New to me Mk I

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mark II
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New to me Mk I

Post by mark II » Thu Nov 08, 2012 10:11 am

So, I have a Mk I standard that I want to upgrade for bullseye shooting. My question is for anyone that has a Mk I. Have you installed a new trigger? And if you did which one did you go with?
Also it seems to me that the hammer bushing is what sets the depth of the sear on the hammer and I'm wondering why. Wouldn't it be better if the dia. of the bushing be smaller so the sear and hammer have full depth contact?
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blue68f100
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Post by blue68f100 » Thu Nov 08, 2012 1:59 pm

With more engagement you will introduce creep to the trigger. You want as little as possiable and sharp clean edges. If I recall on the Clark Bushing it only had about 0.015"-0.018" engagement and the factory was around 0.025". And the bushing fit's tight against the hammer. If your bushing is loose you will have a inconsistent feel, aka creep. I have used the blue and red Loctite to secure the bushing to the hammer with good success. The red is more perminate and may require heat for it to release.

I can't recommend a trigger for I think the MKI is a different size. I modified the factory trigger on my MKIII to add the pre travel stop. The factory had the post but was backed all the way off.

The trigger on my MKIII breaks around the 2# mark, light......
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Post by Bullseye » Thu Nov 08, 2012 4:57 pm

The only difference between a Mark I/Early Standard and a Mark II trigger is the top portion of the trigger. A Mark II trigger has a relief cut on the left hand side for a plunger to control the bolt hold open feature. A Mark I trigger has a disconnector pivot pin hole that goes all the way across the top. Other than that both triggers are dimensionally identical. A Mark I trigger has metal slugs in the front to act as a overtravel and pretravel stop. The Mark II target trigger has an Allen screw in the face for overtravel. Here's a picture of both triggers side-by-side.

Image

The hammer bushing should not interfere in any way with the sear face. The hammer hook should be clear of the outer dimension of the bushing. Some folks push this and then have issues with hammer engagement. I have cut target hammer hooks very thin .015"-.018" but only on a totally dedicated target gun. It is better to leave the hooks longer .025"-.030" on sometimes target use guns. This is still a vast improvement over the factory .040"-.045" depth. Add a pretravel screw to the trigger and you have even better control over trigger feel.

You can use any of the aftermarket components for making a Mark II a target version in your Mark I/Standard. The one main difference is that a VQ target sear will allow you to set the thumb safety on a pistol that has the hammer down - a noted safety feature of the Mark I is that the thumb safety cannot be set on a uncocked hammer. However, all later versions of the pistol do allow for the safety to be engaged with the hammer down, so it is not really all that big of a deal. I have a VQ sear intalled my personal Mark I, and Nic Volquartsen and I have discussed this issue about it a few times in the past. You can even use one of the newer style Mark II VQ target triggers in your Mark I with the overtravel and pretravel stops in it.

Removing a Mark I trigger takes a little special attention due to the "E" clip on the left hand side of the frame. This clip locks in the trigger pivot pin and must be removed to take out the trigger. You have to take care to replace the clip with some care or it will slip off of the pin and go down underneath the trigger. Here's a picture of the parts, you're concerned with A-34-1.

Image

Hope this helps.

R,
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greener

Post by greener » Thu Nov 08, 2012 8:34 pm

I replaced the sear and trigger with the VQ components in a '73 Standard. the e-clip was the "interesting" part of the job. I believe there is a tool that will make removing the clip much easier, but that would ruin all the fun beyond having one more tool that you may not use ever again.

I ended up with a crisp trigger. Due to the wear (I think) on the hammer, the trigger pull is much lighter than doing the same replacement in a MKII and MKIII. I don't see any creep, but I'm not good enough to notice it until the creep is really, really bad.

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Post by mark II » Fri Nov 16, 2012 6:57 pm

Well I replaced my Mk I trigger, disconnector and hammer with Vq. parts. All I had to do was to take a little material off the front face of the trigger. Boy is it nice now! I ordered A Clark bushing also but it hasn't arrived yet. The one that came with the gun works fine, tight in the hammer hole. I did try a different bushing that I had turned down the dia. to make a roll/creep feel but went back to the crisp trigger.
Bullseye had given me some advice a long time ago about not changing too many things at a time or too often, I hope someday that sinks in.
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Post by blue68f100 » Sat Nov 17, 2012 9:00 am

If your bushing is tight against the hammer you may not gain much with the Clark. The pins that come with the Clark bushing are precision ground for minimal clearance so it should improve some. And like I said earlier, Clark limits the engagement of the hammer and sear, this also limits creep. Any time you remove slop you remove creep in the trigger.

Not sure what the disconnector will bring you unless you went a Ti one.

Sounds like your on the way to a nice sweet shooting MK.
David

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Post by mark II » Wed Mar 13, 2013 11:04 am

Hi Guys,
So, my leagues are almost over and I started to do good, for me,with my Mk I. I like the way I have the trigger now. One thing that bothers me is it doesn't group well. This Mk I has the 6 inch tappered barrel which I added a small amount of weight to the end to help with recoil. It groups just over an inch from a rest at 50 ft. It has always grouped like this and I feel I'm losing points because of this. I wanted to get some thoughts from you.
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MkII

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Post by blue68f100 » Wed Mar 13, 2013 1:27 pm

Try different ammo. 22's are very sensitive to ammo. I don't know how often you clean the barrel but that's another option. I only clean mine when the accuracy drops off. Remember ammo needs to season the barrel, so if you clean after every shooting it will probably take a mag or two for it to settle down. Check the crown for damage too.
David

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Post by Bullseye » Wed Mar 13, 2013 6:39 pm

Tapered barrel but does it have adjustable sights? Also how does the crown on the end of the barrel look? Does the residue leave a nice star pattern? Or is the residue heavier on one side and not the other?

R,
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Post by mark II » Wed Mar 13, 2013 10:30 pm

All I shoot out of it is CCI S/V. In fact I have enough to finish the season and a couple of practice matches then I'm out. Ammo is not to be found around here so I haven't tried to much else. I have shot it clean and I have shot it dirty, doesn't make a difference in group size.
It's a 6 in. standard but I have an U/D on it. I have tried to clean up the crown once before. I would say it's even but no star. I have gotten a prefect star before on another Ruger. That's a pretty sight. I guess I can try again and then clean the barrel and lap it a bit.
A couple of things that come to mind is the chamber is not tight and not sure if this matters for pistols but, the headspace is .010 over. Over the .043 of a rim. What do you guy think?
Thanks...

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Post by mark II » Sun Mar 17, 2013 12:57 pm

Just giving an update. I recrowned my Mk I. Cleaned the barrel and lapped it with Fitz. After fouling the barrel my groups improved a little but, I think they should be better. I didn't see a star on the end of barrel but, had a even ring. So, I tried again and this time I went with 90 deg. crown. Going to try it out later today.
Still wondering about the headspacing on the bolt, think it makes any difference?
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Post by mark II » Mon Mar 18, 2013 10:34 am

Well that didn't work as well as I had hope for. I had a nice star forming. I guess just because you have a star doesn't mean a nice group will follow. So today I will put a small bevel on the crown and see what happens. Right now a nickel won't cover my groups. I would be happy if my groups were inside of a dime at 50 ft.
I have another idea in the back of my mind but that will be another topic first I would like to exhaust all my options. Ideas?

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Post by blue68f100 » Mon Mar 18, 2013 1:34 pm

Once your getting a even star pattern coming off the rifling crown you should be good for the crown. I would try different ammo if you can find it. Of the guns I have each like something different....
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Post by Bullseye » Tue Mar 19, 2013 7:01 am

What you get with the star is proof your gasses are escaping the barrel consistently around the bullet as it exits the barrel. That just confirms the bullet isn't being deflected erratically as it exits the barrel by a defective crown.

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Post by mark II » Tue Mar 19, 2013 10:31 am

Thanks guys for the replies. Well, I have the star but I don't have the group yet. I agree that it would be good to try different ammo but there isn't much around here right now.
I'm wondering if I might have a small burr that I'm not seeing. The gasses are escaping and printing a star but then the bullet gets deflected at the last split second. If the bullet was being deflected wouldn't I have some keyholes? The holes in the paper seem round. Just trying to figure this out.
Thanks....

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