I was following Bullseye's nicely done pictoral fieldstrip instructions and field stripped the gun very easily. After cleaning the gun and starting to put it back together, I put the magazine in so I could manuver the trigger. Oops, I slid the magazine in backwards. Pressed the mag release and pulled . . . nothing. It would not come out. Added progressively more pressure, still would not come out.
Here's the saddest part of the story . . . I called the LGS, the largest in Tampa Bay, where I bought the gun and they said they have never successfully removed a backwards magazine from a Mark III and that I should send the gun to Ruger for repair. Wow, could that be possible?
The next day, I sent a message to Bullseye about my problem and searched this website. I found Bullseye's reply to another person in my same position. "The magazine is caught on the magazine safety lever" said Bullseye. At that point, I decided to remove the barrel with the magazine in place and sacrifice the magazine. I was able to remove the barrel and sure enough, Bullseye was right, the lever was caught in a slot of the magazine and holding it in place. I pushed the magazine further into the gun, lifted the magazine safety lever and the magazine fell out!
I reassembled the gun easily with Bullseye's fieldstrip proceedure and took the gun to the range. The gun and the magazine worked perfectly. It was not damaged from forcing the barrel off with the magazine in place.
I want to thank Bullseye for this marvelous website and sharing his knowledge with me. It saved me weeks without my new prized posession and $30 or more in shipping. Bullseye you are the best!
