Slightly O/T- Ruger rimfire

[Bret4207]

So, some how I've ended up with a brandy-spankin' new Ruger Mk3 22/45 bull barrel 22 lr. Haven't shot it yet but I love the feel and hang of it. I'm not getting my hopes up too far, but it may replace my father-in-laws High Standard Supermatic as the platform of choice to see if I can still shoot. The Supermatic resides at his house and it does me no good there. The deal was one of those 5 way tractor tire, chainsaw, roofing, pickup box, gun deals. You know how those go, but I made out pretty good. Anyhoo- the trigger leaves something to be desired. Any upgrades available out there? I see Brownells has them for the Mark 1+2 pistols, but I'm not sure if the Mk3 is covered.

[9.3X62AL]

Bret--

I have a Mk II version of the 22/45, and it is a shooting fool, for sure. I REALLY like that pistol. Its trigger sure isn't like a M-41, but the work it does with the Wally World Dynapoints is great. I haven't pursued an aftermarket trigger for it.

[Char-Gar]

Al...I have several new 30 year old Flaig steel trigger shoes for the Ruger 22 autopistol. I assume that would fit current production, but I don't know. If you don't want to gunsmith the trigger, a shoe can make a difference.

[StarMetal]

I'm fortunate enough to have a Ruger Mk I target bullbarrel and it's a joy. Will never sell it. I believe the dang thing can outshoot alot of scoped 22 rifles.

Joe

[44man]

Bret, I have had 5 Rugers and still have two that I will never part with. I have had great triggers except on one. They measure in ounces with no creep. I polished down the sear surfaces on the one to get a good trigger. Bad thing was that the safety would not go on after so I had to work on it too. Worked out fine and shot great. You can fix it if you use your head a little and don't have to spend any money.

[Bret4207]

Well, went to the sandpit and shot it. Works pretty good with the aforementioned Dynapoints. The trigger is OK, just not the clean break of the Supermatic. I find if I'm sighted for a 2 hand hold at 50', I hit way high with a one hand hold. Ain't barrel time a bear? I really need to get to the eye doc and get some glasses for shooting. One of those Merit discs may help too. All in all it's a fine shooting piece, and should be the ticket for the trapline. Not sure if it will replace my 22 Kit Gun in that application.

Still more off topic, I surveyed some of my oaks for damage from this springs tent catipiller invasion. Boy, did they do a job! Lost a lot of trees. Between them and the porcupines the poor oaks did not fair well. Why can't they develope a taste for popple and elm and sumac? On the brighter side, I've got another 10 full cord of red and white oak to cut now.

[waksupi]

Bret, if the trees are the size you can convieniently spray, go to the farm store, and get some Astro. A couple sprays, once in the spring when the leaves are coming on, and again in mid summer, or whenever the tent catapillers start to show up, will take care of it. Works for aphids, too. Stay upwind when spraying.
I have a 22/45, and it is areal shooter. I put a Red Dot scope on it. From the rest, it hits my hundred yard gong with boring regularity. I believe Brownell's does make a trigger for these. I do wish the grip was not an integral part of the frame, as I would like to do some nice checkered wood grips for it.

[Bret4207]

Waksupi- Those oaks are in some real rough ground. Ledge and whatnot. Not really sure I could get a spray rig in there and a backpack type might not hit all the tree top. This is a problem that is supposed to be being addresed by our Dept of Enviromental Conservation I think, but the greenies are blocking pretty much any idea someone comes up with.

Thanks for the input on the Ruger guys. I imagine a couple thousand rounds will smooth the rough spots out and show me what it will do, if I can do my part. I may follow 44mans path and do a little polishing on the sear surfaces. I'd propbably be better off waiting a while before I do anything. Sometimes things fix themselves after a fashion!

[StarMetal]

Ric..if you need some good Ohio black walnut blanks for your pistol grip making, let me know.

Joe

[waksupi]

Ric..if you need some good Ohio black walnut blanks for your pistol grip making, let me know.

Joe

Joe, thank you very much for the kind offer. I'm still usin soie150 year ld wood my brother supplied me with, from beams in old bsarns in the midwest. I still havone ful stofk trasde gun blank left, a coule bolt action tpe stocks, anf a couple setsthatwil work on BPCR's. I hav e oddlels fo hangun blanks on hand from lotza exotic woods.
Now, if you had a nice curly maple blank, M38 Swede sporter size, well, I may get real interested. Who knows, what I may find lying around here to trade?

[lar45]

I don't think I've heard about the wally world dynapoints.
I do use the federal HP bulk box from wally's and they shoot great in my MK-II Target model.
As good as my Ruger shoots, it still isn't as good as the wifes Buckmark. It will shoot smaller groups with every brand of ammo tried.

[waksupi]

Joe, thank you very much for the kind offer. I'm still usin soie150 year ld wood my brother supplied me with, from beams in old bsarns in the midwest. I still havone ful stofk trasde gun blank left, a coule bolt action tpe stocks, anf a couple setsthatwil work on BPCR's. I hav e oddlels fo hangun blanks on hand from lotza exotic woods.
Now, if you had a nice curly maple blank, M38 Swede sporter size, well, I may get real interested. Who knows, what I may find lying around here to trade?

I think I set an all time high of miss spelled words here. Are there any prizes?

[XBT]

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y9/retiredBT/ruger2.jpg
Shot at twenty-five yards with cheap bulk-packed Remington ammo.

They shoot really well for me. I don’t usually use scopes on handguns, but I put a red dot on this one and must admit I can shoot much better with it on.

The trigger on this one was not too bad, so all I did was add an overtravel stop. The trigger also seems to be improving a bit with use.

[9.3X62AL]

Chargar--

Dunno if the shoe would fit or not. I'm real reluctant to change anything on a rig that works as well as that one does. I did some real good work with the critter on Thursday......a little 2" x 8" steel bar at 50 yards, hanging vertically. I was able to keep about 60% of my shots right on the center of the thing offhand, took the red paint right off of the middle 2 inches. I'm not sure I can shoot iron sights offhand any better than that. One thing for sure--I'm a LOT better at hitting objects and things than I am at hitting paper.

[StarMetal]

Ric

Yes Ric you win the Waksupi Word Wacker (WWW) award. Congraduations pardner.

Joe

[Four Fingers of Death]

Well, went to the sandpit and shot it. Works pretty good with the aforementioned Dynapoints. The trigger is OK, just not the clean break of the Supermatic. I find if I'm sighted for a 2 hand hold at 50', I hit way high with a one hand hold. Ain't barrel time a bear? I really need to get to the eye doc and get some glasses for shooting. One of those Merit discs may help too. All in all it's a fine shooting piece, and should be the ticket for the trapline. Not sure if it will replace my 22 Kit Gun in that application.

Still more off topic, I surveyed some of my oaks for damage from this springs tent catipiller invasion. Boy, did they do a job! Lost a lot of trees. Between them and the porcupines the poor oaks did not fair well. Why can't they develope a taste for popple and elm and sumac? On the brighter side, I've got another 10 full cord of red and white oak to cut now.

My sister in law has a couple of acres and she is a mad greenie tree hugger (she now understands shooting and how I keep the feral population down, so that parts cool). She has planted oodles of trees and was having trouble with grubs attacking the trees. I was at her place last year looking at the damage with my wife and their brother who is an agronimist. he told her to get a bit of wire and shove it doen the hole and kill the grub. You can walk around and after awhile you pick up the holes pretty easy. She saved most of her trees. I don't know if this would work for you, but its worth thinking about.

[Four Fingers of Death]

I loved that pistol and sold it when we were broke. At the same time as I bought the Ruger, I bought a very used Browning Medallist for my wife. It shot like a house on fire. She came close to kicking my butt lots of times. I never shot as good a score on the Ruger as I did on her Browning. It was too plug ugly to sell and I ended up using it, She is getting back into shooting and has taken it back (I got it done up to try and get her involved again) and I am in the market for a 22, but I hesitate to get a Ruger (I've gots heaps of other Ruger products) as I think back to how much more accurate the Browning was.

[Buckshot]

............I have a Ruger MkII 678 that is nicely accurate. It too likes Dynapoints. My main complaint is the aluminum trigger. It's a somewhat casual fit on it's hinge pin. This allows it to tilt and rub against the left side of the frame opening. I have on several occasions started to break open the Brownell's catalog and order up some Volquartsen stuff to remedy the situation. An over travel setscrew wouldn't hurt either.

I normally tote it around in the bottom of my range box with a brick of Dynapoints. I try each range day to shoot 5 to 10 targets of 10 rounds each, offhand at 25 yards. Up until a couple weeks ago I was pretty much stuck in the 80's for score. I'll shoot like 82, 88, 86, 83, 81, etc, etc. A couple weeks ago in my batch of 5 targets I actually got up into the 90's :D. One was a 90-somehting X and the other was a 93 or so. I thought I was just going to stop and build a house in the 80's.

Doesn't mean I won't shoot a bunch more of those 80's, but at least I know if I do it right for 10 I can get up there a bit.

...............Buckshot

[C1PNR]

Went out to help my Brother clean up around his shop in preparation for a casting session there. Before I left he gave me (back) my "Victor.":) I left it with him when we moved to California.

Boy am I glad to have it back. My wife and I both shot it in the .22 league at the gun club back in the 80's. It's pretty fussy about the fit of the magazine, but when it likes one it shoots better than I can hold. Guess I'll have to slip by Wally World and find some of that "cheap" .22 ammo.;)

[Char-Gar]

Although at heart I am a sixgun man, there is nothing like a good quality 22 rf autopistol to place the shots where you want them.

Four years back I bought a mint and I do mean mint 6" High Standard HD Miliatry for $225.00. If I didn't know better, I would swear the thing has a brain, aims itself and wishes the bullet to the target.

Every man needs at least one good target 22 autopistol.

[Wayne Dobbs]

Several years ago I got a 5.5" Mk II for $100, which was a great deal. I took it to Clark's Custom Guns for a trigger job and Bomar sight installation. I think the tariff was about $120 total and the trigger now breaks at about 2.5 pounds and is ultra crisp. Along with that Bomar, the gun is so accurate it's simply not believable!

Wayne

[MT Gianni]

I bought a used 4 3/4" standard ruger 12 or 13 years ago. the standard sights were replaced by a plastic ramline adjustable sight and the front blade came off when it hung up on the truck seat of all places. They sent me 3 more free and I have had no more problems with it. Matt, my son, calls it "sweetness" and has claimed it as his when it's out of the safe. I laugh and tell him to keep dreaming. I have a Smith A-22 target model that outshoots it some days but not consistently. Enjoy your new gun. Gianni.

[Poygan]

I acquired a Ruger Mark I used back in the 60's with the bull bbl and a Clark steel trigger. This is one of my "never sell" pieces! Its the one I haul out when I want to feel good about my shooting skills (such as they are). I can almost do as well with an old S&W Model 17 I bought in 1957. Which brings up my next question: Howcum I can do reasonably well with these two and can't get nearly as good with any of my center fire pistols? Kind of leaves out my "old eyes" excuse. Are the 22s more accurate? Recoil flinch? Haven't developed sufficiently accurate loads for the center fires? Anyone else experiencing this?

Your thoughts please.

[Blackwater]

One neat trick I've done on several of the Std. Model Rugers is to put the old MMC adj. sight on the back, and then cut the barrel to 3.5-4", mounting a small white bead of the right height in a Lyman Shorty ramp. That little white bead's just the right size for shooting snakes' heads at the river. Neat little "packing gun" for when you don't really need more lead to fling. Maybe it's my eyes, but that little white bead stands out well in the woods or on the water, and it makes for some fine shooting. Those Ruger auto triggers aren't hard to work on at all, and get significant improvement. I'll wind up with a mite of creep, usually, but not enough to worry about and it doesn't hurt my shooting a bit. Might even help, since it lets me know just about exactly when the trigger's about to break.

[Four Fingers of Death]

I acquired a Ruger Mark I used back in the 60's with the bull bbl and a Clark steel trigger. This is one of my "never sell" pieces! Its the one I haul out when I want to feel good about my shooting skills (such as they are). I can almost do as well with an old S&W Model 17 I bought in 1957. Which brings up my next question: Howcum I can do reasonably well with these two and can't get nearly as good with any of my center fire pistols? Kind of leaves out my "old eyes" excuse. Are the 22s more accurate? Recoil flinch? Haven't developed sufficiently accurate loads for the center fires? Anyone else experiencing this?

Your thoughts please.

IN Australia, in pistol clubs, they get new shooters to try rimfires first so that they develop 'ground strokes.' When they go to centrefires, the scores drop dramatically usually, because they are just harder to shoot. Its not so ovbioous when you wear earmuffs, but there is a big difference.

[Bret4207]

First kill was a skunk. He was in full charge, away that is, and the Dynapoints did the job. Glad I was up wind because the first shot took him in "the brown".

[44man]

Those Wally World Dynapoints and Feds shoot great for plinking, but if you want to see tighter groups, get the CCI Blue tag, Mini Mag hollow points. The only shells I will use for squirrels with my slabside.

[BD]

I have a MKII 22/45 with a 5" bull barrel. I've shot quite a few partridge and a fair number of coons with it. It'll keep minute of partridge out 50 yards, 75 yards with the scope on it. A few years ago I dropped a Volquartsen trigger kit in it and shot a winter of indoor Bulls eye competition. I didn't make expert in one year, but I didn't finish at the tail end either, shooting only the Walmart bulk Federals. I really like that pistol. Rugged, reliable and not finicky about what you feed it. It only has two problems: First, it s**ts where it eats so you have to clean out the trigger group every 1,000 rounds or so, a brake cleaner job. Second, it is a PITA to take down and reassemble. I have to sit down and read the directions if I haven't done it for awhile. BD

[StarMetal]

BD

I shoot alot of that Walmart Federal bulk ammo too. I'm talking about the gold hollow point bullets that come 550 to that little milk carton I call it. Darn good stuff out of alot of my 22's.

Joe

[waksupi]

We seem to get several misfires per brick with the Federal bulk stuff. My Ruger 22/45 prefers the cheapo Wildcat stuff. A pistol after my own heart.
I'd actually like to trade mine, for a Mark 3, or one of the older models. This one shoots great, but just doesn't fit my hand the way I prefer. Although, I do find it more comfortable to shoot without the scope on it. The irons are good enough, I can shoot it as well as with the Red Dot.

[StarMetal]

Ric,

Wow, I've never gotten a misfire with the Federal stuff but boy I got tons with Remington, ever their premium brand 22 ammo.

Joe

[Bret4207]

I'm happy with the Dynapoints. I also like Stingers, but the last I have must be 15 years old. Bought a bunch at one time and never got around to shooting them all, and mores the shame. My little Kit Gun dotes on CCI high velocity short HP's, the trappers best friend. Thats the only poblem with the auto. I'm going to try single loading some shorts and see if it's do-able. I also made up a SGB type tools, 2 in fact out of an old hunk of 22 brarrel. I accidentally bought 500 hi speed solids a while back and tried the SGB trick. Worked good, but filing the tips was a pain. I found a little pair of electrical side cutters and ground the side dead flat. Much quicker although the cutting does tend to loosen the crimp.

[BD]

I've had maybe 2 missfires out of 6,000-8,000 of the Federal bulk HPs. Considering what they cost, and that I'm not betting my life on them, I can live with it. This is about the only handgun my daughter really enjoys. She can burn up one of those 550 packs in a range session, no problem. What are Dynapoints? BD

[Bret4207]

Winchesters Dynapoints. The big red W's best kept secret IMHO. Available at Walmart at bulk 22 prices.

[Shepherd2]

Are the Winchester Dynapoints in a 550 round box? I was looking at the bulk Winchesters at Wal Mart but didn't see Dynapoint anywhere on the box. Maybe I missed it. After reading all the good comments about them I want to try them out. I bought my usual box of Federals but that doesn't mean I can't buy Dynapoints next trip to Walley World.

[Bret4207]

500-550, soething like that. It's a white box with blue lettering.

[charlie / sw mo]

BD

I shoot alot of that Walmart Federal bulk ammo too. I'm talking about the gold hollow point bullets that come 550 to that little milk carton I call it. Darn good stuff out of alot of my 22's.

Joe
the club i shoot with has a 50 yd 22 scoped rifle match shot from a rest. while was shooting this match i got to wondering just how many misses were caused by the ammo. so set up my scale on my sorting bench (i went to wallmart and bought a bulk carton of three brands) the remingtons were the worst with about 15 variations cant rember all of them but a winchester bullet (hollowpoint) came in about half of that. i remember the carton had a bullseye on it and i think they were hollowpoints. the remingtons were in a green box-- lots of missfires. right now im using the bulkpac rem with goldcolored bullets. they shoot into about 4 in at 200 yds for me with no wind. i sort them out for the rifle and shoot them as they come for the pistol.
charlie in sw mo