New (to me) Mark I Target comes home!

[rogervzv]

I picked this gun up at a consignment sale (estate sale) a month ago. After the interminable California wait, I finally got it home. The gun was absolutely filthy; I am not sure that the previous owner ever did more to it than clean out the bore. I thoroughly cleaned it and then went to the range. The gun shot great! I was happy to find that it handles Mark III magazines just fine, which is great because I have over a dozen of them. Out of 170 rounds (Remington Goldens) I had one ejection issue, which I attribute to a bad round. Otherwise the gun shot perfectly. Also very accurately! My groups at ten yards were about par for me with a good gun.

Here is how she looked when I picked her up:


Here she is with some new grip panels that I had laying around. I think I like this look better!

[G21Shooter]

Very nice!

Most Ruger MK owners never take their guns apart to clean them, and they look like a tar pit inside.

[beerman]

One of the best ever,congrads

[rogervzv]

Very nice!

Most Ruger MK owners never take their guns apart to clean them, and they look like a tar pit inside.

I have heard stories like that. This gun was not quite that bad; the grip assembly was not bad, but the chamber was literally coated with tar. Good old Hoppes #9 followed with gun cleaner and some scrubbing cleaned the weapon right up. I almost wish I had tried shooting it before cleaning just to see what would have happened. In any case, the gun cleaned up nicely and shot great!

Mark pistols are not difficult to assemble. It is just that it is hard to explain the little tricks in reassembling them. Thus assembly is hard to explain but easy to do when you know how. When I actually show people how to do it the reaction is always very positive and my "students" then go on to do it just fine on their own.

[majtom94]

Beautiful gun.

I'll make a suggestion, put a cloth in the plastic case to protect the barrel; I recently found that my 22/45 had some blueing missing that lines up with the barrel molding in the case.

[rogervzv]

Beautiful gun.

I'll make a suggestion, put a cloth in the plastic case to protect the barrel; I recently found that my 22/45 had some blueing missing that lines up with the barrel molding in the case.

I do not keep any of my Marks (I have many) in these cases. They are in the gun safe. Good tip for those who do use the cases.

[Spyder]

You're an a-hole.

I love the Mk series. Still looking for a few specific ones. Nice pistol!

[rm1911]

New (to me) Mark I Target comes home!

Looks like you stole that out of my safe . I have the exact same gun. Shoots amazing. Super accurate. Eats anything I feed it.

So Mk III mags fit? That is very good info for sure. It's impossible finding Mk I mags anymore. Only advice I have is don't let your kids shoot it. You'll never get it back!!!

[tanakasan]

Nice pistol, good score!

Nice to hear the MkIII mags work! I have a MkI w/short barrel, could use a few more mags. Fun to shoot!

Robert

[rogervzv]

Turns out that the Standard and the earlier model Mark 1s had a certain grip arrangement that is incompatible with Mark II and Mark III grips and magazines. Later in the Mark 1 series Ruger updated the grip such that it is compatible with these. You can readily identify the old versus new grip: the old-style grip accommodates magazines with the depressing stud on the right side--the newer ones have it on the left side. By luck my Mark 1 target has the later-version grip which is why it will accommodate these beautiful Mark 1 grip panels as well as the Mark II and Mark III magazines.

[Hike4Trout]

I agree on the grips. The blued gun with the wood checkered grips is sharp and classic looking.

I have a blued Mark III Target and put the same wood grips on mine.

Nice find on the Mark I.