Ruger Mark III Pistol Take Down and Assembly

Taking down and assembling a Ruger Mark III .22 caliber pistol for cleaning is not difficult, if done in the proper steps.  If not done properly, it can be frustrating.  If I let a long time pass without doing it, I forget how to do it.

Items needed are: a Mark III pistol, a paper clip, as soft plastic hammer, and a needle nose plier or a small screwdriver.

If I am not mistaken, the procedure is the same for a Ruger Mark II pistol. 

Step 1: Safety first

Remove the magazine.  The magazine release button is under my left thumb.  Hold it down and pull the magazine from the bottom of the pistol handle.

I am working on newsprint to protect the table surface and to protect the gun parts.

Comments

[justin_]

Thanks for the great instructible! Had I found this before I took apart mine for cleaning the first time I would have one less scar on my hand!

[Phil B]

Thanks. I did this Instructable for selfish reasons so I can remember how to do it myself. My hands also have plenty of marks from all sorts of misadventures.

[glorybe]

No Way! You can not dry fire a rim fire pistol. You risk the pin being rammed into the receiver assembly resulting in a totally ruined Ruger. Read your Ruger manual. I owned one of these pistols and they must never be dry fired!

[justin_]

Just to back up everyone else that responded, I have a Stainless Steel MK III and in the manual it says specifically to dry fire it.
Ruger even says to do it in their video in the "extras" section on the website:
http://www.ruger.com/products/markIIITarget/extras.html

[NachoMahma]

.  Ruger Mark III manual (PDF)
.  Page 20, step 5: "With the muzzle pointed in a safe direction, push the safety to the “off” (F) position and pull the trigger to decock the pistol. The pistol can be dry fired as long as the firing pin stop is in place (see NOTE in step 5 on page 25)."

[Phil B]

Thank you, NachoMahma. I had been out of town for a couple of weeks and could not check my pistol's manual to respond with more detail to glorybe. His comment made me afraid I had missed something, had given bad information, and would be responsible for causing damage to numerous Ruger pistols.

[glorybe]

I suspect that there may have been changes to the Ruger assembly over the years. The one that I owned had a manual that was adamant about not dry firing the weapon. Apparently other folks had MarkIII pistols that could be dry fired. I don't know why the firing pin was ever made in such a way that any event would allow it to ram into the surrounding parts of the weapon. I can also say that it was not my favorite weapon as about every 15 rounds or so I would have to clear a non fired cartridge from the weapon. My other complaint would be in the difficulty of disassembly of the pistol. I have a 9mm now that I can disassemble so easily that it is almost a joke. It is a DA 9mm and apparently is patterned after a Beretta design.

[bmwsid]

I also have one of these. I will NOT dry fire it. Like all things mechanical, your pistol just didn't like the particular ammo you were feeding it. Mine don't like Federals, but will fire any other brand I give it. I had an awful time trying to take it apart, so I didn't. I have had it since 1977, and it still functions fine, long as I don't put Federals in it! Wht take it apart!!! Leave it alone, and it will serve you fine.

[Phil B]

That is interesting that your gun does not like Federal ammunition. I have always used Remington because it was available. I had not considered never dismantling the gun. I know the hammer gets powder residue on it in use, and have always believed it is necessary to clean as much of the insides as I can access. From other comments, there seems to be a difference in what procedures will or will not damage the gun based on the time of manufacture.

[NachoMahma]

. You might want to add a sentence or two advising people to check that the pin is installed before dry-firing. Maybe not - it doesn't look like something that would just fall out.
. Dry-firing any gun makes me slightly nervous. Both for safety (all guns are loaded, even if I just checked them) and mechanical reasons (it's bound to stress the firing pin if only a little bit; that stop is a lot harder than brass).

[Phil B]

I added a note about safe dry firing in step 2.

[Phil B]

I do not like to dry fire any gun, but the bolt will not come out if the gun is cocked. I will check the manual again. Thank you.

[TheBigNil]

I like to use a disassembled Bic pen or similar to slip onto the latch. It helps give some leverage too

[Re-design]

Nice job. One of my favorite pistols.

[mrdepo96]

Thank you for this great ible! i have the same Ruger, i do believe it's newer though.

[kill-a-watt]

Why isn't this a featured instructable yet? I'm adding it to my faves.

[Phil B]

Thank you for your compliment and for adding it to your favorites. Oddly, it has been featured, but only within "Outdoors," not within "All." In fact, I cannot even find it listed under "Recent" in "All" as a published Instructable. Instructables.com has changed their way of listing featured Instructables, according to an editor's response to my inquiry. I am not sure I understand it, but it seems to be according to however an editor chooses to do it.

[Phil B]

Correction: I finally found it in "Recent" under "All" as a published Instructable, but about 15 pages back. It did carry a "Featured" banner across it.

[skunkbait]

Good job Phil! It took me a quite a bit of study, the first time I took one of those (mine was a MkII) apart. I've got an older MkI now, but this'll still come in handy next time I clean it. Thanks!

[Phil B]

Thanks, Barry. My poor pistol begs to be used more. When I do not use it, I forget how to take it down. I hope this helps me remember and gets me started the next time I have to do it. I do have a CO2 pistol almost identical to the Mark I and II. I tell myself often I will practice shooting straight with it, but never quite get to it.

[kill-a-watt]

Thanks for such a great instructable. I'm glad you emphasized safety first.

I think it's really important to stress to the n00bs that you need to check to make sure the firearm is unloaded, and that the muzzle is kept pointed in a safe direction.

You don't really get to all of them because this is just a cleaning tutorial, but I'd like to list them for the sake of completeness:

The Four Rules
1. All firearms are always loaded
2. Never let the muzzle of a firearm point at anything you are not willing to destroy
3. Keep your finger off the trigger until you are ready to shoot
4. Be sure of your target and what lies beyond it

It's been noted that you usually need to break two or more rules to really screw things up, so I try to instill  good habits that are so ingrained that I feel funny breaking even one of them.

[Phil B]

Thank you for your very appropriate comments. I bought this pistol during a National Rifle Association approved pistol safety class that would qualify me for a concealed carry permit, had I applied for it. During the time of the course I was visiting my daughter and son-in-law in another state. He wanted to show me his .45 cal. automatic pistol. A loaded clip was sticking halfway out of the handle when he handed it to me. I knew to pull the clip out of the gun while keeping the barrel pointed safely at the floor (nothing but dirt below the floor) and to pull the slide back to check for chambered rounds (there were none). When I told that story to my instructor, he was real happy about what I had done. I also kept my finger off of the trigger, even though I had just checked it for bullets.