REVIEW: Speed strip kit for Ruger .22s

[Cheeseybacon]

A while ago I bought a Ruger Mark II .22 somewhat as an impulse buy. I hadn't done a whole lot of research on semi-auto .22 pistols at the time, but my buddy already researched and bought a semi-auto .22 pistol just a few months prior so I trusted that he'd steer me in the right direction. It took a while but the unique, almost Luger-esque looks of the Ruger Mark II began to grow on me so I decided that was what I was going to get. My buddy cautioned me that the only thing to be wary of with the Rugers was "people say they are kinda tricky to field strip and assemble." Baaahh! Tricky? C'mon, how hard could it be?

Well the answer to that question is: Hard. Really really REALLY hard. I am absolutely certain without a shadow of a doubt that the Ruger Mark .22 pistol is the most frustrating, aggravating, absolutely flabbergastingly difficult pistol that I have ever had the misfortune to field strip and I think a lot of you guys who own a Ruger Mark series pistol will also agree. Who the hell designed this thing? Were the engineers who designed this thing on drugs at the time? Or were they just cruel, sadistic bastards who intentionally made the gun difficult, taking pleasure knowing that the end user would spend hours on end spewing forth a continuous stream of obscenities as they battled to reassemble their weapon after what should have been a very simple field strip?

Thankfully, this is no longer the case for me. My dad, being the thoughtful man that he is, noticed that I had only field stripped my Ruger twice since I bought it and gave me a Ruger .22 speed strip kit for Christmas. The kit is $45 and is made by a small company called Majestic Arms Ltd. which is surprisingly based out of NYC of all places (aren't guns essentially illegal there?). The kit is remarkably simple and consists of two components: A new hammer and a 2-piece bolt stop pin. Both pieces are well machined and appear to be just as good quality as the original factory Ruger components and are compatible with all Mark I, II, III and 22/45 pistols.

The whole setup is designed to allow removal of the bolt assembly, without having to go through the frustration associated with yanking out the mainspring housing and then the even more diabolical task of reinstalling the mainspring housing while simultaneously realigning it with the hammer strut. Once the kit is installed, the bolt can be easily removed for cleaning simply by using the supplied wrench to unscrew the new two-piece bolt stop pin from the mainspring housing. Best of all, this is all done without actually disturbing the mainspring housing itself, which is the most frustrating aspect of this gun's reassembly.

The installation of the kit involves first field stripping the gun then smacking the upper receiver with a rubber mallet to break it off of the lower receiver. Once that's finished, it is a fairly simple and/or hideous matter to remove the factory hammer from the lower receiver and transfer the hammer strut onto the new hammer before installing it. Caution must be taken when performing this step. The instructions warn you not to back the hammer pin out any farther than is necessary to remove the hammer. However, if you aren't careful (like me) and accidentally push the hammer pin out too far off the frame, you will find that the slide stop, safety switch, trigger spring, trigger spring plunger, disconnector and sear will all come flying out as well. I wasn't so careful and ended up extending the time it took to install this kit by an hour or so as I learned how to reassemble the lower receiver. Next the new 2-piece bolt stop pin is installed onto the mainspring house. After that is all said and done, all that is left is reassemble the pistol one last freakin' time using the old assembly procedure. It was extra aggravating, knowing that I was so close to hassle-free disassembly/assembly and yet I had to endure the awful old method one last miserable time.

Once together the kit does work as exactly as advertised and Bolt removal can be done in less than 10 seconds. Do be warned that the illustrations included in instructions are rather lousy and resemble caveman drawings more than anything. If you can detail strip a 1911, you shouldn't have any trouble with this either, but definitely have an exploded view of the pistol handy as it is very likely you will also unintentionally break the lower receiver down significantly farther than what the instructions cover.

Over all I give this kit an A- and I whole heartedly recommend that anyone with a Ruger semi-auto .22 pistol get one of these ASAP. It is stupendously clever system that really simplifies what is otherwise a task so hideous that I avoided performing it for many months at a time. If the instructions were just a little bit better I would undoubtedly give this product an A++ without any hesitation.

[Lucas]

Thanks for that write up. I may have to look into these kits some more. I know a few other people that may benefit from it as well. Tried to give you rep points, but got the "spread the herpes around first" message

SOBERBYKER, PAGING SOBERBYKER, please pickup the blue courtesy phone in aisle 5

[Philadelphia]

Glad you are happy with it and it's working out for you.

No question that field stripping and reassembling any Ruger .22 requires a lot of repetition (repetition, repetition, . . . ) to get it right and if you haven't done it in a while a little head scratching before it all comes back.

While I'm not in the market for a product like this, it looks like a clever solution to that issue.

[Cheeseybacon]

What I don't understand is why Ruger didn't do something like this YEARS ago. I can't possibly be the first person out there who was fed up with the breakdown/assembly procedure for this gun, and it's not like this particular type of pistol is new or anything.

[ar15jules]

They must have a reason. How often do you need to remove it anyhow?
Jules

[Mity2]

I never thought that disassembly and reassembry of my 22/45 was difficult.
You just have to hold the gun in certain way so that bar for the hammer would fit in the main spring housing.
Once you get the point, I thought was pretty easy

[Plinker]

Cheesey,
Thanks for the post. Definitely going to get one of these kits. I would like to meet the guy(s) from Ruger who came up with the design, just to ask them what they were thinking. I have a MK lll and it is a royal pain to dis-assemble as well as re-assemble. Rep points given..=) Thanks, again

Plinker

[VariableFeedback]

Originally Posted by Mity2

I never thought that disassembly and reassembry of my 22/45 was difficult.
You just have to hold the gun in certain way so that bar for the hammer would fit in the main spring housing.
Once you get the point, I thought was pretty easy

I've never had trouble with the disassembly either. The MkII 22/45 was my first handgun, and the day after I had purchased it I was back in the gun store because I couldn't get it together correctly. I still need to look at pictures online if I haven't reassembled it in a while.

[normanvin]

the mark II can be a challenge. it gets easier once you do it a few times. i may still look into that product yet.

thanks for the write up.

[Cheeseybacon]

FYI: this kit is also being distributed through Gander Mountain for anyone who might be thinking about getting one. Apparently that's where my dad obtained his.

http://www.gandermountain.com/gunsmithing/handgun.asp