22/45 RP trigger job?

[Viseprints]

I just bought a new 22/45 RP. It functioned flawlessly the first trip to the range but I find the trigger to be very poor (lots of take up and not crisp). Plus, the clips do not drop down at all to facilitate removal AND if I push the button to close the action on a full clip w/o having the safety on, the clip moves down a bit so I have to push it back in. Is all this stuff normal??

I've read on the Ruger forum that many shooters of MK III's alter the trigger, sear, grind stuff off on the clips, etc. to make a smoother, better shooting gun. Then they heap praise on how well it shoots. Why does one have to do all that to make it into a decent gun? I asked my dealer if the trigger take up was normal and he said yes, legal/lawyer issues the main reasons.

If I have to do these mods to turn it into a good gun, should I do it? or trade it off for something that is good right out of the box? And if I have the mods done, is there anyone on here that does such work on these Rugers?

Thanks for your input.

[onebohemian]

You'd be best served if you posted your questions to the rimfirecentral.com, 22/45 or Mark III topics. I refuse to buy a Mark III in light of all of the issues they seem to have. There are still plenty of Mark II models available used onlilne, and although they still need VQ sears and triggers and a Clark hammer bushing to make them function with perfection (with 2lb or less triggers, no take up or post-travel, and great accuracy), they are best because there's no magazine safety or LCI to create additional issues. Ruger's quality control has gone way down in the past 5 or so years, and when you pay around $300 for a gun these days, you get whatever manufacturing sloppiness the line suffered from that day the guns were made.

As for your gun, it doesn't sound like your magazine is fully seated to begin with if dropping the bolt on it causes it to pop out of the gun slightly. Does it do this with all of the mags you have for the gun? As for take up and the trigger not being crisp, I believe you could remove the mag safety and replace the hammer bushing with a Clark. I don't have a Mark III, but rimfirecentral.com will provide instructions on what pieces to remove, etc. You could drop in a VQ sear and possibly a trigger then too, but I'm not 100% on whether VQ has a trigger with pre and post travel screws for the 22/45. (I have to believe they do though.)

Good luck,

Mark

[mitchx3]

In my experience with 2 mk3 22/45s you have to really seat the magazines hard. The trigger comes apart really easy and if you have any mechanical skill you can polish stuff yourself. I hate extra parts so I removed the loaded chamber indicator and magazine safety. The stock trigger has an overtravel setscrew built in. I'm of the school of thought that says do stuff yourself so you can diagnose and fix problems when you really need to.

[Viseprints]

Any gun shop in MN do this alterations? Or is there a liability issue?

[onebohemian]

Any gun shop in MN do this alterations? Or is there a liability issue?

I doubt you'll find anyone in a shop willing to remove the magazine safety. Not sure about the LCI, but seeing as its a "safety" mechanism too, I doubt a shop will remove it either. There are easy to follow instructions online through rimfirecentral and guntalk. A guy named "bullseye" has created some wonderful tutorials. You ought to know how to detail strip the gun anyway, so just spend 30 minutes online reading and then tear into it.

I believe you can operate the gun without the LCI in place, but there's a guy on rimfirecentral that makes fillers for that space. The clark MKII bushing is only available from Clark (unfortunately), meaning they rape you on price for a simple bushing (around $25 with shipping). They are the only ones making the bushing in this size though so if you're going to remove the magazine safety, I'd just buy the clark bushing. (I think you could go with a standard MKII bushing to start, but you wouldn't eliminate the pivot point between hammer bushing and hammer if you go that route. From what I've heard, just getting that magazine safety out of the gun will make huge improvements to everything.)

[Viseprints]

Mark- The issue exists with both mags supplied with the gun.

I did a bunch of research before I bought this new 22/45 RP Target Model a few days ago. I guess I didn't do enough to realize that I'd need to do mods to get it to be smooth. I had two previous Ruger semi-autos years ago and liked them. One was a Mark 1 and the other a MK II. This one I don't like even though the price was decent at $299. I would not want to void the mfg. warrantee at this stage.

Guess I'll take it back to my dealer and try to trade it for something I like better.

[Viseprints]

Gun was returned this morning. Full refund. No questions asked. My dealer is super. They said some of the polymer grip framed guns have this problem with the mags backing out. Thanks for your suggestions.

[onebohemian]

What dealer took the gun back and gave you a refund? If you don't want to out them, please just PM me.

Glad you got it worked out. Now take the cash and buy an excellent condition used one on gunbroker.