As a newbie to the Ruger line of 22/45 pistols I am very much interested in what causes the infamous "Ruger Jam Session". I have had my MK II for going on 30 years and it has always performed flawlessly. Now that I am the owner of two 22/45 pistols I have begun to experience the very scenarios you describe in your post.

So lay it on me and enlighten me so I can hopefully cure my Ruger blues.

Carl

 

i had constant jamming issues as well, but the jams were a lot less frequent with CCI ammo. then eventually using only the mini-mags the jams seemed to mostly stop

 

Lets get it going and get this stickied once its finished.

 

Test Engineer, I agree with your concerns and am interested in what causes jams and what can be done to reduce the jam rate. I am a noob owner of a MkIII ss comp model and recently did 150 shot attempts at a private, outdoor range. I experienced 15 FTL, and 3 FTE. Ugh! I wasted more time carefully extracting jammed bullets than I have ever done with any other gun in my life.

FWIW, I am on my 51st year of owning a Remington Nylon 66 22lr. My first gun. Frankly, I cannot recall a jam and only a few FTF from bad ammo. This year I dusted off old faithful after a 10 year hibernation and blasted through an old box of Winchester Wildcat with out a burp. :bthumb:

Well back to my MkIII. This is with a NIB (uncleaned), unfired MkIII using Remington Thunderbolt. I am sure I'll take some flak for not cleaning and lubing a gun out of the box, but that is what I did on this gun. I was too excited about firing it at the time. When I got it home I broke it down and cleaned it and did some minor polishing. Yeah, that was an experience.

I plan to head back to the range with some Agulia ammo and she what happens next. I plan to follow this thread with great interest. I want to do what I need to do to make my MkIII function as best as possible.

 

Feed ramp jams were frequent before I extended my feed ramp. Since then the only failures I have had have been #1s, Good strike bad ammo with 1990s vintage rem wildcats

 

I have used bulk ammo with almost 0 issues, sometimes with 500 + rounds at a time. Not sure what's up with your firearm be it crud in the gun itself, fouled, bad magazine,or the pistol is not right (send back to Ruger) but anyone who has used my Mark 111 has never had an issue and enjoyed the ease of use and accuracy 👍

 

I would like to know what the heck is going on with my Mkiii. Count me in.

 

I have been thru the same thing with a Mark 3 SS hunter. See a post just a few down from this one. I removed the LRI ,new extractor, and removed the mag disconnect. It is doing much better but not without some stovepipes. I would like to know more to do. It will not shoot any ammo below HV. Match ammo does not have enough power to fully eject.

Mark

 

Remington Thunderbolts !? Trash that junk!!!! I can't give that junk away. A few round would trash any auto loader!

 

Well, I am pleased to hear that comment and hope crummy ammo is the culprit.

 

got me worried

Is the jamming with the Mark III really that common?!?!?!?
I have a 1966 Ruger Standard RST6 that I bought used about 35 years ago. I shoot it a lot and I'm guessing I could count the number of FTF/FTEs on the fingers of one hand. I've really wanted to buy a Mark III Target but...

 

I dunno, I have an old MKII and recently a new MKIII, The MKIII jammed a little until I messed with the MAGAZINES.

I think that the mags are the problem and need to be tuned.
Just my opinion.

 

We have a hunter and target model MKIII and both eat anything you feed them! I removed the LCI and magazine disconnect on both, and they still chew through any thing you feed them! I guess I just got lucky!

 

List of the mods ive done to get mine to be a smooth operator.

1.Magazine tuning-greatly helped with rapid fire feeding.
Watch tandem kross's video on this-read the comments they are hilarious.
2.Replaced extractor.
3.Polished the sides of the firing pin just in case.
4.Vq sear.
5.Polished most internals.
6.Tk mag bushing

These dont affect reliability
7.Tk victory trigger.
8.Mech pencil spring to lighten trigger.
9.Blast shield to keep things cleaner.
10.Custom thumb rest.

I havent had any issues with a large variety of HV ammo.
I havent done the LCI filler yet because my wife likes to shoot my gun once in a while and I like to have that safety feature for her.

Its been a bit since Ive put SV ammo through it but havent had any problems. Though if that were to be my go to ammo type I would put in a reduced power spring in for the bolt.

Im considering mirror polishing my bolt to gain any little edge I can and maybe having it TiN coated, but probably not.

 

The only things I ever do to MkII for feeding are the extractor from Volquartsen, round the front corner of the rear lips and squeeze the front lips to drag just a little on the case. Some guns don't need even that. It is a mystery.

The remaining problem is the occasional bullet nose on the feed ramp. And we know what ruger should do about that. Lower the ramp or raise the bottom of the mag's notch in front to cover the ramp edge.

 

Lower the ramp or raise the bottom of the mag's notch in front to cover the ramp edge.

It's not too hard to extend the feed ramp. It took me about an hour to add an extra mm or so to the bottom. Haven't had a nose dive jam since regardless of bullet position in the mag.

http://www.rimfirecentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=603906

All you need is a penny (or any other piece of metal 1 mm or so thick) dremmel, epoxy, and small file.

 

Does anybody want to know what really causes most jams?

I would love to hear what you have learned, count me in.

 

First, let me point out that Ruger designed these guns to work well with round nose HV ammo. If you are okay with this limitation, then a little tuning and a break-in period are all you most likely need.

Second, it is very unlikely that the Mark pistol you bought has any major problem. It will be VERY apparent if it does, and you should return it to them to be fixed before you start doing mods and upgrades. The poor quality Ruger produced during the "million gun march" is NOT the same quality they are producing today, and their customer service is pretty good.

That said, a small percentage of the guns they produce fall at the edge of certain tolerances. These are the guns that are most likely to have feeding problems. ANY of the Mark pistols can exhibit feeding problems when using wide-nose hollow points, such as the Winchester bulk ammo. But it is much more likely to jam in the mkiii pistols than in the earlier models. It is a MYTH that it's because the feedramp is too short! The ramp is the same length as it has been previously. My mkii and mkiii uppers are basically identical, except for the LCI cutout.

Many can attest to certain brands and/or types of ammo being more likely to have FTFire or FTE problems. The simple answer is to "find the ammo your gun likes". This answer is proven to work by-and-large, but is not acceptable to MY DEMANDS for what I expect my pistol to be. Thus I spent a ton of time and money getting to the root of the problem and fixing it.

This brings me to one more thing I want to address here. I know that SGW Gunsmith can be a little coarse at times. But without his generous and professional help, I could not have progressed to the successful conclusion of my quest. He always gives the best advice he can, free of charge to anyone who asks. You can choose to disagree or to not take the advice, but he always tries to steer the RFC community in a helpful direction.

For some here, I know it's hard. But I'm asking you to cut Dennis a little slack and "be nice". You never know - you may find yourself requiring his services one day, and it's better to not be his antagonist beforehand!

My Quest: make my mkiii feed, fire, and eject ANY brand and/or style of .22LR ammo without issue. This quest on the "under powered" side is successful, and I will next attempt to get the infamous "over powered" HHV ammo to run without beating the pistol to death.

For those who have asked, I will start a "jam-proofing your pistol" thread. I'm thinking maybe in 3 parts. It really is intended for people who have broken their pistols in, already tried everything Ruger, SGW, and other qualified people have suggested, and are still seeking "the quest".

Beginners - Start Here:

The best collection of advice in a single thread:
http://www.rimfirecentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=600296

(General) Magazine tuning - the right way:
http://www.rimfirecentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=507693

 

I removed the magazine disconnect and didn't notice any difference. I replaced the extractor and my problems went away. Everything else is bone stock and clean.

 

Thanks for posting that link to the mag tuning. I'll be taking advantage of that because it can't hurt. Thanks SGW