Ruger Mark III Stovepipes

My brother-in-law recently bought a Ruger Mark III "Hunter" for bullseye shooting, and has mounted a red dot scope on it.  He has been shooting CCI Standard Velocity (SV) .22LR ammo, and is experiencing a stovepipe malfunction every 20 rounds or so.  Has anyone else had similar problems shooting SV ammo in these pistols?  I'm thinking the SV ammo doesn't have sufficient "kick" to work the bolt/slide reliably, and he may have better luck with High Velocity ammo.  It's my belief that all Ruger Mark I, II, and III pistols are basically the same, and most people buy them for plinking, using inexpensive, high velocity ammo like that found at Walmart, etc., and those pistols are designed and built for that type ammo. Any thoughts/ideas?

How many rounds has he had through it? He might want to look at the extractor, see if it's worn. I owned several Ruger Mk. IIs (and a Mk. I), each of which had their extractor wear out after about 2000 rounds or so, causing stove-pipe jams and that annoying jam where the spent case doesn't clear the ejection port and another round tries to feed beneath it, jamming the spent case between the top of the receiver and the round being fed. When the guns didn't jam, recoil and ejection seemed inconsistent.

When I replaced the stock extractor with Volquartsen Exact Edge extractors, the issues went away.

It's also possible that the gun needs to be 'broken in' if he just bought it.

Our Fall outdoor pistol league just finished. Toward the end there were several Ruger shooters experiencing stovepipe jams. Temp was ~45F. Shooters using target velocity ammo had the most problems. One new Ruger had problems using CCI Blazer. All problems went away after a light drop of oil was added on the case of the top round in the mag.

A good target round for these is the federal auto match, 1200 fps, accurate and cheap at about 17.00 per 325 carton.

The best things to do for any Ruger's function are 

Volquartsen extractor
keep the bolt/slide clean and lubed
relieve the front corner of the rear mag lips (method is on the net somewhere)
Keep the chamber clean like any 22 needs

I have a Ruger Mark III target competition with roughly 6,000 rounds through it.  All I had was a trigger job.  I have fired CCI, Eley Target, evens some 30 year old Remington Thunderbolts where the lead bullets had oxidation on them.  I have never had a stove pipe or any other issues.  I do clean my pistol after every 300 rounds.

Chip

CCI standard velocity should work fine, I use it all the time in my Mark III hunter, malfunctions are few and far between.  A good friend shot into the 880's before he stopped using his Mark II.  Another friend shoots high Expert with another Mark II that is factory except for Volquartsen grips.  Not that all of them are perfect, but they are capable of far more than "plinking."

When my Mark III was new it had failures to feed about 1 in every 10 rounds.  I honed the feed lips on the magazines ever so slightly and the issue was corrected.    I did this after 500 rounds had been through the gun.  I'm not sure if the honing did the trick or if the gun just needed to be shot and broken in, but the gun functions flawlessly with standard velocity 40 gr LRN ammo.  I shoot mostly Blazer which IMO is on par or slightly less aggressive than CCI SV.  It has been alibi free through many 2700's. Sometimes guns just need to be shot and broken in before they become reliable.

For what it's worth I've put 1600 rounds of SV through my Mark III 22/45 Lite with only one (1) FTE.

We run the wheels of our range MKIII...    The SR22 and Walther choke on the bulk packed ammo.   The MKIII eats everything that the shooters bring back..  In the 9 months I've worked the range we did have the tip break off the firing pin once.   I'd guess that it sees at least 2000 rounds per week.  8000 a month is 72,000 rounds in 9 months.  Don't know how long it was there before I arrived.

Axehandle....  How many rounds can one put through a Mark III before the barrel is "shot out"?

Haven't heard a number but I'd venture to guess that 22LR will not wear out a barrel..  When a 22 rimfire barrel shows wear you have done something to it other than shoot it.   The mechanical parts of the gun should wear out many times over before the barrel shows wear.  The only wear my M41 S&W, that I bought used 30 years ago, shows is where the bolt face slams the barrel.   Of course I NEVER clean the barrel.  I do clean the chamber, bolt face, and the trash from inside the frame but I NEVER clean the barrel..

If heard of .22 barrels that are shot out, but I have never seen one.  I agree with axehandle in regard to cleaning the barrel.  I've never seen a fouled .22 barrel so IMO there isn't a really good reason to drag brushes down the bore.

Thanks for the replies.  I use a bronze brush and #9 to clean mine.  

Rob are you implying that running a brush through the bore is something that will expedite wear?

EDITED:  missed a word.

I use nothing but a Boresnake to clean my 22 and I remove the copper brushes from the snake.  The boresnake is easy to clean too, I just soak it in some simple green in the sink and rinse a couple of time the let it dry.
 

If you still use a rod and brush I wouldn't use copper brushes (no need so why do it) the plastic ones are all that is needed.

Dave

I guess anything scraping down the bore that has a Rockwell higher than lead can accelerate wear.

Boresnakes really DO cause wear problems with the crowns of barrels.  If you aren't pulling them straight out, the NYLON can cut steel, and can mess up your barrel crown.

When a bullet goes down the bore of a barrel, doesn't any dirt go out with it?

If you say there are residues on unburned powder that are left behind from the previous shot, then I say why would you want your first shot of your match going down a sparkly clean barrel, and the other 89 going down a barrel with unburned powder and residue in it?

Clean what you can see is dirty and leave the bore alone.

"When a bullet goes down the bore of a barrel, doesn't any dirt go out with it?"

Excellent point to bring up in this thread...  Want to see a  real bullseye pistolsmith cringe?  Drop a round of 22LR on the floor/ground and pick it up and load it into the magazine.  One universal characterisic you will see when you look down the bore of a 22LR barrel that really shoots well is the mirror smooth finish.  Doesn't take much to mar that finish..

After many years of never scrubbing the bore I did my MKII a couple years ago.  I've got a link to my post on GunTalk-online and my results.  A bit more information on the background.  I'd owned the MKII for 12 years prior and purchased it used.  I shot everything through it, which in retrospect probably aggravated the issue due to all the different lubes. 

The only correction I need to make would be the number of rounds I put though it.  After some thought and tallying from memory I know I put well over 100,000 rounds through it in that 12 year period. I went through 1-2 cartons of Winchester Dynapoints every week with that pistol for the first 3 years, and tried every other brand I could get my hands on (that was back when they were $8.88/carton at Kmart).

The thing I appreciate about shooting Benchrest and Bullseye is that paper doesn't lie.  The group on the paper is the group you shot.  Both the targets in the photobucket file were shot on the same night, from the same bench, seated, two handed on a rolled up rest, from the same box of ammo and the same Ruger MKII.

http://www.guntalk-online.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3211&highlight=cleaning

Another later post, also on GunTalk:
http://www.guntalk-online.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3706

Both posts are about half way down the page.  I go by the handle of Stork on that site.

FWIW

The end result of cleaning/not cleaning most likely depends on the quality of the barrel that you start with.  Owned a Hammerli 208S back when I was an active All National Guard Shooting Team Member master class shooter. The days of all The Eley 10X that you could shoot!  That 22 auto's bore was NEVER cleaned.  There were not many top drawer target rifles that were capable of out shooting that Hammerli at 50 yards.  I've got a full house Clark Custom built on a Hamden High Standard with a Douglas barrel that I'd expect the same kind of performance out of.  Rugers?  I'm the first to say that you can't beat the Ruger for the money but I'll also say that if you are capable of an 880 plus score every time you walk to the line the stock Ruger barrel may not be up to your capabilities and expectations.

I think there is a brake in period for these pistols. When I first go my Mark 111 it did not like CCI SV and then after about 1000 shots it did quite well with it. I do keep it clean right down to removing the firing pin and cleaning around the ejector. No problems. Yiogo

Thanks for the info fellas.  I always clean my gun after every time I shoot it, this is just how I was taught.  This is a complete cleaning, and lubing.  Bore and all.  Bronze brush in the bore, but all other parts are scrubbed with one of those double-ended nylon toothbrushes.  I never really gave much thought to what Rob said about shooting 1 round down a clean barrel and 89 more down a dirty one, but it is a good point.

The only ammo my gun can't digest is that crappy Remington Thunderbolt 40 grain bulk stuff.  Then again, I think everyone has trouble with that junk.

Copper, brass and nylon will not harm steel.
My firearms  get cleaned after each range session.
Yiogo

Yiogo,
I have seen several gun barrels with extreme muzzle erosion with very low round count.   They all have the same explanation from the owner--repeated overuse of boresnakes.  All of those barrels needed new crowns cut.  Nylon can cut steel....I just wish I could find the youtube video that proves it.

I would like to see that video too.  It would be interesting to learn WHY a nylon brush can damage barrel steel, while a searing hot chunk of copper or lead travelling at the speed of sound, does not.

Rob, considering the hardness of stainless steel vs copper, brass and nylon, no offense, but I am skeptical.
Yiogo