Ruger MKIII Magazine Issue / Resolution

wav3rhythm · Feb 23, 2015

Just wanted to give you all a heads up about a problem I had with a Ruger MKIII 22/45 that I have been using for Steel Challenge. After a few months, the magazine started to drag pretty badly if I loaded more than 5 or 6 rounds. I figured that they just needed a good cleaning so I broke them down and cleaned them. This didn't fix the problem... I looked at them pretty closely and saw that the button used to pull the follower down was dragging on the side of the magazine. So after some googling, I found the following solution that has worked really well...

I purchased the Ruger MKI Magazine Follower Button (Item # 61105) as well as the MKI (M-9) Magazine Follower (Item #61103) and changed the springs. This fixed the problem immediately, and the pistol feeds much better. I haven't had a single failure to feed malfunction since making the swap. The parts were a few bucks each, and made a big difference. You can get the parts directly from Ruger and they shipped very quickly.

Figured that it might save you some time and money if any of you are shooting the Rugers MKIII series pistols and are having a similar problem. Either way, it'll be on here so I can search for it the next time I have this issue.

dennishoddy · Feb 23, 2015

Good info! I have one mag that is dragging while loading, but hasn't given any issues firing.

I can see it causing problems in the future though. I'll use your info to get some parts coming.

Been looking for mags a long time for the Mark III. Stumbled on a company called Majestic Arms that builds mags for Rugers with extended base plates. Ran them this weekend with zero issues. Think it was $57 for two including shipping if your looking for more mags.
Bonus is that the mags work in Mark II's as well as Mark III's.

Look at their speedy strip parts for the Mark III as well. Eliminated that pesky putting the mag in and out to disassemble the gun. Improves the trigger too.

Ordered all of the above from Brownells.
If your going to order some, or anything else from Brownells , be sure to click though their ad on the home page.

It won't save you any money, but Brownells kicks back a little money to the forum that helps pay for expenses to keep this place online.

Squid · Feb 23, 2015

Good info

TerryKendell · Apr 18, 2015

Been looking for mags a long time for the Mark III. Stumbled on a company called Majestic Arms that builds mags for Rugers with extended base plates. Ran them this weekend with zero issues. Think it was $57 for two including shipping if your looking for more mags.
Bonus is that the mags work in Mark II's as well as Mark III's.

All Mark II Mags work in Mark III

dennishoddy · Apr 19, 2015

I did too. Installed a Majestic Arms trigger, and bought three of their mags.
Shot the mags at a local match with no failures.

SGW Gunsmith · Jan 11, 2018

Anytime I get a new Ruger Mark pistol magazine, or two, from a customer, the first thing done is to smooth that magazine. The magazine bodies are a stamped item and the follower button track in those magazines are fraught with burrs and sharp edges. It's really a simple matter to smooth the follower button track using #320 emery paper and then polish the edges with a felt bob in your moto-tool until both side of that track are smooth and shiny. Below are some of the ways to get that follower track smooth:

Now, there's really no need to buy the older style follower buttons. It doesn't take all that long to polish the groove in the follower button so that it will then glide along the follower button track in the magazine body. You can chuck the follower button in your electric drill, lock the trigger button so that the drill continually spins and then polish that groove with #320 emery paper:

Polish both sides of that follower button groove.

Next, it you are getting an accumulation of brass dust accumulation inside your Ruger Mark pistols chamber, check the feed lips on your magazines for burrs and sharp edges. Taking a Q-Tip, drag the cotton ball end along the edges of the feed lips. If you see that cotton fibers are being pulled off the cotton swab, those sharp edges are stripping brass dust off the case bodies and slowing down the feed rate. Polish those edges with some #400 grit rouge on a felt bob in your moto-tool or drill.

If you look closely, you can see how shiny the edges of the feed lips are now, after polishing. .22 rimfire rounds are now pushed smoothly forward and into the chamber without the feed lips shaving brass.

It used to drive me nuts trying to get that long snake of a follower spring back into Ruger Mark magazines after smoothing or cleaning these magazines. So, I came up with a tool made from a normal coat hanger that gets the job done so easily that you'll be amazed. Cut a 6-inch length of coat hanger, radius and polish one end and then bend that one end over, so it's Â½-inch long. Hook that short end into the spring coils around midway and push the spring down and into the magazine body until the base detent is below the bottom of the magazine:

Once the spring detent is below flush, begin sliding the floorplate on the magazine bottom. Just before the floorplate is all the way on, tilt the tool forward until the Â½ inch end is easily pulled out and the floorplate is pushed back into place.

This simple to make tool makes getting the Ruger Mark magazines much easier to re-assemble and working on the magazines, or just plain cleaning them out now and then.

dennishoddy · Jan 13, 2018

SGW Gunsmith said:
Anytime I get a new Ruger Mark pistol magazine, or two, from a customer, the first thing done is to smooth that magazine. The magazine bodies are a stamped item and the follower button track in those magazines are fraught with burrs and sharp edges. It's really a simple matter to smooth the follower button track using #320 emery paper and then polish the edges with a felt bob in your moto-tool until both side of that track are smooth and shiny. Below are some of the ways to get that follower track smooth:

Now, there's really no need to buy the older style follower buttons. It doesn't take all that long to polish the groove in the follower button so that it will then glide along the follower button track in the magazine body. You can chuck the follower button in your electric drill, lock the trigger button so that the drill continually spins and then polish that groove with #320 emery paper:

Polish both sides of that follower button groove.

Next, it you are getting an accumulation of brass dust accumulation inside your Ruger Mark pistols chamber, check the feed lips on your magazines for burrs and sharp edges. Taking a Q-Tip, drag the cotton ball end along the edges of the feed lips. If you see that cotton fibers are being pulled off the cotton swab, those sharp edges are stripping brass dust off the case bodies and slowing down the feed rate. Polish those edges with some #400 grit rouge on a felt bob in your moto-tool or drill.

If you look closely, you can see how shiny the edges of the feed lips are now, after polishing. .22 rimfire rounds are now pushed smoothly forward and into the chamber without the feed lips shaving brass.

It used to drive me nuts trying to get that long snake of a follower spring back into Ruger Mark magazines after smoothing or cleaning these magazines. So, I came up with a tool made from a normal coat hanger that gets the job done so easily that you'll be amazed. Cut a 6-inch length of coat hanger, radius and polish one end and then bend that one end over, so it's Â½-inch long. Hook that short end into the spring coils around midway and push the spring down and into the magazine body until the base detent is below the bottom of the magazine:

Once the spring detent is below flush, begin sliding the floorplate on the magazine bottom. Just before the floorplate is all the way on, tilt the tool forward until the Â½ inch end is easily pulled out and the floorplate is pushed back into place.

This simple to make tool makes getting the Ruger Mark magazines much easier to re-assemble and working on the magazines, or just plain cleaning them out now and then.

Excellent information! Iâ€™ll be looking at my mags using this info very closely. Could be a reason for the occasional WTF in the middle of a stage.