Get a nylon brush and a can of brake cleaner. It will blast everything out clean.

 

 

Better greasy and filthy than rusty! Dunk the whole thing in a tub filled with mineral spirits, put the cover on and put it out in the hot sun. Let the sun do the work!

 

Thanks for the replies! Is the rear-sight okay in mineral spirits? Seems the most "plasticky" bit on the pistol.

 

Unless someone has been messing with it, the only plastic you should encounter is the grip panels.

 

I lived next door to an AMU armorer at Ft Benning. They put guns in kerosene and used an air hose to clean off most of the gunk.

 

^ This! I've also used WD-40 sprayed on, followed by compressed air for lighter gunk or smaller jobs. Wear glasses and not your Sunday best, and don't inhale the stuff.

 

im not sure i would go to the trouble of finding a tub and mineral spirits and putting the three together. i think it would work. but id just spray it off and wipe it with an old tshirt.

 

Hoppes makes a foaming cleaner that works pretty well for situations like that.

One minor issue with the kerosene/mineral spirits/brake clean method is is will make the gun totally unprotected from humidity, so you'll need to get fresh, clean oil or wax back on it quickly afterwards.

Believe it or not, Ive seen Ruger autos even dirtier than that, lol!

 

I'll try the break cleaner, wipe, and re-oil approach. As soon as it stops raining and I can do it outdoors. Upside is that I can keep it off the sights (at least mostly).

 

"Believe it or not, Ive seen Ruger autos even dirtier than that, lol! "

It was a surprise! The person I bought from said that he cleaned it....i think he must have restricted his attention to the barrel. The fear of having to put it back together is real!

 

People have used a variety of oils during "cleaning". 3 in one sewing machine oil comes to mind. Works well for a while, then when the oil dissipates, you have paraffin build up left behind.

 

CLP is the plan. I also have some Hoppe #9 somewhere.

 

Mineral spirits is safe for everything including wood which is why I like to use it. Be careful with anything plastic using brake cleaner.

 

You sir are 100% right on!

 

I did some blasting with the last little bit of brake cleaner that I had in the handle "lower". That did a decent enough job that I could take it apart. I have it all broken down now and the small bits are soaking in mineral spirits. I'll follow that up with some light scrubbing w/ a toothbrush, then general oiling. I'll post an "after" picture

 

Here’s one I bought a while back that was nasty.😂

 

We'll call it a draw on the lower interior...but your bolt chamber has some real character

 

I have broken down my recently purchased Government target Model. It's filthy! Thick sticky oil everywhere. The interior is caked up. I am going to take it further apart with the intent of changing the trigger and sear for Volquartsen replacements. I will obviously clean as I go but would it be okay to give it a good soaking in something to get some initial cleaning done and hopefully reach places I won't be necessarily working on. Would a soak in mineral spirits (or similar) be okay? I don't know that there is anything there that would be damaged by the process but thought I would check to be certain.

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There is nothing that mineral spirits can hurt as long as you don’t clean the grips. They are quite simple to replace the parts.

 

Perfect specimen to completely tear down and clean every little part separately.
Make it spotless

 

That's my plan! A perfect opportunity to learn the gun.

 

Take it completely down, with that amount of gunk you will not get it all out by soaking and spraying! You're planning to put upgrades in it anyway so do it right!! You will happy in the end!! The sights are metal, unless they are upgrades!

 

You're not wrong! I have a volquartsen trigger (although the stock trigger didn't seem too bad) and sear to go in. And the extended bolt lock and magazine release (although those two pieces got as close as 100 miles from me in Florida, then the USPS decided it should be routed through Puerto Rico so they are still on the way).

 

I would venture to guess that a lot of Mark 1 - 3 look like that. They are a bit difficult to tear down and reassemble unless you do it a lot.
I hope mine don’t, but all I do is spray them out. with Gun Scrubber, and surface clean what I can get to. .

As for changing the Trigger on the Govt model, I wouldnt , as that is part of its uniqueness. It has an adjustable trigger. you can only adjust it it when its torn down but still… . I would change the sear though.

i have 2 vq kits ready to go into my Mark 2 s, , but I have put it off since I already have one one that came that way.
Im looking for a local Mark 2 guru to do it for me .

Any gurus in NW Indiana? Please PM me.

 

As for changing the Trigger on the Govt model, I wouldnt , as that is part of its uniqueness

My Mark II Government Target Model stock trigger is a little over 2.6 pounds, which is fine for my non-competitive use (and could possibly be tweaked without any parts replacements). I have nothing else to compare it against but I've never felt any compelling reason to replace it.

 

"As for changing the Trigger on the Govt model, I wouldnt , as that is part of its uniqueness. It has an adjustable trigger. you can only adjust it it when its torn down but still… . I would change the sear though. "

Is the trigger in the government target model different than other target module triggers? I did like it but I also have never shot a "target" pistol before so don't have an idea if how it could be different.

 

I believe that the government model is the only one with the adjustable trigger.

 

Found a GT that was rough on the outside so sent it to Ruger for reblue. Came back looking very nice but I think they put sand in the sear, very rough and must be 5 # pull! Will fix it as time permits! Think they replace all the interior parts whenever they do a refinish!! Shipping with USPS has become a large PITA!!!!!

 

...put sand in the sear, very rough and must be 5 # pull!

Never cleaning is EXACTLY like putting sand in the moving parts!

My (used) mk2 Standard arrived filthy - just like the OP's. After giving it a complete takedown and cleaning, I discovered that the grime had caused and masked excessive wear. The sear and bushing were both shot.

The pistol had a variable trigger pull. If you cycled the bolt and pulled the trigger, the pull was over 4 pounds. If you cocked it, put the safety on and pulled the trigger, then took the safety off, the trigger pull dropped to about 2.5 pounds. This was due to the wallowed out sear hole. Volquartsen sear to the rescue! Very consistent 2.2 pound pull after replacement.

Next thing I found was my trigger pull consisted of takeup|pre-creep|creep|break. Pre-creep is after the trigger bar has engaged the sear and before the sear begins to slip out of the hammer notch. This is actually the hammer being moved forward to take up slop around the worn out bushing and the slop inside bushing around the hammer pin. New Clark pin & bushing set to the rescue! No detectable pre-creep after replacement.

Then onto the trigger itself. AFAIK, fixed sight models (Standards) had no adjustment screws while the adjustable sight models (Targets) did have a screw to adjust the overtravel.

My overtravel was quite good and didn't need reduced, but my pretravel was a mile long. My mk3 has a VQ trigger installed, and I found that it never needs adjusted once it is set. So I decided to pin out the pretravel in my mk2 and save some $$. I also like the looks and feel of the Ruger trigger better than the VQ trigger. Here's a couple pics of the pinned trigger.

 

CLP and gently blow i off with compressed air.

 

What do you mean pinned?

 

You will get all kinds of opinions. I put a volquartsen trigger in all of my MKII pistols. Their silver one is stainless steel while the colored ones are aluminum, I go with stainless steel. As far as the original parts, pull them and put them in a box so that can be re-installed later if you so choose. Volquartsen kit, trigger, sear, hammer will make a definite improvement. JMO

 

Notice how the set screw is above the pivot pin hole. Turning the screw out reduces overtravel and turning it in increases it.

A set screw below the pivot pin hole works the same way for pretravel.

Rather than tapping a hole to use a screw, I just pushed in a pin. Sanding down the top of the pin works the same way as turning a screw in.

 

Okay, got it and thanks for the pictures. I was a bit confused looking at the two triggers after they were out of each gun. The “MK II 22/45 original trigger also has the set screw shown, as stated they are identical. The original trigger from the GTM was not unique when compared to the 22/45. I appreciate the explanation.

Notice how the set screw is above the pivot pin hole. Turning the screw out reduces overtravel and turning it in increases it.

A set screw below the pivot pin hole works the same way for pretravel.

Thanks, I can see how that would work.

 

I have broken down my recently purchased Government target Model. It's filthy! Thick sticky oil everywhere. The interior is caked up. I am going to take it further apart with the intent of changing the trigger and sear for Volquartsen replacements. I will obviously clean as I go but would it be okay to give it a good soaking in something to get some initial cleaning done and hopefully reach places I won't be necessarily working on. Would a soak in mineral spirits (or similar) be okay? I don't know that there is anything there that would be damaged by the process but thought I would check to be certain.

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I always use carburettor cleaner and soft brush (child toothbrush or small bottle cleaner brush) to clean then another spray of the carb cleaner to blow any residual dirt out.

 

That carb cleaner will eat plastic, So will Powder Blast. So be careful.
I guess I was wrong about the adjustable trigger being only on the govt model.
Me I prefer smooth face triggers to serrated ones.

 

I have broken down my recently purchased Government target Model. It's filthy! Thick sticky oil everywhere. The interior is caked up. I am going to take it further apart with the intent of changing the trigger and sear for Volquartsen replacements. I will obviously clean as I go but would it be okay to give it a good soaking in something to get some initial cleaning done and hopefully reach places I won't be necessarily working on. Would a soak in mineral spirits (or similar) be okay? I don't know that there is anything there that would be damaged by the process but thought I would check to be certain.

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Someone used WAY too much oil on that lower!
My last KMK678 (stainless Gvt Target) looked like that only rock-solid dry.
took 2 days of soaking and brushing all the "small parts" (after disassembly) to clean it.
As far as the trigger is concerned, original is aluminum and prone to being pitted after being in the state you show her.
If you like the look of the original trigger, replace it with an AMT Lighting Trigger. They can be had from Gunpartscorp.com and are in reality clones of Clark Target Triggers. Clark Triggers were the "go to" triggers before Volquardsens...