Root cause help, Ruger Mark III FTF

james r chapman wrote:I have no issues with my mkIII but maybe check your extractor?

inthebeech wrote:It is good to hear that there is such a thing as a lower rate recoil spring.  I wonder if there is also such a thing as an extra power recoils spring, did the previous owner install one of these? 

willnewton wrote: have a Ruger Mark III 22/45 that gave me absolute fits with FTE, FTF, and stovepipes.  It was so bad with some ammo, I could not make it through five shots without an alibi, at times it would have a problem every other shot.

This gun had feeding problems from Day One and is kept VERY clean, so let's just get the "your gun is old and dirty" argument out of the way.  

It took a multi-part cure.

1.  Found the most reliable ammo that would cycle, in my case it was CCI SV.  I tried Federal 325 bulk .22 and it was OK as well, but CCI was the best feeder/cycler.  Aguila .22 was not that great, but the Winchester Super X was laughably bad.   I measured the cases and the Super X were a couple thousandths oversized if I recall.
2.  Replaced the extractor with a Volquartsen.  Nice and well machined compared to the stamped Ruger part, works great.
3.  Replaced the LCI indicator with a blank filler.
4.  Got to work on the magazines.  This almost more about making all the magazines identical, as they each needed their own tweaking a bit this way and that.  I think TandemKross had a Youtube video about some of mag polishing work.
 a.  Gave the 2nd set magazine lips a slight rounding at the front.
 b.  Finely sanded and polished the mag follower button shaft and groove.  Also sanded the flashing fom the follower and lubed everything lightly.  The mag action went from gritty to slick as a whistle.  I recommend doing this, just as a general improvement overall.
 c.  Adjusted the rear mag lips for parallel, then opened the front of the rear lips just slightly and polished them inside and out.
 d.  Did some VERY LIGHT passes on the bottom of the stamped out magazine catch area.  This lowered the magazine just a hair in the gun.  Don't just do this last mod for fun, you can make a good magazine useless quickly. Your particular magazine may not need this and some may need more than others.  Insert your mag and check to see if there is a small gap (couple sheets of paper thick) under the extractor.  I had a couple mags that sat high and did a few light passes with a file so they all sat at the same height in the gun.
5.  Bought a .22 chamber iron from Brownell's and put it to use.  I was worried that the extractor had dinged the chamber edge causing issues.

It is unlikely you would have to do that but as a check, after cleaning bore and chamber you should be able to take a round and with the barrel pointed straight down let it drop into the breech. A clean chamber will let it drop fully in.inthebeech wrote:Well I believe I have found the cause.  With the bolt closed on a fired case in the chamber and either an empty mag or a mag with any number of new rounds in it (I don't think it matters), I slowly pulled the bolt back (after a bit I figured out that I could do this much easier with no recoil spring in the bolt), and with my magnifying headgear on, watched how the empty case behaved as I drug it rearward through the feed lips of the magazine.  The case sprung free because of interference with those retaining (rearward) lips on the mag.  The small radius that I polished in here definitely helped I am sure now that I am seeing how the case rim is affected by the lips, but there needs to be more relief cut.  I was thrilled to see this happen right in front of me.  I checked all four mags and there was one that was marginally acceptable.  I also noticed that it was the lip on the left side of the mag only which makes perfect sense since this is where the case, due to a loose fit in the recess in the bolt face, is  pushed. The good news is that I can remove a little at a time and keep repeating this until the case makes it all the way back to the ejector under control of the extractor/bolt face.  
Maybe the design features within the gun on this particular one just happen to be machined to position the mags slightly out of spec higher.  This seems likely given that so many dudes don't have this issue.  I could manually position the mag slightly shy of locked in and the problem disappeared; just had to be careful not to exaggerate this and start getting failure to strip a round.
Forward plan is to still install the LCI blank when it shows up and go get some practice in with  one of the four mags modified.
Another curious thing was that I felt a sticking point as I was manually inserting the empty case while doing this experiment.  Every single time there was a spot about halfway in to the chamber where the case needed a little help going in.  I hesitate to go get the lapping compound without knowing more, so for now I am soaking it and will scrub it out in a couple hours and see what I can feel then.  Any experience with this symptom?
Thanks,
Ed

I meant an unfired round. Should have been more exact.Sc0 wrote:One note, a fired case has already expanded and should fit tight in the chamber.  Sounds normal.

Now he can go back to hunting waterfowl with his Ruger. Must be a great shot to get those birds on the wing with his pistol.inthebeech wrote:The mod is obvious and reliability is 100% with all ammo, full and half full mags and everywhere in between.  It wouldn't jam once.  After two hundred rounds I went back to work.  Just FYI so anyone down the road having the same issues has a pretty detailed story here and photo of how it was eventually solved. Thanks all for your help.