Ruger mk iv jamming

[KGMedic]

Awesome! Thanks! I was not aware the subsonic ammo would be a problem. The only reason I bought that ammo is because we have a coyote issue in our neighborhood and they've killed a few neighbors dogs. I live in Florida and our former governor passed a bill making it illegal to discharge a firearm in a residential area unless there is an acre between dwellings. I figured subsonic wouldn't be as loud and allow me to remedy the coyote issue.

 

[Alexx1401]

Awesome! Thanks! I was not aware the subsonic ammo would be a problem. The only reason I bought that ammo is because we have a coyote issue in our neighborhood and they've killed a few neighbors dogs. I live in Florida and our former governor passed a bill making it illegal to discharge a firearm in a residential area unless there is an acre between dwellings. I figured subsonic wouldn't be as loud and allow me to remedy the coyote issue.

Well the MK "should" work fine with the sub sonic stuff. Most of them do fine. If it is just the springs that is a simple fix with a lighter. Now as for shooting at the predators if the homes are that close together you are putting a lot at risk here.

 

[FA9]

Yeah I was getting problems also, but I just kept shooting it. More I shot it, the less problems I was getting.

 

[K7ZS]

I am finding that Magazine Cleanliness is very important on any gun, but especially on the Ruger Mark II I have. When running CCI Standard Velocity, which has a LOT of wax / lube on the bullet, it builds up on the front of the magazine in a hurry. The bullet noses contact the front of the magazine, and transfers the lube to it. When it's COLD (my range is ventilated with outdoor air, so we've been in the low 40's at the range), especially when the magazine is full, you can watch the bullets rise up in slow motion. These are new magazines so it's not the springs, it's the friction! Now, I take a barrel brush, put a cleaning patch on it with some Hoppes 9, depress the magazine follower all the way down and scrub the magazine after EACH OUTING. The gun has run much better. I think only one FTF in hundreds of rounds after I noticed the crud buildup. IF you lube it (most say DON'T) use an evaporating carrier type lube SPARINGLY. Takes just a minute and your gun will love you for it!

 

[Alexx1401]

I am finding that Magazine Cleanliness is very important on any gun, but especially on the Ruger Mark II I have. When running CCI Standard Velocity, which has a LOT of wax / lube on the bullet, it builds up on the front of the magazine in a hurry. The bullet noses contact the front of the magazine, and transfers the lube to it. When it's COLD (my range is ventilated with outdoor air, so we've been in the low 40's at the range), especially when the magazine is full, you can watch the bullets rise up in slow motion. These are new magazines so it's not the springs, it's the friction! Now, I take a barrel brush, put a cleaning patch on it with some Hoppes 9, depress the magazine follower all the way down and scrub the magazine after EACH OUTING. The gun has run much better. I think only one FTF in hundreds of rounds after I noticed the crud buildup. IF you lube it (most say DON'T) use an evaporating carrier type lube SPARINGLY. Takes just a minute and your gun will love you for it!

I have seen the same thing with my MK mags. Takes a while but when I see one acting sluggish, I spray them out with cleaner. Then when dry put a dusting of Graphite sold as lock lube. Keeps them running along great.

 

[K7ZS]

I like the lock graphite idea! Great tip! Thanks..

 

[fredball]

Gun porn while you are waiting
I have the volquartsen trigger kit in my MKIV
And it runs good
MK III has had internals polished and it runs good to
Has got to a simple fix Ruger has great customer service

 

[Member 52301]

So my new ruger mk iv stainless target is on its second trip back to ruger. I bought it new and it jammed about once every magazine. I sent it back to be fixed . It received a new bolt and a large list of repairs. So I get it back and no matter what ammo I feed it it jams about once every 50 to 100 rounds ( failure to eject ie stove pipe). So it is on its way back again for repairs. Anyone else encounter this?

I do not own a Ruger Mark 4.

The Mark 4 had some issues and there was a recall on some of their guns and, later on, there were more recalls on them.

Ruger Recalls Mark IV Rimfire Pistols. Ruger announced that a recently-discovered phenomenon on the company's new Mark IV rimfire pistols may cause the gun to discharge unintentionally if users do not use the safety in the correct way. None of the company's Mark II or III pistols are subject to the recall.Jun 8, 2017
www.shootingillustrated.com › articles › ruger-recalls-mark-iv-rimfire-p...
Ruger Recalls Mark IV Rimfire Pistols - Shooting Illustrated

Mark IV™ Recall

ruger.com

Mark IV™ Recall - Ruger
ruger.com › dataProcess › markIVRecall

1. Cached

Ruger recently discovered that all Mark IV™ pistols (including 22/45™ models) manufactured prior to June 1, 2017 have the potential to discharge ...

Mark IV™ Recall

ruger.com

I do not know if the Ruger Mark 4 had the issues that you mentioned in your post.

I would ask Ruger if they could replace your pistol if they can't get the problem fixed.

Best wishes to you.

Cate

 

[Member 52301]

Oi. Say it ain't so. Sounds like the Mark IV won't work unless you get some other company's parts. That they can't even fix it at the factory with Ruger parts. I used to have an M II that I shot many thousands of rounds through, and it never misfired or jammed or failed to eject even once. Sounds like I shoulda kept it.

I agree with this post.

RUGER should be able to FIX the pistol with it's own Ruger parts and make it 100% right. The customer should not have to keep sending it back and forth to be fixed.

The customer should not have to BUY other parts from another company or even BUY parts from Ruger to adjust or repair a new firearm because it keeps on jamming or has other issues. RUGER should fix it completely and pay for the entire job.

Why any person thinks that they have to BUY other parts just to make a NIB gun work properly is silly in my mind.

(Although, my MT husband did do a TRIGGER JOB on one of his now former, older competition handguns a LONG, long time ago. He no longer competes and he only owns a couple of handguns now too.)

Apparently the original poster's pistol is totally fixed now?

I have heard and read that some semi automatic pistols can be picky about some ammunition too. I personally never had that issue with my former handguns. I only owned 3 semi automatic pistols in my life. (Two S&W and 1 Glock.) The others were double action and single action revolvers. Smith and Wesson and Ruger.

Cate

 

[SGW Gunsmith]

It's a dang shame that good folks spend what they do for a **NEW** Mark IV Ruger and then need to fork out another $150.00 or so, for a trigger upgrade kit.
I got my Mark IV pistol shortly after all the William B. Ruger Commemorative Competition Target version, with the knife, were out of stock. Finally they started shipping the Mark IV Competition Target to us "unwashed masses", and I finally got one.
Then what? I get a notice from the highest volume Ruger distributor in Arizona that ALL sales of the new Ruger Mark IV pistols were on hold. What the heck for, I asked in a very mild mannered method? My sales guy didn't know, he just knows how to say "Hello".

I never sent my personal Ruger Mark IV back for the recall and the free magazine. I fixed the issue myself. The issue was allegedly involved with the safety, when being set to on, and then if the trigger was pulled and the safety set to off, the hammer would drop without pulling the trigger. Here are the two safety plates for comparison. If you look closely you can see the differences involved with the right end and how that end captures the sear:

There's one thing I have trouble with concerning the Ruger Mark IV pistols. It's the change involved with the safety detent:

Ever since the first Ruger Standard pistol came out, the safety detent was steel, like the version on the left. Now, some educated engineer decided that a black plastic substitute would be just ducky and we'd all fall in love with that decision. Well, I'm not sending any valentines. Take a close look at the very end of that black plastic detent. Yup! The working end has been rubbed flat from only a couple of activations of the safety.
Solution: Replace that plastic detent for one that has worked pretty dang well for 71 years. Got "STEEL"?

 

[Alexx1401]

It's a dang shame that good folks spend what they do for a **NEW** Mark IV Ruger and then need to fork out another $150.00 or so, for a trigger upgrade kit.



There's one thing I have trouble with concerning the Ruger Mark IV pistols. It's the change involved with the safety detent:

Ever since the first Ruger Standard pistol came out, the safety detent was steel, like the version on the left. Now, some educated engineer decided that a black plastic substitute would be just ducky and we'd all fall in love with that decision. Well, I'm not sending any valentines. Take a close look at the very end of that black plastic detent. Yup! The working end has been rubbed flat from only a couple of activations of the safety.
Solution: Replace that plastic detent for one that has worked pretty dang well for 71 years. Got "STEEL"?

First no one "has" to change the trigger out. They sell millions of these and I am sure the after market triggers have not sold nearly that many. The after market are nice, very nice but, a lot of people are not interested. For those who want one, great.
Now the detent for the safety that does kind of surprise me. May have to some day get around to changing mine. I don't know if I am unusual in this but I never use the safety on my MK's. The reason is I never carry them. The only time they are used is at the range. At home and when on the way to the range they have mags loaded but nothing in the chamber. When shooting I never have any reason to use the safety. So mine will not be getting wear. Again don't know if I am the odd man out on this. If Ruger starts getting MK's back because the detent wears out I suspect they will change this back to steel. Does seem strange as how much could this change possibly have saved?

 

[Member 52301]

SGW and Alexx,

The trigger job that I mentioned in my POST # 49 was NOT for ANY Ruger Mark 1, 2, 3 or 4 pistol.

My MT husband and I do not own any Ruger Mark pistols. I already mentioned that I did not own one in one of my posts here.

My late husband owned a Ruger Mark pistol but I NEVER shot it before I got into shooting (Late 90's.) and I do not know if it was a Mark 2 or 3 now. It was ages ago.

Partial quote from my Post #49::

"The customer should not have to BUY other parts from another company or even BUY parts from Ruger to adjust or repair a new firearm because it keeps on jamming or has other issues. RUGER should fix it completely and pay for the entire job.

Why any person thinks that they have to BUY other parts just to make a NIB gun work properly is silly in my mind.

(Although, my MT husband did do a TRIGGER JOB on one of his now former, older competition handguns a LONG, long time ago. He no longer competes and he only owns a couple of handguns now too.)"

Unquote.

~~~

The TRIGGER JOB that I mentioned was for one of my MT husband's other handguns a long, long time ago.

One of his many custom made and standard handguns that he owned in his long life. My husband did his own work aka trigger job with some part/parts that he bought for that specific competition handgun.

That is the only gun that I know of that he did a trigger job on. I never did one on any of my former handguns and my late husband never did any either.

I do not and did not do ANY special work or had any work done on any of my former firearms. My late husband did not either. Why? Because we liked them how they came from the factory (NIB) and we had NO issues with our firearms.

Cate
Added more.

 

[SGW Gunsmith]

No, just installing an aftermarket trigger, even one with pre and over-travel screws, will not improve the trigger pull weight. It will only help reduce pre and over-travel using the two adjusting screws. It will not remove any creep either. Reducing trigger pull weight is not a task taken on haphazardly. It does require some pretty precise stoning of sear faces and hammer notch height.
That's where "creep" resides. Once pre-travel is taken up and the trigger starts to move the sear off the hammer notch, the amount of contact taken during that trigger pulling distance before the hammer drops is what "creep" involves. I know of only one way to get a good, safe trigger pull on the Ruger Mark pistols, and it involves this fixture to control stoning to a safe, smooth end result:



Here is a comparison involving sear faces. The verbiage on the picture tells the story. One of the main issues many who work on Ruger Pistols don't take into account when working sears and hammer notches involves the tolerances in the hole locations ( distance from one another ) for the sear and hammer pin holes and how those varying distances can affect sear to hammer notch engagement. That distance needs to be factored into the sear and hammer notch stoning process, along with leaving a safe sear to hammer notch engagement, or "CREEP".



In many instances, the factory sear does not arrive in the smoothest of conditions. That's one of the main reasons some owners feel a gritty trigger pull when shooting, along with the sear pivot pin hole becoming out-of-round during the heat treatment of the sear. I like to ream factory sears back to being nice and round again with a special diameter carbide reamer.
If shooting fast at cans and bottles gets your "fun parts" excited, don't bother with the trigger pull, just blast away and enjoy the day.

 

[SGW Gunsmith]

It is almost too hilarious how some will get "tipped over so easily" on one single post. It was a "general statement" for those who "think" they might need one. I've been working on Ruger Mark pistols for 50 years and have seen much more involved with these pistols than YOU ever will.

 

[KGMedic]

Well the MK "should" work fine with the sub sonic stuff. Most of them do fine. If it is just the springs that is a simple fix with a lighter. Now as for shooting at the predators if the homes are that close together you are putting a lot at risk here.

I changed ammo to a 60 grain subsonic and have no jamming issues. I did not have to have any work on the pistol. I appreciate everyone's input.

 

[SGW Gunsmith]

For those who DON'T already know it, Ruger Mark III magazines work just fine in the Ruger Mark IV, I interchange mine back and forth on a regular bases.
I made it a personal quest to set up my Ruger Mark III 22/45 so that it will "fully" function, feed, fire, and extract, with CCI Quiet ammunition at 740 FPS, and American Eagle Suppressor brand. Simply changing springs to a lighter version, did not, nor will not, allow consistently reliable function:

The bolt currently installed in this pistol is an alloy that weighs much less than half of what a normal factory steel bolt weighs at 5 ounces, including all internal parts.

 

[SGW Gunsmith]

Magazines are the VERY first thing to question with any Automatic! Just saying. Are you having jams with the same magazine or different ones?

Magazines can indeed be the "fly in the ointment" but more often a regimented "break-in" with a .22 ammunition round that's in the velocity range of around 1240 FPS will get the **NEW** springs excersized to their working set. After that is accomplished, all Standard velocity and High Velocity rounds will function superbly. Just avoid the "hyper-velocity" stuff like CCI Stingers at 1640 FPS due to the excessive "recoil impulse energy" these rounds generate. I have a bolt stop pin on my bench whereby an owner of a Ruger Mark II shot Stingers exclusively and it's plain to see how that bolt stop pin has been bent. What's not so apparent is how the bolt stop pin hole in the receiver has become elongated from the use of that ammunition. Beware of some of the errant suggestions made by some folks who don't know diarrhea from good brown gravy.

 

[SGW Gunsmith]

I just bought my Ruger MKIV and I am using CCI subsonic ammo. It jams with every shot. The case is not ejecting and is getting caught up with the chambering round. Any recommendations?

Yes, especially if you're trying to cycle CCI Quiet at 710 FPS in that pistol. The factory bolt is too heavy and there are no springs that will make the pistol work with 700 to 800 FPS rimfire ammunition. Stick with CCI Mini Mags for several hundred rounds and then try CCI Standard to see how those will cycle.

 

[EHJ]

Beware of some of the errant suggestions made by some folks who don't know diarrhea from good brown gravy.

This was unnecessary.

The factory bolt is too heavy and there are no springs that will make the pistol work with 700 to 800 FPS rimfire ammunition.

I have shot 800 fps match exclusively for nearly 2 years now - and over 7k rounds.
Not - A - Single - mis-feed or issue. At all.

 

[KGMedic]

Yes, especially if you're trying to cycle CCI Quiet at 710 FPS in that pistol. The factory bolt is too heavy and there are no springs that will make the pistol work with 700 to 800 FPS rimfire ammunition. Stick with CCI Mini Mags for several hundred rounds and then try CCI Standard to see how those will cycle.

Thank you for that info. I really appreciate it!