Mark I: another Ruger customer service anecdote

[rogervzv]

As one or two of you may know, I scored a very nice but old and used Ruger Mark I not long ago (estate consignment). Well, the Saturday before Thanksgiving I was shooting the gun, and suddenly the trigger failed to reset. Even racking the slide manually would not cock the trigger. The gun had obviously suffered a serious failure.

Naturally I shipped the gun off to Ruger. By the way, they did not offer to pay shipping because it is such an old gun. The rep told me that it sounded like worn out parts and he warned me that I might be charged as much as $85 (don't ask me where he got that number) for parts and labor. No problem; off the gun went to Ruger on Tuesday before Thanksgiving.

Well, the gun came back the Wednesday after Thanksgiving. The note inside simply said "parts replaced" and said that "on a one-time basis as a courtesy to the customer" there would be no charge. They said that they shot 40 rounds of CCI through it with no problem after repair.

Given the age of the gun, not to mention the fact that I am not the original owner, I sure am not complaining about any of this! This confirms what I always say: when you buy a Ruger you are also buying a company that stands behind its products!

[mr00jimbo]

Awesome! I have heard their service is top-notch.
Also, sweet looking gun.

[sando]

Ruger knows how to take care of business.
I've had similar dealings with them over the years. I even had a real person answer the phone - crazy!
That's a great pistol you got there - a Mk I or II is next on my List.

[Fishslayer]

Shame ya gotta make do with such a tired, worn out old pistol.

I would give a couple hunnert for it so you could buy a nice, new, not unsafe pistol...

[rogervzv]

Shame ya gotta make do with such a tired, worn out old pistol.

I would give a couple hunnert for it so you could buy a nice, new, not unsafe pistol...

LOL! No thanks, pal. This one is a classic! I hope I can be forgiven for putting on the wood grips, but I do think that they look sweeter than the black plastic originals, which of course I have safely tucked away.

[Hot Holster]

I recently sent a Ruger SR22 back because I had to push up on the mag to keep ammo feeding into the chamber. They sent a paid label for shipping, and I had the gun back in 6 days (including the weekend). They replaced the mag disconnect, shot 40 rounds of CCI, then sent it back with a nice silicone gun cloth for my trouble.

Excellent customer service.

[roger1022]

I dunno if the CS is better for pistols but my last experience with their CS (for a rifle) was tepid at best.

[Scuba951]

She's a beaut!

[joefrank64k]

OP, those wood grips look amazing on that Mark I!

[boukca]

Maybe Ruger should give a CS class to Sig? Anyways, love the wood grips on the pistol, it really sets it apart and looks classy.

[Fishslayer]

I hope I can be forgiven for putting on the wood grips,

The wood grips are perfect. They really turn that pistol into a thing of beauty.

[Chaos47]

Great guns!
Great customer service.

I have a 678 just like yours except mine is a couple years older.
Yours appears to be a 1973 vintage. http://www.ruger.com/service/product.../PI-MarkI.html
You have the later A-100 frame so you can use MKII magazines without flipping the follower button. You can also use MKII/III grips, which I think you know cause it looks like your grips have the magazine button cut out. Mine is 1970 and can only use MKI grips but can use MKII magazines if I flip the button to the other side.

Personally I have old school walnut grips on mine from numrich.
A great part you could pick up from numrich is the AMT Lightning (Clone of MKII) trigger. The trigger is a clone of the Clark Custom Trigger. Which would be a period correct trigger for a MKI. While a Volquartsen would work, IMO it would look funny. The AMT trigger has preset pretravel and adjustable overtravel. Makes for a very light trigger with a tiny tiny bit of take up, clean brake and no overtravel.

https://www.gunpartscorp.com/Products/748440.htm

BTW if you use MKII magazines they may get hung up a bit when you try to pull them out. The MKI heel release has a very sharp edge compared to the MKII release. This causes the release to catch between the plastic base and the metal body. Some people file the release its self. Personally I mod the magazines with a jeweler's file and give them a slight angle at the base of the metal on the backside. Now they come out with ease. The original MKI magazines don't hang up for 2 reasons 1 they have bigger bases and 2 they have a filed cut in them just like I add to the MKI magazines. Another way to do it is to dent the magazine in with a punch but I don't like that idea.

If you didn't know the safety can be used as a slide lock.
But I have found that mine at least does not like to be loaded with the bolt back.

[rogervzv]

Good info, Chaos, thanks.