Ruger MK IV Target model and 22/45 JAMMING

[BNE]

I bought a MKIV target model for my daughter to use with her college shooting team.

It works OK. Not stellar. It occasionally jams. The members of the team who have 22/45s are having MUCH worse problems. So much so that they borrowed a MKII for the competition yesterday. That gun worked flawlessly. I read that people are taking the mags and polishing every surface that rubs against something while it is in operation.

I compared the magazine movement on the new one to my MKII that is 40 years old with tens of thousands of rounds through it. The old mags are smooth as glass. The new are rough.

I wish I had time to send it back to Ruger and gripe and let them fix it, but we will miss multiple practices and competitions in that time.

I’m going to polish one this afternoon and try it out. Any other suggestions?

[Hickory]

The word 'jamming' can mean a lot of things.
Can you narrow it down a bit.

[dverna]

Maybe a bit of CLP?

[BNE]

The word 'jamming' can mean a lot of things.
Can you narrow it down a bit.

Good point. The bullets do one of two things:

1) Failure to feed. The bullets hit the bottom of the feed ramp. This dings the Bullet nose.

2) stove pipe with a live round sticking up.

[BNE]

Maybe a bit of CLP?

Where?
I did clean one of the 22/45s before hand and it made no difference. (In my opinion, cleaning fixes a lot of issues.)

[Outer Rondacker]

This is not what I want to hear as I have one I am picking up Friday this week.

I have read a lot about them on other forums and watched a bunch of youtube videos and only heard one other that said something like this. They had to work the gun for around 400-500 rounds before it started running smooth. The more it got shot the better it ran. I even remember they saying the slide release would not work at all at first. After 200 or so rounds it stared to free up.

As for hang up does it do it with different mags in it? I take it since its a team you guys have no shortage of mags to try.

Just tossing this out there. I had a brand new Ruger 10/22 that would stovepipe and not feed worth a dang. Bolt was digging into the lead on the next round to feed and so on. I polished the bolt and took off a burrr to fix the feeding issue. Next was the extractor. I replaced that and it runs like a top.

you answered my statement while I was typing but after reading your post if I am getting this correctly you have more then one doing the same thing. Is it the lot of ammo?

[skeettx]

22 Pistol chambers are like cast iron skillets,
They need to be seasoned.

Load a magazine with 5 rounds of ammo, on the top
round put a SMALL bit of silicon grease or oil.
Shoot the gun.
Continue and the gun will do better each time.
Mike

p.s. I use the clear silicon grease that come with
garage door openers

[Mica_Hiebert]

Try different brands of ammo

[BNE]

Yes, we have used different brands of ammo. Mostly CCI.

I pulled the mag that was jamming, but others did it also. I’ll let you know if the polishing works.

This is what I am going to try:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GL1rIj43sGA

[Texas by God]

Try different brands of ammo

^^^^^this^^^^^ A lot of today's .22 ammo is fishpoo. (Browning)

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

[Blanket]

buddy just bought one and it wouldn't make it thru a clip, returned it and got 2nd one that works good but the front sight screw works loose. Just got done locktiteing it

[Thundarstick]

Because the MKIV is a solution to a problem that didn't exist, and has been a problem child since Ruger issued it! Now that that's of my chest, many of them just have to be shot and shot and shot, mini mags seem to be the go to ammo for these. Some of the issues you list sound like you may need a little extractor work. BTW I have two MKIII pistols and 12 magazines. They have the loaded chamber indicator and magazine disconnect replaced, no polishing of any magazines or parts, and both eat anything you stuff into the magazine.

[jmorris]

If you have one that’s old but runslike a top use it while you send the other back.

[Outer Rondacker]

BNE how did the polishing work out for you?

[BNE]

BNE how did the polishing work out for you?

I polished one mag and left the other as is. I fired ~ 100 rounds alternating between mags. The polished had no failures, the original had one failure to eject. (Stovepipe)

I can’t blame the stovepipe on the mag.

I was also shooting Federal copper plated bullets. Going to have to shoot more to know for sure. The polishing really was not a big deal to do. I have a Volquartsen extractor on order. That should help with the stovepipe issue. I’ll keep you all posted. Thanks for the inputs.

[Outer Rondacker]

Thanks for the update. I had an issue last week with them federal copper plated bullets in my walther P22. Stovepiped ever other shot. Gun was dirty but I dropped in some blazer and it shot like a top. Buddy that was sitting next to me was digging in my federal box as he had run low. His 10/22 started to jam also. We decided to kill that box and I have no intent on buying more.

[Hick]

I'm relatively new to the Ruger Mk IV-- so I'm not an expert. But I use Federal Auto Match in mine and it has never jammed. Once in every 100+ rounds or so I might get an empty case stovepipe-- but its rare. Don't know what you are using, but it might be the ammo.

[GhostHawk]

My pair of Ruger Mk III 22/45's dine exclusively on Federal Auto Match ammo.

Although they have tasted others in the past they showed a distinct preference.

But when I start seeing problems it is time to clean, lightly oil, wipe dry and start over.
And which ever one my wife is holding is going to be the one with problems. Call it a given.

I don't see me trading either of mine off for a Mk IV though.

[EMC45]

I have an older MKII. Wife bought it used for me for anniversary years ago. It fed horribly and constantly jammed. A guy at the range looked at and said his dad's was doing the same thing and he Dremmeled the feed ramp. I am not one to use the word Dremmel and gun in the same sentence often and I rebuffed his advice. He said it couldn't hurt to try.
I have to tell you I tried every type of ammo there was. I used dry lube (graphite) and wet lube (CLP, RemOil, 3in1, etc) I tried grease. Ran it clean and ran it dirty....Still jammed all the time!!!! I wanted to throw it in the woods I was so disgusted with it. I cleaned it super clean and looked at the feed ramp......Sure enough it appeared to have "chatter" on it maybe from a dull cutter? I very gently buffed the ramp with the Cratex bob in my Dremmel on low speed. Just enough to "buff" out the ridges from the cutter. NOTHING MORE. I cleaned it all up and oiled it. After this it shot like a champ!!!

After several shooting sessions I noticed grouping was all over the place and couldn't figure out why?....... The front sight was loose. I backed the screw out and acetoned everything and then red loctited it back in. Perfect.

Was just shooting the MKII this past weekend. It gobbles up everything now. In fact I have taken to not fastidiously cleaning it like I used to (pain in the butt to take apart), but instead now just hose the bolt and receiver area with a few drops of CLP and good to go. Very accurate handgun.

For the OP it sounds like a feed ramp or mag problem. However I have a rusty and crusty old beat up MKII mag that I scraped the rust off of and cleaned up (mag spring was even red with rust) and oiled and it runs like a champ.



My ammo of choice is CCI Blazer when I can find it. Federal Auto Match is real good too. The wife just picked up a 550 count Federal bulk box for me at WalMart for $19 and it shoots very consistent and accurate as well. I avoid Remington "Golden Bullet" and "Thunderbolt" for all my rimfires. Not worth the headache.

[dverna]

Where?
I did clean one of the 22/45s before hand and it made no difference. (In my opinion, cleaning fixes a lot of issues.)

Sorry about the late reply...I have used a couple of drops on the top round in the magazine and allowed the CLP to run down over the rest of the rounds in the mag and into the mag.

Glad to hear polishing worked out well.