Who said you don't need to disassemble your Ruger Mark III?

[zachomega]

I've had a Ruger Mark III Hunter for a while and it has quickly become my favorite gun to shoot. It is cheap to feed, extremely accurate, reliable and I happen to think the factory trigger is pretty decent.

However, there is one thing ANY Ruger owner will tell you about the Mark III...and that is that it is a pain to clean. I was religious about cleaning my pistol after every range session whether I fired 10 rounds or 500 rounds. Yet time and time again I would read about other Ruger owners who said they just run a bore snake through the gun and don't even bother with the disassembly.

So last time I finished shooting...I did just that. I took the short cut. Yesterday I took my Ruger to the range along with my new (well new to me) Sig P229, my girlfriend and her Marlin Model 25. I shot the sig first and had zero trouble.

Then I loaded up my Ruger and handed it to my girlfriend. First round went off and then jammed up upon ejection. She immediately handed me the gun, I cleared it and handed it back to her. 2 more round and another jam.

She had enough and went back to her Marlin (which she destroyed the X Ring with - yeah only at 7 yards, but it was her first time with it) and I began to shoot the Ruger. I couldn't get more than 4 or 5 shots off at most in any magazine without a jam up.

I was so disgusted after a hundred rounds or so that I simply packed it in and watched my girlfriend shoot for another hour because it was more fun than clearing jams.

Today I decided to actually clean the Ruger like I knew I should have the first time. It was absolutely filthy inside. No wonder it jammed up. In fact, I'm surprised it worked as well as it did. How do people figure just running a bore snake through is okay?

Additionally, disassembly and reassembly of the gun is not difficult or even time consuming once you do it a couple of times. It isn't very easy to clean because of all of the nooks that the powder gets into, but it needs it. .22 is not the cleanest ammo to shoot.

Next time, I am just going to do what I have always done and take the pistol apart and clean it properly instead of trying to take a shortcut that turned an otherwise reliable gun into a frustrating experience. I spent more time clearing jams than it would have taken to clean it properly the first time.

-Zach

[Ronin]

I say do what works for you and don't worry about what the other guy is doing. I don't take my MkII apart to clean it. I clean the barrel with a cleaning rod, brush and patches. And the bore gets cleaned with a small toothbrush dipped in Hoppes No. 9. A little lube and she's ready to go again. That's what works for me, and I've never had a problem with reliability.

YMMV, however.

[V65Magnafan]

I notice that some ammo (I wish I could remember which) does not feed well in the Mk III.

Is there a chance that you were using some ammo that the Mk III doesn't like?

I clean the parts I can reach through the ejection port--the firing pin, the ejector and the extractor--as well as the barrel.

I took it apart a few times and found that I could reach the dirty areas without that stripdown from hell.

[rwb1500]

I say do what works for you and don't worry about what the other guy is doing. I don't take my MkII apart to clean it. I clean the barrel with a cleaning rod, brush and patches. And the bore gets cleaned with a small toothbrush dipped in Hoppes No. 9. A little lube and she's ready to go again. That's what works for me, and I've never had a problem with reliability.

YMMV, however.

I do exactly the same with my MKIII. It may be a shortcut, but one that works great for me. One thing I always try to do is clean up the mags though. They seem to get gunked up pretty quick, and that's a good way to have issues with proper feeding.

[Mity2]

My ruger mkIII hunter's barrel to lower reciever connection was so tight that I had to use rubber mallet to get it apart/install. I hated that which is why I never cleaned mine. Mine, however did run fine. But I did(in addition to boresnake) use half a can of gun cleaner to blow crap off. That and some quick spray of Remington silicon oil, she ran without the issue

[Wiley-X]

Bore snake? Clean the barrel? Rarely do that. As I said elsewhere, I lock the slide back and clean the visible crud out, often with just the point of my pocket knife. I'll squirt some oil onto the bolt and onto the trigger for good measure.

[RickD]

Sorry to hear your range trip was cut short. Maybe it was in shock and thought you didn't love it anymore!

Like WileyX I just clean the easily accessible areas - less the knife - and strip it maybe every 300 rds.

The .22 ammo is a big factor as was said elsewhere. Mine doesn't like bulk Remington.

Hope it runs well after all your TLC.

[ByAnyMeans]

Sorry to hear you had crappy luck at the range.
I however don't clean my 22lr's consistently. I will shoot my Ruger MKIII and Taurus Tracker as well as a Marlin 60 + 975 for about six months or a few thousand rounds each before I break them down and scub them new again. I have no accuracy or reliability issues even with the cheapest no name 22lr which was all I could find for awhile. I do spray Remington Oil into them and work the action alot after each range trip but that's it.

[ar15jules]

I clean mine about every 1000 or every six months which ever comes first. I shoot a whole season of bullseye with it, then clean it before summer league. There is much plinking in between league nights. I have never had a problem. I do have a problem running a rod down a .22 barrel from the muzzle end though. Fudging up a crown is a good way to ruin a barrel.
Jules

[L T C]

I think the whole Ruger MKIII dis-assem/re-assem booger gets started on forums like this and takes off... I own a few MKIII's. Outside of one "Needing" a Volquartsen Exact Edge Extractor, these guns are excellent shooters. Taking them apart and going back together is a little tricky the first time you do it, but after that it aint a problem.

Watch some of the Youtube posts on how to do it and you'll have it down pat.

Personally, shooting nothing but Federal bulk pack 22lr, all I do after firing hundreds of rounds, is to lock the slide back, spray it all down with Rem Oil, clean the mags with the same, wipe it out real good with a few patches held by a pair of those locking surgical pliers (hemoststs?) and then do the bore snake till barrel shines.

I will break it down about once a year and lube it up real good, but I don't see a need to break them down to clean them every time.

Thats what works for me and I have had these little beauties for quite some time, with tons of the Federal ammo through them.