Ruger Mk 1/2/3 disassembly.

[fanboy1911]

Is it mandatory to cock and dry fire before pulling out the mainspring housing on the back of the grip because I heard somewhere that if the hammer is cock and you try to pull out the mainspring, then the hammer's struck will bind and it will be impossible to take it out or put it back?

[BJames]

This is the video that got me through it the best.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYHJm2P4kP0

[Chaos47]

Yes you need to dry fire it before you disassemble.
This is because the hammer must be in the up position.

Don't worry the MK series has a firing pin stop and are fine to dry fire.

Heres are some good photo guides
Feild Strip:

http://guntalk-online.com/fsprocedures.htm

Detail Strip:

http://guntalk-online.com/detailstrip.htm

[INFAMOUS762X39]

Yes you need to dry fire it before you disassemble.
This is because the hammer must be in the up position.

Don't worry the MK series has a firing pin stop and are fine to dry fire.

Heres are some good photo guides
Feild Strip:

http://guntalk-online.com/fsprocedures.htm

Detail Strip:
http://guntalk-online.com/detailstrip.htm

Thanks for sharing, I did not know that. I have snaps caps for my 22/45 and I hate them.

[tal3nt]

The User's Manual has pretty detailed instructions on disassembly. Pictures and everything. You should check it out.

[Beercandan]

On ruger.com had videos of takedown cleaning And assembly. Just find your gun and should have videos

[Chaos47]

Thanks for sharing, I did not know that. I have snaps caps for my 22/45 and I hate them.

Whenever you take the bolt out you should check that its still there before you put it back in.
And I have heard of one case where the pin bent and broke..

[ThortheDog]

Good points, Chaos74. Excellent pic. The Ruger manual cautions that you make sure the pin has not come out before reinserting the bolt.

As you said, there apparently have been instance of the pin breaking. There was a thread on rimfirecentral.com (maybe a year ago?) about this. If I recall, apparently there was a period of time when hollow pins were used, and these were prone to breakage. Solid pins seem to be fine.

[littlejake]

Having followed the Ruger MK pistol forums at RimFireCentral.com, there have been some MK pistols that have a roll pin instead of the solid firing pin stop pin. Long term dry firing deforms the roll pin; and can result in FP strikes to the breech face.

The advised solution for any MK pistol with a roll pin is to replace it with the solid pin.

[Chaos47]

Good points, Chaos74. Excellent pic. The Ruger manual cautions that you make sure the pin has not come out before reinserting the bolt.

As you said, there apparently have been instance of the pin breaking. There was a thread on rimfirecentral.com (maybe a year ago?) about this. If I recall, apparently there was a period of time when hollow pins were used, and these were prone to breakage. Solid pins seem to be fine.

Thanks, I shamelessly stole that photo from:

http://guntalk-online.com/service.html

Which is where the guides I posted above come from.

It is an excellent website, helped me tremendously when taking apart my GF's 22/45 the first couple times. Now I could detail strip it and put it back together without peaking at the guide. But if you get stuck at a point guntalk is a great resource.

I think we must have read the same thread on RC, hah

Having followed the Ruger MK pistol forums at RimFireCentral.com, there have been some MK pistols that have a roll pin instead of the solid firing pin stop pin. Long term dry firing deforms the roll pin; and can result in FP strikes to the breech face.

The advised solution for any MK pistol with a roll pin is to replace it with the solid pin.

Reminds me I need to check which kind of pin my GF's 22/45 has.
No issue on my MKI 678. I try to not do drifire sessions with it but once and awhile I can not resist squeezing its trigger as its probably the lightest trigger I have ever felt.