Bought a new ruger MK IV 22/45

[Forrest r]

Was cleaning out the basement a couple weeks ago and came across a couple 50cal ammo cans. Went to move them and to my surprise they were pretty heavy. Opened them up and found they were full of 22lr ammo. It's the cheap blammo ammo like federal 510's & sv ammo, blazers, a couple bulk packs, etc.

I sold off all my k22's, 617's, 17's and 41's years ago and though why not get a beater pistol to burn this ammo up. I went on line to dunham sports and saw they had the ruger MK IV 22/45's on sale for $349. So I had them ship 1 to my local store. 4 days later they are calling me to come pick it up.

Put a scope rail on it and a reflex and took it to the range saturday for it's 1st outing. Did testing with standard pressure loads for a ca bulldog while I was there. I brought a russian 25m sport pistol to keep the ruger company.
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Got both pistols sighted in using ww 333's in the ruger and vostok target in the izh-35m. That vostok ammo is from 1980 and has a super had case. I use it to test firearms to see how good the fp hits are. It also has a .225" bullet so I have to size them down to .223" to get them to chamber in the izh-35m. The ww333's were doing +/- 1140fps in the ruger. The vostok does +/- 930fps in the izh-35m. Got them sighted in and kept getting fliers with the ruger. One of the targets used for sighting in.
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Got the ruger home and pulled the fp. There were a lot of small burrs on it so I polished the fp with a dremil & a cotton mop with jb bore paste on it and lightly oiled it with clp and put it back in. Took it to the range yesterday with federal bulk pack, federal 510's & blazers to retest with. Cleaning the burrs off didn't make a difference, the fp hits still look like these
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The fp is too short, looks like I'll be calling ruger today and see what they say.

[BNE]

For what it is worth, I had to replace the firing pin, the ejector and the seat to get my daughters MKIV to make it reliably functional. My 50 year old MK2 performs much better.

BNE

[StuBach]

FWIW, my MkIV Hunter performs well but did need a fair amount of break in time. First range trip was decent, second trip terrible, third trip started getting better. Fourth trip on it’s been a tack driver and on par with my 70s era MkII BB.

I did disassemble and inspect everything before first trip and I had no issues. I did buy mine early on I. Covid though so newer models might be suffering from poor workmandship, as are so many things these days when no one wants to take pride in their work.

[Forrest r]

Thank you for the replies had a 22/45 MK III years ago and sold it. Don't know why, same goes for several MK I's and a MK II.

When I got the MK IV home after the 1st outing I pushed on the fp to see how far it stuck out into the bolt face. It barely cleared the opening and the pin that holds it in place also acts as a stop.

Yesterdays fp hits on the cci blazers, federal 510's & wallmart bulk pack 36gr's.
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The cci case looks the best & both federal are typical of what I'm getting. A side view of the rim of the center case (federal 510).
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As you can see there's no crush, dent, nada on the side view. If the fp hit would be inside the edge/rim of the case like this vostok fp hit from a reworked fp in a cz luz. The no crush/dent from the ruger wouldn't bother me.
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The pistol goes bang every time I hit the loud button. I have over 1000 rounds in it now and it has been 100% reliable so far. Feeds everything, goes bang every time, stays open on the last shot every time. The issue is the lite fp hits cause inconsistent ignition which causes large groups and fliers.

This pistol should be giving me bugholes @ 50ft instead of +/- 2" fliers.

[Forrest r]

Called ruger and they sent a shipping label via e-mail.

Nice people to deal with, the woman I talked to was very pleasant, very knowledgeable & made sure I understood what to do when sending the pistol back.

Told her no big deal & that I really liked the pistol and I'm looking forward to see what they think.

[barrabruce]

How much firing pin stick out do you need for accuracy?
Or how big a dent is one looking for.
I thought that if you had enough to make it go bang then that was enough.
Thnx

[303Guy]

Too lite a fp strike will fail to fire every time. I had a revolver like that once so I sharpened the pf tip, thereby concentrating the force it did have onto the actual compound. It had a wide blade style tip which I ground to a square. Shot fine after that. I now have a few Slazenger single shots that don't fire properly. Weakened firing pin springs.

I suppose a weak firing pin strike produces weak ignition much like a weak spark in an outboard engine or a car for that matter. The initial flame starts out slower.

[Forrest r]

How much firing pin stick out do you need for accuracy?
Or how big a dent is one looking for.
I thought that if you had enough to make it go bang then that was enough.
Thnx

Well I needed more then what that pistol had.

Hit the loud button and it would be bang, bang, pop, bang, bang, bang, pop, etc. It did this with 4 different kinds of ammo. Put the same ammo in another pistol and they all went bang.

Some hits were good enough, others not so much. I couldn't get 5 shots on paper without having at least flier. Changed pistols and the fliers went away.

When I set a bolt up I like to have the fp with 20/1000th's of an inch protruding out the bolt face + the difference in the bolt face depth minus a generic 42/1000th's" rim thickness. Hence the bolt face is 47/1000th's - 42/1000th's ='s 5/1000th's of an inch"

In the example above I'd want 25/1000th's protruding.

When the fp doesn't stick out enough thing like the brass hardness comes into play. The extractor helps hold the round to the bolt face. Softer brass like the blazers get a good fp hit. The harder brass of the ww's and federals (2 different lots/types) move forward and bottom out against the bolt face. Then the fp indents the case. The indent is a lot shallower then the softer brasses indent. Then the hardness of the brass has a 2nd affect, the amount of force it actually takes to indent the harder brass.

When you look at your fired cases all of them should look the same. Doesn't matter the ammo, lot, brand, etc. Everything looks the same.

Anyway when talking to ruger the 1st thing they asked was if I tried a different ammo. I told them yes and named the 4 different kinds along with telling them I brought another pistol sunday and it didn't have the issue. It was a marvel conversion kit for a 1911. The 2nd thing ruger asked me was if I was in the system, the firearm needed to go back.

[barrabruce]

Forrest r I fully understand that.
Now that I’m aware of it I will look out for the syndrome.

[Forrest r]

Got the pistol back from ruger yesterday & made it out to the range today. The fp hits looked a little better and the ammo was very consistent/consistent sounding. If I missed a shotgun shell or wad @ 50ft it was my fault, hitting the 50 round 22lr boxes was child's play. When this 22/45 breaks in it's gonna flat out shoot!!!

The paperwork stated the replaced the bolt assembly. Huge difference

[StuBach]

Glad to hear they got it sorted for you.

They make great guns and stand behind them. Love every one I have since the original “Red Eagle” 1954 model I have to my newest MkIV. Everyone of them can far outshoot my ability.

[Forrest r]

Actually felt bad for ruger and told them so when I called them. Said it was no big deal & that I was looking forward to using the pistol when it came back. Heck I don't even think the turn around time was a week!!! Put the rail back on and slapped on the mini reflex & was back in business in less then 10 shots.

Going to give them a call tomorrow and thank them for their hard work and the excellent pistol they make that I'm able to enjoy.