- It was 29 degrees on the firing line again today, although the mercury was nudging 31 by the time we left.
- Did I mention that the trigger on that 22/45 resets way the heck out by the berm?
- Lots of light strikes on the crappy Winchester bulk fodder by the time we split. I'm suspecting that the firing pin channel is filled with a ice-cold congealed sludge composed of equal parts powder residue and lube. I need to field strip my Ruger Mk.III. I'm scared. Hold me.
- I am very, very happy with my shooting with both 1911s in my range bag (the 9mm Para and the '66 Colt.)
- Back in '99, I locked the front wheel of my RF600R on the interstate at 65 in the rain. The front end tucked so briskly that when the handlebars whipped to the right, they snapped my right thumb like a breadstick. The hard plastic CTC lasergrips on my Airweight 432 were smacking right into that spot today when I was shooting it in the cold with no gloves on. Ouch. After 50 rounds of .32 S&W Long and 40 more of .32 H&R Magnum, the old fracture site was throbbing. Ouch.
Books. Bikes. Boomsticks.
“I only regret that I have but one face to palm for my country.”
The Real challenge is to detail strip that ruger 22/45 and get it back together without swearing/throwing random objects/selling it.
ReplyDeleteThe Volquartsen kit for the 22/45 might help that. I know it made a difference to the Mk11.
ReplyDeleteCouldn't you just spray down that 22/45 with Break-Free and go to town with an air compressor and hope for the best?
ReplyDeleteYou can do it Tam.
ReplyDeleteI have a "Speed Strip Kit" from Majestic Arms for my Mark II. It makes the job very simple. You might want to look into getting one.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.majesticarms.com/id10.html
The Majestic Arms kit is what I run in one of mine, Tam. It works just like the old one from 15 years ago.
ReplyDeleteI replaced that one I broke when I bought the one from Yonkers that was advertised in the back of G&A back in the mid-90s.
Sorry about your thumb.
Shootin' Buddy
Follow the step-by-step instructions in your manual and you'll be fine. My Mk III has been reminding me "when all else fails follow the instructions". :-)
ReplyDeleteTam,
ReplyDelete"I need to field strip my Ruger Mk.III. I'm scared. Hold me."
That' why you shoulda bought a Browning Buckmark. Same 1911 grip and safety, easy to field strip and clean. The call for a Ruger is mostly hype.
Just my $0.02.
Rugers are easy if you do it more then once a year. Never timed it but i could probably do it in thirty seconds....I know i have lazied my way throught it in a minute.
ReplyDeleteA mk III isn't that hard to strip, clean, and reassemble: But you gotta do the dance exactly.
ReplyDeleteBTW, use SH and you won't have the buildup issue as quickly....Let the bolt assembly dry overnite before putting it back in the receiver and.
If ya can't get the thing back together, send it to me and I'll fix it for you.
Too bad about the cold weather. I took the kids to Griffith Park today in Los Angeles, and they rode the merry go round and ate hotdogs for lunch. It was chilly, but not so chilly that one could see one's breath. The Rowan trees were green, with clusters of red berries.
ReplyDeleteWell, I'm proud of your readers for none of them guffawing about feeling the thump of a mere .32. How many people shoot 90 rounds out of an Airweight in a day?
ReplyDeleteBesides me, I mean? ;)
Crucis,
ReplyDelete"That' why you shoulda bought a Browning Buckmark. Same 1911 grip and safety, easy to field strip and clean. The call for a Ruger is mostly hype."
I've shot I don't know how many of both. The Buckmark did not suit my needs, although I think it's a superior pistol to the MkIII and better in some ways than the MkII.
I wasn't buying a tin can plinker or a target pistol, but a training mule, and the shorter barreled 22/45, with its coarse, fixed three-dot sights had the feel, ergos, and features I needed.
Besides, if it was just a .22 plinker I was looking for, I'd have skipped the Browning and Ruger entirely and bought an old Woodsman... :p
Matt,
ReplyDelete"Well, I'm proud of your readers for none of them guffawing about feeling the thump of a mere .32. How many people shoot 90 rounds out of an Airweight in a day?"
In retrospect, the problem wasn't even the hard plastic grips: Shooting a Centennial, I choke way the hell up on the gun, and the rear corner of the frame itself was banging into the bone of my thumb... It wasn't too bad for the first 60ish rounds, but I made sure to fire the last cylinder with my weak hand.
...AND, though I'm a huge fan of the Buckmark and love mine dearly, you can't disassemble one without an allen wrench to remove that funky bridge with the rear sight on it. That's not what I'd call really service-friendly.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was shooting in local pistol leagues I competed in steel challenge with both the 22/45 and a 1911 Charles Daly. By shooting 2000 rounds through the 22/45 before i picked up the 1911 I saved many $$$$. With that practice i was able to take that $350 CD and stay up in the upper 1/4 of the shooters. Some guys had holsters and belts that cost as much as the CD! They had a lot more respect for an adequate firearm with practice after that season.
ReplyDeleteThe ergonomics and plain just dependability of that 22/45 over the Buckmarks I saw made my choice for me.
Speaking of shooting, I found a picture at work which you in particular might like. I'll put a post of with it tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteJim
Just get the Volquartsen MKII hammer and sear and it won't be a problem. Otherwise you'll need to really make sure to follow the instructions. I ordered the parts after the first time I had to field strip my MKIII.
ReplyDeleteHeh. I bought a Mark III. Shot it, stripped it, cleaned it, reassembled it, called down multiple curses on the heads of the lawyers who designed it... and sold it. To my best friend, after trying desperately to talk him OUT of buying it (I really wanted to keep my friend more than I wanted to ditch the Mark III!).
ReplyDeleteBought a MK II and my best friend and I are both happy with our .22s. Good deal all around.
You dumped your bike at 65 on the interstate?!? Do tell.
ReplyDeleteThe thing is, while I think the Mk.II 22/45 is superior to the Mk.III variant mechanically, the Mk.III had more of what I was looking for in feel in the hand.
ReplyDeleteAlso, it was near impossible to find used Mk.II 22/45s with fixed sights.
Stripping and cleaning the Ruger is easy. Just take your cutting torch, and...
ReplyDeleteMattG, you don't carry an allen wrench in your range bag? :-) On mine, you need a flat-blade screw-driver as well to loosen the barrel screw. I carry both in my range bag. I can disassemble the Buckmark and re-assemble it in about three minutes or less.
ReplyDeleteYes, you may need tools, but you don't have to be a mechanical engineer to field strip it.
Roland, she's told about it at other places and times, here and there, and elsewhere. It was on I-285, IIRC.
ReplyDeleteI had my Yamaha DS-7 up to 95 mph there, once, but that was back in the seventies after it had just been widened, late at night in dry weather. To do that, I had to put feet on back pegs, left hand on fork tube, and chin on instruments. Had I blown a front tire, I would have been SO dead.
God, I miss two-stroke street bikes!