Ruger 22/45 Target

Even though I have a perfectly good Ruger Mark-III Hunter that's been tuned and customized by a talented amateur gunsmith friend, I couldn't resist this used 22/45 Target model I saw in a display case while shopping for reloading supplies. That same talented friend has a pair of 22/45s he's tuned, and the combination of the light polymer frame and the 1911 style grip really worked for me. It points much more naturally in my hand than the Mark-II does. And so it followed me home.

If you follow these things you probably know that Ruger has two different version of the grip frame of the 22/45. One version- the preferable one- has removable wood 1911 style Cocobolo grip panels that I'm told are sourced from Altamont. The other has molded-in grip panels. They still list the gun with the Cocobolo grip panels on their web site, but no one seems to stock it anymore, and I suspect it might be discontinued- why would Ruger make two different grip frames? Thus I jumped at this one when I saw it.

The first thing I did was remove the stock panels and replace them with this nice Hogue wraparound grip I bought from a friend for $10. That made a huge difference in how the gun felt in my big hands. Next, I ordered a Volquartsen trigger in stainless steel (about $35 from Midway) and a blued filler piece ($21) to replace the plastic "loaded chamber" indicator. When those arrive I'll take it over to my friend's house where he's going to instruct me in the mysteries of tuning the 22/45.

 

Here you can see the ugly plastic indicator that became a standard feature in all Mark-III guns. It's one of three annoying changes Ruger made that have created a cottage industry in making parts to return Mark-IIIs to the Mark-II configuration. Another annoying change is the new bolt lock release- the button next to the grip. In the traditional Ruger design, the bolt locks open on an empty chamber. Put in a full magazine, pull back the bolt, release it, and it strips a cartridge off the magazine and slams forward into battery. 

Not on this gun, though. You have to switch hands, hold the gun in your left hand, pull the bolt back with your right, pull the bolt detent down with your left thumb, and now you have a gun ready to fire... in the wrong hand. Hypothetically you should be able to reach the detent by reaching around with the thumb on your firing hand... but I couldn't easily do it, and I wear XL gloves. You can simply remove the detent, and the lock will fall when the bolt is pulled back, or you can add a simple torsion spring that will make the movement more positive.

The third questionable "safety" feature is the magazine safety that is a feature of all Mark-III guns. The gun will not fire without a magazine in. That's a feature that makes the gun more inconvenient for careful shooters while doing little to protect careless idiots, so out it goes as well. This mod requires removing the magazine disconnect bar, and replacing the stock hammer with a Mark-II or Volquartsen hammer, or inserting a custom spacer. to take up the space left by the disconnector

There are several desirable mods that make the gun a better shooter, and that's what we'll concentrate most of our attention on. The first is fitting tighter pivot pins that remove slop from the hammer, sear, and trigger. You can buy commercial hammers and other parts with fitted pivots, or you can make your own.  A Volquartsen or Clark trigger adds a pair of set screws that limit the travel of the trigger, which means less hand movement is needed to fire. Last, the engagement area of the sear is shortened and polished, reducing trigger creep. Again, you can buy prepared parts, or modify the stock parts.

Once the new parts are in I'll revisit this topic and document the progress on this gun, In the meantime, everything you need to know about disassembling and reassembling the 22/45 can be found on this tremendously helpful web page.