During reassembly with grips off bolt would not close all the way. the hammer pin jumped out of one side of the receiver, it turns out. Before I noticed this I popped the mainspring housing partially out WITHOUT PULLING THE TRIGGER. I would not have been able to pull that trigger anyway because the bolt wouldn't close with the hammer pin not all the way in. Now, my pistol is locked up and I can't disassemble it.
My instincts tell me to pull the hammer pin the rest of the way out and maybe drift the sear pin out too.
MKIII Locked UP-HELP!
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johnnywitt
- Regular contributor
- Posts: 73
- Joined: Thu Jul 03, 2008 1:03 am
- Location: N. Georgia Mountains & Texas
This worked for me, I got it from another forum:
First Open up that mainspring housing, at least as far as you can get it too (I am assuming you can't get it clear out). Then put an empty magazine in the gun and pull the trigger. Now, take your left hand thumb and stick it through the trigger guard and hold down the trigger while pointing the muzzle (gun) straight down on a table (padded with a couple of bath towels, or something else to keep from scratching your gun).
Now, while holding the trigger and with the housing mainspring partially pulled out from the back of the grip, pound the muzzle of the gun on the table, and the mainspring housing should pivout completely out of the grip.
Then, from there you can pull stright down and out, pulling the bolt stop pin straight down out of the slide and bolt.
First Open up that mainspring housing, at least as far as you can get it too (I am assuming you can't get it clear out). Then put an empty magazine in the gun and pull the trigger. Now, take your left hand thumb and stick it through the trigger guard and hold down the trigger while pointing the muzzle (gun) straight down on a table (padded with a couple of bath towels, or something else to keep from scratching your gun).
Now, while holding the trigger and with the housing mainspring partially pulled out from the back of the grip, pound the muzzle of the gun on the table, and the mainspring housing should pivout completely out of the grip.
Then, from there you can pull stright down and out, pulling the bolt stop pin straight down out of the slide and bolt.
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johnnywitt
- Regular contributor
- Posts: 73
- Joined: Thu Jul 03, 2008 1:03 am
- Location: N. Georgia Mountains & Texas
False alarm, cried wolf, ect. I just went with my gut and I drift punched out the Hammer pin and the sear pin. I got the little sucker apart.
Word to the wise, since your have to have the hammer in the fired position to take apart a Ruger MK II/III Pistola, you need to put the grips on to secure the hammer pin in position before you whack your pistol or the hammer pin will drift out of the frame on one side and your bolt won't go into battery to fire pistol to take it apart. In a nutshell, the only way out of this goat rope scenario is to detail strip your pistola out of sequence and start from square one.The reason I didn't put the grips on after I reassembled my lower is because the demo guy on the Volquartzen Video didn't. This is how I came up with this less than stellar reassembly approach.
Thanks Raw, I didn't see your post until I drifted my hammer and sear pins already and got the pistol apart. I really appreciate the advise and will try it if this ever happens to me again. I sure like this pistol though. Its no SIG, Glock, or HK in the takedown /maintenence dept though.
Word to the wise, since your have to have the hammer in the fired position to take apart a Ruger MK II/III Pistola, you need to put the grips on to secure the hammer pin in position before you whack your pistol or the hammer pin will drift out of the frame on one side and your bolt won't go into battery to fire pistol to take it apart. In a nutshell, the only way out of this goat rope scenario is to detail strip your pistola out of sequence and start from square one.The reason I didn't put the grips on after I reassembled my lower is because the demo guy on the Volquartzen Video didn't. This is how I came up with this less than stellar reassembly approach.
Thanks Raw, I didn't see your post until I drifted my hammer and sear pins already and got the pistol apart. I really appreciate the advise and will try it if this ever happens to me again. I sure like this pistol though. Its no SIG, Glock, or HK in the takedown /maintenence dept though.
Glad you got the gun back together... it is a bear the first few times.
Here's a disassemble/assemble video from "Moe" on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYHJm2P4kP0&NR=1 and some from Ruger here: http://www.ruger.com/Firearms/N-RugerTV.html
The most critical assembling parts (for me) is getting the hammer in uncocked position, you must insert a mag and pull the trigger, and then the hammer strut alignment with the mainspring. If you don't get the hammer strut aligned and close the mainspring the gun gets "jammed".
I found it became easier after putting a few hundred rounds thru the gun, and with some assemble/disassemble practice.
Here's a disassemble/assemble video from "Moe" on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYHJm2P4kP0&NR=1 and some from Ruger here: http://www.ruger.com/Firearms/N-RugerTV.html
The most critical assembling parts (for me) is getting the hammer in uncocked position, you must insert a mag and pull the trigger, and then the hammer strut alignment with the mainspring. If you don't get the hammer strut aligned and close the mainspring the gun gets "jammed".
I found it became easier after putting a few hundred rounds thru the gun, and with some assemble/disassemble practice.
Last edited by raw6464 on Sun Aug 24, 2008 6:57 am, edited 1 time in total.
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greener
Also, take a look at this link and the troubleshooting links.
http://www.guntalk-online.com/fsprocedures.htm
http://www.guntalk-online.com/fsprocedures.htm
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johnnywitt
- Regular contributor
- Posts: 73
- Joined: Thu Jul 03, 2008 1:03 am
- Location: N. Georgia Mountains & Texas
Guys, I'm not trying to be a smart A$$, but I know how to field strip the pistol. This was an UNUSUAL SITUATION. I had the pistol completely apart down to the bare frame and back together again. The problem was that I rapped the pistol once it was REASSEMBLED (without the grips on it) and it caused the hammer pin to jump out of the frame SLIGHTLY. It jumped out on the side that you normally drive the pin out with a punch. This created a situation were I couldn't release the hammer by pulling the trigger because you can't fir the pistol with a bolt that won't go all the way into battery and you can't get the hammer pin back in with the upper receiver on the pistol.
If I would have just put the grips back on the pistol, the hammer pin would have been locked in place by the grip panels and wouldn't have let the hammer pin drift out of position. In my defence though, I just copied the guy on the VQ Video though because he didn't put the grips on when he reassembled the lower after putting in the VQ parts. Maybe the hammer pin on the demo gun he used was really tight and the receiver relatively loose (so it didn't require as much whacking). I don't know, but I'm learning a lot about the inner workings of my MKIII, I can tell you that. Hope this experience can help somebody else. The only thing I haven't done is adjust a factory trigger with the pretravel mod. This comes next. I hope my two year old isn't around or he might learn some new words.
If I would have just put the grips back on the pistol, the hammer pin would have been locked in place by the grip panels and wouldn't have let the hammer pin drift out of position. In my defence though, I just copied the guy on the VQ Video though because he didn't put the grips on when he reassembled the lower after putting in the VQ parts. Maybe the hammer pin on the demo gun he used was really tight and the receiver relatively loose (so it didn't require as much whacking). I don't know, but I'm learning a lot about the inner workings of my MKIII, I can tell you that. Hope this experience can help somebody else. The only thing I haven't done is adjust a factory trigger with the pretravel mod. This comes next. I hope my two year old isn't around or he might learn some new words.
The left grip keeps the hammer pivot pin in place. Without the grip the pin is free to walk. If it walks when the hammer is cocked then the mainspring pressure will lock up the gun. Johnny you did the best thing by popping the pins, that allowed you to take the pistol apart and start again. This is one reason why it is important to ensure that the left grip is tight against the frame.
R,
Bullseye
R,
Bullseye
