Is this one. C’mon, Ruger owners, ‘fess up. You clean your Mark Whatever .22 when it gets so gunked up it just won’t feed anymore, and you’re always half-convinced that’s the last time you’ll ever see it intact.
I love my 22/45. It’s precise, it’s handy, I’ve killed almost as many chickens with it as with my hatchet and far more varmints with it than with my rifle. Don’t get me wrong: I firmly believe there is no better .22 pistol for the money. Until I’m forced to clean it. Then for a few minutes it’s the bane of my existence.
It comes apart so easily! But I’m fairly sure there are Jesuits who got through their full training with less trouble – and less anxiety – than I spend getting the damned thing back together again. I have one antediluvian .pdf file that has followed me from computer to computer like a faithful minion, and if I ever lose it I’m lost. Lost.
I’m never certain of success until I’ve stepped out to the target and put half a dozen rounds through it. Then I can forget the whole ordeal until next time, a few bricks down the road.
Any firearm that may require a mallet to re-assemble has some issues: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UeY9s2TYAOk
Sweet baby Jesus thank you for this post. I thought it was just me. For 30 years I have been taking that pistol down to clean it while the whole time dreading putting it back together. Other than the nightmare of reassembly, it is as you say, the best .22 for the money.
OMG, the LOLs! I used to have one of those Ruger Mark-somethings in the 90s. Not only was it impossible to reassemble, but the instructions in the manual for reassembling it were completely wrong. I had to call Ruger and one of their reps spent half an hour on the phone with me carefully spelling out the RIGHT way to do it. I wrote the new way down and kept the notes tucked into the manual.
Hysterically, the right way was just as damn-near-impossible as the wrong way. I swear it required Harry Potter-level magic to get that thing back together.
I finally sold it to someone who swore that he was 100% unbothered by that problem since he never, ever cleaned his guns.
Great little shooter. But oh my goodness!
I have both an original Standard Pistol and a Mark I Target Pistol which share the same takedown/reassembly procedure. As long as you understand that it’s imperative that the little hangy-down hammer thingy has to be clear of the cross-pin in the frame and aligned with the “pocket” on top of the mainspring, the housing latch will snap into position properly. I find the secret to this is to hold the pistol with the muzzle pointing vertical and observing the position of the hangy-down thingy as I start the motion of closing the housing latch. Works — almost — every time.
The Mark II and Mark III (and 22/45) are different deals altogether.
🙂
Yes, I’ve heard the horror stories, and no, I’ve never tried to take the Mark II apart. I don’t ever intend to try it. 🙂 If it ever really, REALLY needs to be disassembled, I’ll take it to a friendly gunsmith and let him cuss. It would be well worth it… especially if he lets me watch. LOL He put the M1 .30 carbine back together when I kept coming up with parts that didn’t fit anywhere. We had a hysterical time with it.
I don’t let the .22 get too dirty, but when it starts to have misfeed problems, I put it in a metal pan outside on the deck, saturate the whole thing with carburetor cleaner, then let it drain overnight. A bore snake cleans the barrel, and brushes/patches clean the action and magazine well. I soak the magazines too occasionally, let them drain, and detail with long q tips. When everything seems clean and dry, I use a little spray EEZox on the whole thing, being sure to get a light mist into any crevices. Set it aside and let it dry for another night, then wipe it down again. Rust not a problem with the EEZox, and it shoots fine for another six months or so. Been doing that most of the last ten years, and don’t see any need to take it apart.
A magazine interlock on a pistol with my 22/45’s reassembly procedure is particularly goofy. Installing a bushing to remove the interlock is no more difficult than reassembling after a field strip, and then you don’t have to insert an empty magazine and pull the trigger anymore.
I know that feeling. The first time I tried following the instructions for reassembly I swore they were for the wrong pistol. Since then I’ve gotten pretty good at it, but there’s always that moment when I’m trying to shake the hammer into position that I feel like this.
http://mausersandmuffins.blogspot.com/2012/09/parts-of-complete-breakfast.html?m=1
Try not to drop any parts!
Within this link there is a picture of a disassembled Mark III that you might appreciate:
http://mausersandmuffins.blogspot.com/2013/01/40-ounces-of-history-springfield-armory.html
I think it is picture number eleven.
I don’t know if this is a good product or not, but prior to cleaning my MK11 again I plan to find out…
http://majesticarms.com/id10.html
Jean — That’s hilarious! Here’s a direct link to the photo:
https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lPQrp-cTwCw/UQcKL6cGCyI/AAAAAAAAhPs/w4QRdcWM8_I/s1600/SAM_3492.JPG
And by golly, I do absolutely swear-ta-god-believe that the Ruger Mark-something I owned had ever, single one of those items in it. And more!
Oh sorry. Should have said Jean AND Steve!
I found the perfect solution for mine.
I sold it and bought a Buckmark.
I had two of them, sold both and bought a Smith&Wesson 41. Lock the slide back, pull down the trigger guard and the barrel comes right off. No cussin’ and banging. Simple is better, and more accurate.
I solved this issue most easily. I just never clean mine after I quit drinking.
Ever.
And on the occasions that I defy my own solution, the sole of a boot sees as a mallet.
*serves……