Trigger mods for MKII?

I've shot a buddies S&W 41 a few times and his 41's trigger puts my MKII's to shame. He said it was stock. Mine feels harder and grittier. Is it possible to have a trigger job done on my MKII that would be similar to the 41 and which smith should I seek out? I am pretty handy so is it possible to do it myself?

The Ruger will never feel as good as the 41 trigger. 41 ' s have better tolerances that the Ruger will never equal. Having said that, you can get a great trigger pull on the Ruger. I highly recommend the Clark steel trigger. Aluminum triggers feel spongy in Ruger. It'll never break like a glass rod, but can be what I call "soft crisp" because of tolerances. I used to shoot a Ruger and shot high 880's with it regularly. The trigger won't limit you.
Jon

Thanks for the reply Jon. Since you have been down this road is it worth putting money into the MKII or are there better options in another pistol. I would like to have a 41 but can't justify the cost for me ... a non-competitor. Is there another .22 out there that has a quality trigger like the 41 along with equal accuracy? Buckmark perhaps?

Nothing wrong with the Ruger. I broke 2650 shooting a Ruger. Buckmark is in same league as the Ruger. The Ruger will easily take you to high master (873). All you need is a trigger and a gunsmith who specializes in BE trigger jobs on Rugers and you'll be set!
Jon

Any suggestions on Ruger experienced bullseye gunsmiths?

Doug

I'm sure there are many great options, like KC Crawford, but I live by and have had various pistols worked on by David Sams of Sams Custom Gunworks, so I can only speak for my experiences, and he's done a terrific job every time.  I


One recommendation, don't email Dave, just call he's not a computer guy by any stretch. 


David E. Sams
254 Columbia Rd
Cartersville, Va 23027 

Phone 804-375-3782
Fax 804-375-3781 

Email: samscustom@att.net

http://www.samscustomgunworksusa.com/

I'll add in to this a bit.  I did work on the original trigger group in my Mark II way back when and I had good results, even making it to 880 with the gun.  But having said that, I will also mention that the trigger never stayed good.  I had to continuously "fiddle" with it to keep it working the way I liked it.

I also did a lot of things to get that temporary good:

-reduced the radius of the hammer past the hook so it didn't drag on the sear after the break
-sleeved the hammer/pin so the hammer didn't rock sideways (this, of course, could have been done with an over-sized pin)
-trued the sear/hammer mating as best I could
-added a secondary angle to the sear
-added a pre-travel adjustment screw (it came with the over-travel screw)

If there had been any hardness in the hammer and/or sear, I must have removed it, because they continued to show wear and I had to constantly touch them up or I could tell the difference in a short time.

If I was shooting that gun today as my primary, I would seriously consider buying someone else's replacement parts.

Now to some philosophy:

My coach/mentor was always on my case about moving to another gun, even though I had made it to 880 with the Ruger.  His constant advice: "Yes, you can shoot 880 with your Ruger.  But you have to work harder to get that 880 than you would have to work with another gun."  Sometime after that, my Team Captain convinced me to try a Team owned Hammerli 215 (for the Team) and the first two scores with it were both 888.  My coach/mentor had lots of other sage advice that I was stubborn to accept...

The best trigger job on any pistol, I ever felt, was done on a Ruger Mark II. It was performed by Clark Custom. That being said, it was done many years ago (twenty years), so I don't know if the staff at Clark are still as capable as way back when.

Ed Hall wrote: My coach/mentor had lots of other sage advice that I was stubborn to accept...

Very common affliction among Bullseye shooters...

I don't know how bad a MarkII trigger is, but my wife's MarkIII was terrible.  I dropped in a Volquartsen and I would say it's almost on par with either of my MarkI's.  It's still no where close to my 41, and isn't BE grade, but it might be better than what you've got and it's only a hundred bucks.