round. Fouling gets behind and around this hand causing it to exert more than just spring pressure on rounds being chambered leading to failures to feed on occasion. Plus the LCI barely sticks out of the receiver when the gun is loaded, so it is not a very reliable indicator! Why Ruger ever put this into production...

 

[catadjuster]

I have done all of the modifications to my Mark III except for the loaded chamber indicator. I have never had any issue with the gun that could be traced to that item so I have not done anything with it. If that should change, I will definitely remove it since it has worked for you.

 

[gnystrom]

You are correct on the MKIII's I have two, a Hunter and a 22/45 with a full Volquartsen lower. As an instructor both these guns have well over 100,000 rounds through them and all I have replaced are recoil springs.

My III's all have the LCI removed and filled, the mag disconnect removed, and everything else in both guns is from Volquartsen. I have field stripped these guns so many times I rival those that work with the MKIV.

 

[OLDSTER]

Up grades

Yessir. This MKIII has all three upgrades you listed, as well as Ruger target stocks. Many thousands of rounds of enjoyment have gone through this pistol

 

[steamloco76]

I have done all of the modifications to my Mark III except for the loaded chamber indicator. I have never had any issue with the gun that could be traced to that item so I have not done anything with it. If that should change, I will definitely remove it since it has worked for you.

LCI issues are ammo dependent. Plated ammo never seems to cause problems. CCI Standard is clean and caused no issues, however my two favorite plinking rounds Federal 510 and Federal Auto Match have a lot of wax on the bullets which built up in under 200 rounds causing mis-feeds.
You can just remove the LCI hand and its little spring leaving the flag in place, but for $20, the filler looks a lot better.

 

[ChattanoogaPhil]

All I've done to my MKIII is install a VQ sear for $20. LCI has never given me any problems nor has the mag disconect. Great little pistol.

 

[arjay]

I did the VQ sear and trigger along with a bam bushing to mine and boy is that trigger light! My early mark I standard is stock and my mark I target had a trigger job long before I got it.Those early triggers are much nicer than a factory mark III trigger!

 

[Mainsail]

The only Ruger parts in mine are the bolt and the mainspring.

Volqs lower, TacSol upper, three-dot sights, and recently added Vortex Viper.

 

[eveled]

I've been buying / hoarding mkII's since mkIlI's came out. They took a step backwards with the mkIII's IMHO.

I never thought Ruger would actually go in the right direction with the mklV's.

I see mkIII's selling for bargain prices, so these mods make a lot of sense. Good post OP.

The mkIV's do seem nice, but don't have the clean lines of the earlier standards and mkl and mkII's plus they don't have the variety of models yet. The deal breaker for me is the magazines don't interchange. I'm sticking with my mkII's.

Locally I haven't seen a price drop on the mkII's, but they aren't selling quick anymore either.

 

[Ranger98]

22/45 with Volquartsen bolt and sear.MKll bushing and G10 grips

 

[gnystrom]

Here is what the gun looks like with the LCI removed and replaced with a filler strip. Although, regardless of ammo choice, I never had any problems with the LCI in place, it does make the gun much easier to clean.

 

[steamloco76]

Some good replies here.
You can spend thousands of dollars upgrading Ruger's Mark series pistols. My original post was to let anybody out there presented with a good deal on a Mark III, or owning one already, the lowest cost path to a super reliable pistol with a nearly great trigger. Many won't remove the LCI, which saves $20. If you've put in a Volquartsen sear and still have the magazine disconnect, your trigger is nowhere near as good as it could be!

The mag disconnect is a source of considerable friction due to the connecting lever riding against the top of the magazine. The replacement bushing gets rid of those unnecessary parts plus the bushings are super polished to reduce friction even more. One of the best $10 firearm investments I ever made was the TandemKross hammer bushing.

I do have two Mark II's that I shoot. One is a FrankenRuger which has the full Volquartsen kit in the lower plus some polishing of the internal surfaces. The parts and gunsmithing were done before I bought the gun used. I ended up taking that blued lower and putting it under a scoped stainless heavy tapered barrel 6 7/8ths target upper to create the most accurate .22 handgun I've ever owned (and I've have WAY too many). I also used a new Volquartsen mainspring assembly. They are way better finished than the Ruger version and fit better. The left over blued upper/stainless lower MKII 512 I traded in on a MKII Competition Target SS with an Aimpoint which has a Volquartsen trigger but the OE sear. Why? Oh, well I have a VQ sear coning for it.
The FrankenRuger

 

[Muley Gil]

The only Ruger .22 pistol I own is a Mark I Target. It has a 6 7/8” barrel. By the way, it is US stamped.

 

[bgrafsr]

This is my MKIII .22/45. I milled the molded frame to remove the molded in grips, drilled and tapped the holes for the grip screws, and installed the Pachmayr grips. I removed the Pachmayr medallions from the grips and glued in the Ruger medallions.
All my MKIII's have Clark or Volquartsen after market triggers and Volquartsen hammers and sears, plus I too removed the LCI and used a blank to fill the hole.
I even made up my own hammer bushings for some of the guns, since I have a metal lathe in the garage.



Here is another MKIII with one of my suppressors on it.



Finally my MKII Government Target Model with box:

 

[PALADIN85020]

I have two Mark IIIs, a 5.5" bull barrel and a 22/45 Hunter. Both bought on a whim, and both now sitting in their original boxes with only a few rounds fired from each.

The Mark III was designed by lawyers and bean counters. It's a shame that this Frankengun came to be - the Mark II was just fine, and it wasn't broke. Everything you needed, and nothing you didn't. The old takedown procedure wasn't too bad; once learned, it was a piece of cake. The Mark III made it damn near impossible without a road map of some sort.

The Mark III was the reason for the Mark IV - unscrewing the screwup. I love the new takedown procedure, but the trigger pull is still influenced by the mag safety, and could use some fine tuning. Personally, I think if the mag safety was tossed, the Mark IV would be close to perfect.

John

Original Ruger "Red Eagle" Standard model

Mark I

Mark II Government Model

Mark III 22-45 Hunter

Mark IV Target