what lifts the head of the round, in the magazine, in a Ruger Mark III?

flivver · August 19, 2009, 07:24 AM

Had a series of FTFs the other day. One mag in particular wasn't lifting the head of the round enough to get it onto the feed ramp. You could slide the mag in, pull back the bolt and see the round sitting there, flat -- and know that it wasn't going to feed. The other mag worked mostly perfectly... You could pull the bolt back, and see the bullet end of the round tilted slightly upward, ready to feed nicely.

Wondering if Xavier's magazine tweak:

http://xavierthoughts.blogspot.com/2...ine-tweak.html

will help this. Seems related, yet not quite.

Anybody had this problem?

ZeSpectre · August 19, 2009, 07:41 AM

Quote:

what lifts the head of the round, in the magazine, in a Ruger Mark III?

Spring tension from the magazines.

Disassemble your mags and inspect the follower to see if there is any plastic "flash" anywhere on the follower. If so, scrape it off carefully.

Then lightly lube the follower by wiping it down with an oil rag or a silicone rag and then re-assemble the magazine and it'll probably work just fine.

Sometimes it takes a few cycles of loading/unloading as well. If you don't want to do it by shooting you can just manually load and then unload the mags about five times and that often seems to help.

flivver · August 19, 2009, 08:02 AM

Excellent... I'll give that a whirl -- thanks!

drail · August 19, 2009, 07:16 PM

Ruger Mark .22 pistols will run for only so long without thorough cleaning and then they won't run. The same thing is true for the magazines. Most .22 LR ammo uses a nasty waxy lube that builds up near the top of the magazine and on the feed ramp and bolt face. Some brands are worse than others. I've always had good luck with Federal. PMC is the worst. Almost every Ruger Mark pistol I've seen that had feed problems simply needed a good cleaning to make it run like new. CLP works very well to dissolve this gunk. This also true for most .22 semi auto pistols (and rifles). Learn to take the magazines apart and clean them until no crud remains. They are an excellent design and will give long service life if maintained. They are really an amazing gun for the price.

James K · August 20, 2009, 02:19 PM

Just for info, and I know it sounds illogical, but the "head" of a cartridge is its back end; the marking on there is called the headstamp. What you call the head is the bullet.

Jim

flivver · August 20, 2009, 02:41 PM

Ah, thanks. Obviously, I'm fairly new to this. I appreciate your gentle correction. :-)

dahermit · August 20, 2009, 06:48 PM

If the rounds are "laying flat" in the bad magazine and not oriented at an upward angle, the lips of the magazine are suspect.

Dr. Strangelove · August 20, 2009, 08:00 PM

I, ahem, happen to know that a Mark II mag can be reassembled incorrectly.

August 19, 2009, 07:24 AM	#1
flivver Junior Member Join Date: August 14, 2009 Posts: 8	what lifts the head of the round, in the magazine, in a Ruger Mark III? Had a series of FTFs the other day. One mag in particular wasn't lifting the head of the round enough to get it onto the feed ramp. You could slide the mag in, pull back the bolt and see the round sitting there, flat -- and know that it wasn't going to feed. The other mag worked mostly perfectly... You could pull the bolt back, and see the bullet end of the round tilted slightly upward, ready to feed nicely. Wondering if Xavier's magazine tweak: http://xavierthoughts.blogspot.com/2...ine-tweak.html will help this. Seems related, yet not quite. Anybody had this problem?

August 20, 2009, 08:00 PM	#8
Dr. Strangelove Senior Member Join Date: August 1, 2008 Location: Athens, GA Posts: 1,436	Has anyone had that magazine apart? I, ahem, happen to know that a Mark II mag can be reassembled incorrectly.

August 19, 2009, 08:02 AM	#3
flivver Junior Member Join Date: August 14, 2009 Posts: 8	Excellent... I'll give that a whirl -- thanks!

August 19, 2009, 07:16 PM	#4
drail Junior member Join Date: February 2, 2008 Posts: 3,150	Ruger Mark .22 pistols will run for only so long without thorough cleaning and then they won't run. The same thing is true for the magazines. Most .22 LR ammo uses a nasty waxy lube that builds up near the top of the magazine and on the feed ramp and bolt face. Some brands are worse than others. I've always had good luck with Federal. PMC is the worst. Almost every Ruger Mark pistol I've seen that had feed problems simply needed a good cleaning to make it run like new. CLP works very well to dissolve this gunk. This also true for most .22 semi auto pistols (and rifles). Learn to take the magazines apart and clean them until no crud remains. They are an excellent design and will give long service life if maintained. They are really an amazing gun for the price.

August 20, 2009, 02:19 PM	#5
James K Member In Memoriam Join Date: March 17, 1999 Posts: 24,383	Just for info, and I know it sounds illogical, but the "head" of a cartridge is its back end; the marking on there is called the headstamp. What you call the head is the bullet. Jim

August 20, 2009, 02:41 PM	#6
flivver Junior Member Join Date: August 14, 2009 Posts: 8	Ah, thanks. Obviously, I'm fairly new to this. I appreciate your gentle correction. :-)

August 20, 2009, 06:48 PM	#7
dahermit Senior Member Join Date: October 28, 2006 Location: South Central Michigan...near Posts: 6,501	If the rounds are "laying flat" in the bad magazine and not oriented at an upward angle, the lips of the magazine are suspect.