Got back to the range with it today. It's warmed up some...34 degrees. I didn't do anything to warm the gun or ammo before shooting. In fact, I shot a couple of others guns first and left the .22 stuff out on the bench to "cold soak". I'd lubed the MkIV with RemOil last time after shooting and cleaning it. I didn't add any lube today.

I fired about 100 rounds of Automatch and got 3 stovepipes, but no short stroke/incomplete extractions like in the photo several posts above. There was also one light strike, which I'm going to blame on the gun because the primer dent was very weak, and it went off the second time through.

I then put 80 rounds of CCI AR plated through it. I got two failure to feeds...one where the bolt closed on an empty chamber, and another where it partially fed and dented the case. Both of those were the second round of a full mag. My guess is these were "short-strokes" where the bolt cycled far enough to eject but not enough to reliably feed the next round. Extraction and ejection with the CCI ammo was 100%, and there were no light strikes.

I guess that's not bad for a rimfire, but I can put almost two complete boxes of filthy bulk pack through my MkII before it gets so dirty it starts to choke.

I can only comment on My Ruger MKIII which is all factory and has the best trigger ever and shoots like a dream.... the one issue is cleaning it... I think I've broken it down 3 times... the last time was probably 10 years and 10,ooo rounds ago.. .I just spray CLP inside it and she keeps on going.

quote:

Originally posted by Blume9mm:
I can only comment on My Ruger MKIII which is all factory and has the best trigger ever and shoots like a dream.... the one issue is cleaning it... I think I've broken it down 3 times... the last time was probably 10 years and 10,ooo rounds ago.. .I just spray CLP inside it and she keeps on going.

I agree with you there. If I hadn't been wanting to dabble in suppressors, I'd have never bought the MkIV. I was and still am completely satisfied with my MkII. I still like the MkIV, but it's got nothing on my MKII for out of the box shootability and reliability.

Well you lost me when you said best trigger ever. I’ve yet to pull the trigger on any Ruger that Volquartsen couldn’t improve a bunch. Lol

I can’t help you because my Mk’s are pretty reliable. Any issues I usually have are either I really need to clean the gun or poor quality 22 ammo. I’m looking at you Aguila.

quote:

Originally posted by pedropcola:
Well you lost me when you said best trigger ever. I’ve yet to pull the trigger on any Ruger that Volquartsen couldn’t improve a bunch. Lol

I can’t help you because my Mk’s are pretty reliable. Any issues I usually have are either I really need to clean the gun or poor quality 22 ammo. I’m looking at you Aguila.

Volquartsen got my MkIV trigger, which was pretty poor from the factory, to where I'd say it's just a hair better than the factory trigger in my MkII. The MkII as a complete system is so good, though, that I'm not willing to mess with it and risk screwing it up for a tiny incremental improvement in the trigger pull. It's one of those "don't let perfect be the enemy of good enough" sort of things.

Just curious if I missed this, but have you contacted Ruger about this? Seems like a lot of hoops/money before trying that.

I had a MKIII that was flawless, but eventually sold it, gave up on life, and got a Volquartsen Black Mamba, primarily because I wanted to put a can on it. It has been awesome. I'm a fan of the magazine design changes; they seem to really fly out of the well when ejecting.



I'm curious to see how this wraps up.

quote:

Just curious if I missed this, but have you contacted Ruger about this? Seems like a lot of hoops/money before trying that.

I have not. If the problem was 100% consistent, I might consider it, but I imagine this would be one of those deals where I went through all the hassle and expense to send it back and ultimately get told that it's in spec and they couldn't replicate the problem. I don't have a good track record getting a resolution out of gun company customer service, unless I do the diagnosis myself and request a specific part. Sending guns back is annoying and expensive, and more often than not unproductive. Plus I don't learn anything useful about the gun doing it that way.

It hasn't really cost me much money apart from the Volquartsen stuff, which IMO are a worthwhile upgrade anyway. When I take it out to shoot and test, I run drills with it, so the ammo is going to good use either way.

If you send the gun to Ruger, put any original parts that you've removed back in it, because Ruger will take any aftermarket or modified (e.g., "stoning" a sear) parts out and put OEM back in, no exceptions. IMO, if a gun has fundamental flaws, they will not be solved by modifications.

I’d replace the extractor and the firing pin. The oem parts are not good. Grab up some aftermarket. It will be night and day.

quote:

Originally posted by Beanhead:
I’d replace the extractor and the firing pin. The oem parts are not good. Grab up some aftermarket. It will be night and day.

Already done.

Shot it again today, put about half a box of Automatch through it, and 200 rounds of the AR. Ammo. It was even warmer today...about 45 degrees out.

We still had a few short-stroke/failure-to-ejects with the Automatch. I think we're done buying this stuff.

The CCI started out well, and then I started to get the same failure to feed issue I had last time. I took the mag out and realized that the follower travel was sluggish, so it wasn't keeping up with the bolt. Turns out the nose of those CCI rounds was just tight enough against the front of the mag that it was binding slightly and hanging up...and it was getting worse as the mag got dirtier. A couple or squirts of Remoil down inside the mag completely resolved that, and CCI ammo ran flawlessly for the rest of the day.

So findings for today:

1. Automatch is crap
2. Mags need lube
3. This gun is probably going to demand a pet load...something more consistent than Automatch, but shorter and possibly with a different nose profile than CCI AR.

quote:

Originally posted by Beanhead:
I’d replace the extractor and the firing pin. The oem parts are not good. Grab up some aftermarket. It will be night and day.

Next on my list for my MKIII Hunter, just did the Volquartsen kit and pleased with it.
MKIII's aren't that bad once you have passed the frustration stage and learn the dance.

I've never used a magazine that needed lube to function. That makes me think there is something else wrong. Lube will just attract more junk.

quote:

MKIII's aren't that bad once you have passed the frustration stage and learn the dance.

Yep, once you know the sequence it's easy. I can field strip and re-assemble my MkII in less than 30 seconds.

quote:

I've never used a magazine that needed lube to function. That makes me think there is something else wrong. Lube will just attract more junk.

Neither have I, and I would never lube a centerfire defensive gun mag like this. But .22s are weird, and the way the rims stack was shoving these rounds forward into the front of the mag body and binding them up. I've not seen that problem before with any ammo other than that CCI-AR stuff, so it may have been unique to their OAL or bullet profile. I don't have any more of that, so the next test will be with something else. If the problem persists, I'll tear the mags down, clean and degrease them, and may try some extra-power mag springs. Volquartsen and Tandemkross both make them.

When I was looking for a 22 pistol to use as a supressor host, I looked at the Mark IV series , buckmark and S&W victory. At the time a couple years back the victory was a recent introduction by S&W. I prefer a traditional style single action design, and it came down to the above 3. I ended up finding a victory for a rather low price ( $300 ) so went with it instead of the ruger, which for a similarly equipped gun was about $200 more. I really wanted to like/ buy the ruger, considering you can get them in colors other than silver ( I really hate the look of stainless!) and as the factory is only 15 minutes from my house, could easily get support if there was an issue. Also the idea of “buying local/ supporting local jobs” as just about everyone here has a family or friend working at ruger.
My victory ( probably one of the homeliest guns on the market ) has run perfectly from day 1, eating every type of ammo I can throw at it. ( there was one type of ammo it didn’t like, but that same ammo also caused a bunch of my other guns to choke so I don’t count that against the victory)
A good friend bought a Mark IV, and has been tinkering and buying aftermarket parts fo4 it to get it reliable.

I recently bought a new Mark IV 22/45 Tactical. It's been 100% flawless no matter what ammo it gets. The Mark IV 22/45 Tactical replaced 3 Mark II's in stainless so I'm thrilled this newest version is proving itself to be so good. It's name is now Flawless.

Thankfully, no drama with my Mark IV.

I also recently picked up a 10/22 takedown in stainless with the Magpul Backpacker stock. Yup, 100% flawless operation regardless of the ammo type or brand with this Ruger as well.

Now, when the Ruger LC Carbine in .45auto becomes a bit more readily available, it too 'may' be coming home with me. The only Sigs I have left are a P220 ST and a P220 Compact SAS so the Ruger Carbine would be a nice companion piece.

Maybe, just maybe, along with the new Ruger A Team Mini 30. If you haven't seen or held this Ruger A Team special, do so. It's very well done. Congratulations Ruger.

Glad yours is working well...sounds like you got a good one!

I had mine out again today. I replaced the magazine springs with some Tandemkross springs and had no more sticky follower issues, but I also didn't have any more of the ammo that was doing that.

I got ahold of some Federal Champion 36gr plated hollowpoints in 525rd bulk packs and shot it over the chronograph today along with some Automatch. This stuff sucks...it's all over the place velocity-wise, and I had a couple of short strokes and stovepipes with it. I'm more than willing to blame those on the ammo...I had velocities from 884 all the way up to 1056fps (Automatch wasn't great, either, but better at 952-1050fps). That's pretty horrible, and this stuff clearly isn't going to be the answer to the problem.

I went through the same bullshit with my Ruger MK IV and as well with my Browning Buck Mark in the past several months (sometimes it would function OK…just to later crap out with bulk ammo (no rhyme nor reason)…my best results have been with Augulia (go figure) or Norma Red Box (it’s greasy as fuck)…even the sainted CCI caused hiccups, but not as much…I throw it all on the ammunition shortage and the shortcuts in QC in production