Ruger MKIII Stovepipe fix

[tracker]

My MKIII had developed a consistant stovepipe problem. I was able to reduce it with a good cleaning of the magazine catch. Powder residue had built up where the mags lock on the small "shelf" of the catch. There was also some buildup on the mags itself. After that things were better. After a bit of expierimentaion I found that mags were seated to far, and the fired case would catch the lip of the mag upon extraction before reaching the ejector. I removed the magazine catch and machined .015" off from the shelf the catches the mag. .015" worked on this gun, I may remove more in .01" increments if I have any more problems. But so far with CCI mini mags, Federal bulk packs and WW super X I have had no stovepipes! I hope this will help anyone if they encounter this problem!

Rich

Edited April 17, 2010 by tracker

[jar]

The other common culprit for MK3 stovepipes is the extractor. Swapping in the Volquartsen extractor has solved stovepipes on several of my friend's mk3s. It also solved the stovepipe problem on my 10/22 (same part).