[sig]

My Mark III Target failed at the range recently and I am not sure how to proceed. The hammer will not drop allowing disassembly, it seems like the gun is not cocking or that there is a disconnection from trigger to hammer. It has allows worked great, has very few rounds through it compared to others that I have owned. Any ideas?

 

[Bullseye]

First, what aftermarket modifications have been made to this firearm? When you pull back the bolt is the tension very hard or relatively easy?

R,
Bullseye

 

[sig]

No modifications have been made. The bolt pull is as always,nothing has changed.

sig

 

[Bullseye]

The bolt pull is as always,nothing has changed.

Not really sure what exactly that is supposed to mean, and how the answer fulfills my question on if retracting the bolt feels hard or easy? You're not making it easy for me to assist you. Since I cannot see the exhibit myself, I have to trouble shoot using only your feedback. What I am trying to determine is if the hammer is stuck cocked, or if it is not cocking at all. You're initial posting did not reveal that information to me. The answer to the feel on the pull of the bolt will help me decide how to best explain all the steps necessary for you to successfully disassemble the pistol in order to fix the problem. Since this appears to be a completely stock pistol this matter is one that is not related to misadjusted aftermarket trigger parts.


R,
Bullseye

 

[OldCrow]

I would just send it back to Ruger. Shipping won't be that expensive. When it comes back from Ruger you will have peace of mind.

 

[sig]

The bolt pulls easily, just as it did when the pistol was functioning perfectly. When I close the bolt and pull the trigger though,nothing happens. You can not disassemble due to heavy spring pressure keeping the housing latch lever in place.

 

[Bullseye]

The bolt pulling back easily tells me that the hammer is cocked. Otherwise the pull backward would be much stiffer as you would be retracting the hammer against the tension of the mainspring. If the trigger feels like it is not connected to the sear, like you mentioned in the first post, it is telling me that the disconnector lever isn't performing its designed operation of engaging the sear when the bolt is fully closed. A disengaged sear is what is preventing you from manually dropping the hammer via the trigger pull, and that task typically rests with the disconnector lever. Since this is a Mark III, i.e. a metal framed pistol, you can easily take the grip panels off of the frame, insert an empty mag, and push out the sear pivot pin without causing any damage to the sear spring. CAUTION - you should be familiar, or comfortable, with reassembling the pistol from a detailed stripping level of maintenance. If you are not so sure about performing this degree of reassembly, then pushing out the sear pin my not be the best idea because once you push out the pin, you are committed to tearing down the frame to square one in order to replace the sear and sear spring. Here is a web page that can assist you with reassembly ~ 2245 Maintenance Page The pictures are thumbnails and also hyperlinks so scrolling over with your pointer and then clicking on the image will open it up in a larger size for you to see. The sear pivot pin is the lower positioned, smaller diameter pin, located underneath the hammer pivot pin. When you push out the sear pivot pin, the hammer will be released forward and you can then remove the mainspring. If the mainspring only opens up about 3/8ths of an inch you must rap the muzzle down, very firmly, onto a block of wood or thickly padded surface to move the hammer the rest of the way forward (unclocked position) in order to be able to swing the mainspring out of the frame fully and disassemble the pistol.

The problem is likely associated with your disconnector. The lever could be broken, most likely where the trigger joins it on the pivot pin; the pivot pin is electro riveted to the lever at the factory and can be prone to failure at this junction. Or possibly something is obstructing the disconnector lever from rising upward, like a combination of built up powder residue and hardened factory shipping preservative. Once you find the problem and repair as necessary then you can reassemble the pistol using the guide from the web page. Be sure to try releasing the hammer with the receiver off a few times to check for proper operation or you will be pushing that sear pin once again to disassemble. To check with the receiver off, you will have to reinstall the mainspring housing for tension and use your thumb to catch the hammer when you release it with the trigger or it will fly forward too much and pull the strut off of the mainspring cap.

Hope this helps.

R,
Bullseye

 

[Colt Smolderdash]

Could the key lock be engaged? It would stop the Hammer from falling.

 

[paulkalman]

first before calling them and asking to send the pistol in, call them and ask them to walk you through disassembling against a fallen hammer. It took maybe 5 minutes on the phone and included putting the muzzle down on on a wood block and smacking it with a rubber mallet. (no kidding) got me up and running like I said in 5 minutes. They stayed on the phone with me the whole time and made sure the pistol then functioned. I say call them so you will be sure to do each step right. Since then I have failed to make sure the hammer was up twice more and fixed it myself twice. good luck!

 

[prasko]

Magazine not fully seated?

Could be it's not disengaging the magazine safety disconnect.

Make sure gun is empty. Insert an EMPTY magazine. Push up on the bottom of the magazine and pull the trigger, see if it drops the hammer.


If it does, something is out of spec and either way it needs to be sent back in to ruger.