Ruger Mark IV 22/45 Lite Ammo

[nhglyn]

I have a Ruger Mark IV 22/45 Lite that I have upgraded with Tandemkross parts.  Have added their TK compensator, Halo charging ring, Volquartzen trigger kit, TK trigger, TK extractor etc.   Gun shoots great but seems finicky about what ammo it likes.  Tried CCI standard velocity and was getting a number of fail to extracts.  Figured it was the extra weight of the Halo on the bolt slowing things down so switched to Federal high velocity.  Works better with fewer FTE's but getting some failure to fires.  What should I try next to make this 100%?  Was thinking about trying CCI MIni Mag, anything else that is not ridiculously expensive?  Thanks for any suggestions.

Edited June 30, 2020 by nhglyn

[s2000red]

I have 2 Mark III 22/45 lites and my Dad has the same in Mark IV.  We have shot them in steel challenge for several years and have had very few issues with CCI Mini Mags (both 36gr and 40gr) and Blazer in the 50 round box (not the bulk box stuff).

[RickT]

You could try a lighter recoil spring.  My wife (and I) have noted a difference in her two otherwise identical 22/45 lites; the one with the highest mileage is more tolerant of lower-powered ammo.  I'll throw in something else we've noted as we continue to struggle finding 22lr ammo in quantity: I purchased some of the pink-coated HV CCI ammo.  The ammo functions fine in her Wiland-barreled 10/22, more than adequate accuracy for steel challenge.  This same ammo in her 22/45 is minute of steel plate - several inch group at 10 yards.  Yes, the 10/22 has a 5.5" barrel and the 22/45 a 4" barrel +-, but this is very strange.

Edited August 12, 2020 by RickT

[IHAVEGAS]

My Mark 2 22/45 was fussy and too failure prone to consider taking it to a steel challenge match.

 

At the advice of a friend I went through the mags (u-tube mag tuning video) and replaced the loaded chamber indicator with a blank (eliminates drag on slide) and installed the Volquartzen trigger kit. I was lucky to make it through a mag before and do not remember a single ftf since doing the work, but, disclaimer, I haven't shot it for hundreds or thousands of rounds since. The changes made a huge difference in reliability but possibly I could find that it now fails 1/100-200 and is still not match level good. 

[RickT]

I've tweaked the mags and we use CCI mini-mags for matches (we=wife!).  Reliability is acceptable for the laid back, 4 stage matches in Idaho, but I consider 22lr pistols in general as having the potential to lead to divorce, similar to a couple riding a tandem except one person doesn't even get to ride.  

[AzShooter]

I've had very good luck  with CCI Blazers and my Mark IV 22/45 and Mamba.  Last month I tried CCI - SV at our Steel Challenge Match and had so many FTE that it wasn't fun.

 

I bought some Eley Action Plus and it's been working real well.  I think this will become my new match ammo.  I also have some Eley Force, again no problems with FTF or FTE.

 

 

[rhowell309]

My 22/45 is heavily Volquartsen equipped and runs 100% on CCI mini mags (I prefer 40g CPRN) and Aguila Super Extra HV plated 40g.

[Glock17open]

Mine eats everything you put in it

[gerritm]

I have a Mark III 22/45 Lite that I put together for my granddaughter. Took the loaded chamber indicator out, which helped, but still had occasional failures. Then swapped out the bolt to a Volquartsen and stayed with CCi mini mags, still had a few failures. Swapped the mag springs out with the stiffer TK ones and and it now runs 99.9%. I have tried other ammo for practice and as long as it is a higher FPS it seems to work fine, but for SC matches she only shoots the CCI. Stick with what works in matches.

 

gerritm

[Farmer]

Bought a New IV Lite for my wife and a regular for myself. I don’t think I had run 2 mags through the lite and started getting FTE. The extractor would just slip off the rim and getting the empty out was more difficult than it should have been.  Pulled a loaded round from the chamber and the bullet was all scraped up on the driving band and the brass had crud on it. Pulled it apart and CLOSELY inspected the throat and it was leaded so bad it looked like you had taken a rasp to it. An hour later with a brush wrapped with a copper chore boy I got it cleaned out. It had to be done at the factory during test firings as mine was exactly the same and it was shot the same amount. The throat is smooth (now) and shiny. Haven’t had a chance to shoot them again but can’t hardly believe that they could leaded up that bad in only 20 rounds. 

Edited September 4, 2020 by Farmer

[Lesliet]

Working with a IV lite, here, too.  upgraded to TK extractor and firing pin+ fp spring, plus the Volquartsen accuracy parts ( hammer and sear, trigger, etc). Before the upgrades, it had fail to extracts, hasn't really done it since the upgrades. This one likes thunderbolts best out of all we've tried.  A bit dirty, but very slippery coating on the lead, so they seem to feed well in all my .22lr guns. ( This one, a Kel Tec cp33, a heavily modded GSG 1911-22, and an HK 416-22)The accuracy is slightly better than any of the CCI stuff I've tried, at half the price.  In my accuracy test, the pink cci cleans really performed poorly, I think they were the worst one of the lot.  The CCI Ar-22's were second best to the Thunderbolts. 

 

   @Farmer, I'll have to double check for that leading thing. Seemed like it was pretty clean to begin with, but I couldn't swear to it. 

[gavagai]

Just bought a Mk4 Target and had numerous FTF using CCI Standard (40 gr 1080), Norma Match-22 Elite (40gr 1100), and Wolf Match Extra (40gr 1050). Called Ruger and they said this is common outside the 1100-1400 FPS range. Any suggestions for target ammo in that range? I'll pay for quality, but I just compete for fun in a local league so I'll happily fall back on reliability.

 

Wait. What Ruger told me doesn't make sense to me. Do they use different primers in high velocity rounds?

Edited November 24, 2020 by gavagai

[verla]

My Ruger 22/45 lite shoots WW Super-X 40gr, Federal 36 gr, WW M22, Remington golden bullet, CCI mini mag, and Remington thunderbolt without failing. Keep the gun clean.

[AzShooter]

Well, I started getting so many ftf with the Eley Action Plus that I sold the rest of it and went back to CCI Blazers.  The 40 grainers that come 50 in a box.  The bulk packed Blazers work well but not good enough for match ammo.  I got some Aguila Super Extra 40 grain and they are working 100 %.  I'll use them as backup ammo.

 

Federal HV works real well and works in my 617 as well. 

 

I've been using my backup, a Mark IV 22/45 Lite with 5.5 inch target barrel with  a lot of success.  I'm going to start shooting RFPI for a bit just because...

[Polaris13]

I have a Ruger Mark IV 22/45 Lite as well.  Tandemkross trigger and Volquartsen accurizing kit.  It was quite a finicky gun when it came to ammo up until about 1000 rounds.  According to a nice lady at Ruger, I was to try CCI Mini Mags and be patient through the long break in period.  The Mini Mags were a nice improvement.  As I put more rounds through my 22/45, CCI Blazers rock in mine and they are my go to round.  After the long break in, the gun is MUCH less finicky to the ammo being used.

I'd love to get another 22/45 but I don't know if I want to spend the time for the long break in!  Spectacular gun though.  I have way too many 22 pistols and this one is in my top few for sure.

[dsquared]

On 9/3/2020 at 7:58 PM, Farmer said:

Bought a New IV Lite for my wife and a regular for myself. I don’t think I had run 2 mags through the lite and started getting FTE. The extractor would just slip off the rim and getting the empty out was more difficult than it should have been.  Pulled a loaded round from the chamber and the bullet was all scraped up on the driving band and the brass had crud on it. Pulled it apart and CLOSELY inspected the throat and it was leaded so bad it looked like you had taken a rasp to it. An hour later with a brush wrapped with a copper chore boy I got it cleaned out. It had to be done at the factory during test firings as mine was exactly the same and it was shot the same amount. The throat is smooth (now) and shiny. Haven’t had a chance to shoot them again but can’t hardly believe that they could leaded up that bad in only 20 rounds. 

I had a similar experience with the barrel. You can see that it's fouled in some way, kinda like you described....like a rasp in it. I tried running a bore brush through and actually the rod of the bore brush nearly got stuck. I bought it less than a week ago and shot it just once...about 150 rounds through it. I was all over the place. Couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. I was using Winchester Super X. Maybe I should have spent more time trying to clean it out, but I decided to take it back to where I bought it and they just suggested that I send it back to Ruger. So, that's what I did. 4-6 weeks turn around. Bummer since I was going to be doing some Tandemkross upgrades this Saturday.

This is my first Ruger, so not a great start.

[Farmer]

22 hours ago, dsquared said:

I had a similar experience with the barrel. You can see that it's fouled in some way, kinda like you described....like a rasp in it. I tried running a bore brush through and actually the rod of the bore brush nearly got stuck. I bought it less than a week ago and shot it just once...about 150 rounds through it. I was all over the place. Couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. I was using Winchester Super X. Maybe I should have spent more time trying to clean it out, but I decided to take it back to where I bought it and they just suggested that I send it back to Ruger. So, that's what I did. 4-6 weeks turn around. Bummer since I was going to be doing some Tandemkross upgrades this Saturday.

This is my first Ruger, so not a great start.

Please keep us updated on what they do for you or what they do. I know that some of the testing is nothing more than running a full mag through as fast as they can for functioning. I don’t know if they use extra hot rounds (proof) for all of them or not but they would foul pretty quick. My Mk1 took about 500 rounds to fully break in but it never leaded like these two. Always remember that once they start leading it will keep building up until it’s cleaned out. Yours looks like it was started at the factory and as you shot it, it just continued down the bbl. 

[dsquared]

14 hours ago, Farmer said:

Please keep us updated on what they do for you or what they do. I know that some of the testing is nothing more than running a full mag through as fast as they can for functioning. I don’t know if they use extra hot rounds (proof) for all of them or not but they would foul pretty quick. My Mk1 took about 500 rounds to fully break in but it never leaded like these two. Always remember that once they start leading it will keep building up until it’s cleaned out. Yours looks like it was started at the factory and as you shot it, it just continued down the bbl. 

I would have kept cleaning but the fact that the rod of the bore brush almost got completely stuck after the brush made it through was disconcerting and I didn't want to damage anything in the barrel, so I stopped there. I don't know what they'll (Ruger) will do. I kinda hope they just replace the barrel. 

A couple of related questions for you...what ammo do you use and have you "tuned up" the magazines so the ammo runs better in the gun? 

[Farmer]

2 hours ago, dsquared said:

I would have kept cleaning but the fact that the rod of the bore brush almost got completely stuck after the brush made it through was disconcerting and I didn't want to damage anything in the barrel, so I stopped there. I don't know what they'll (Ruger) will do. I kinda hope they just replace the barrel. 

A couple of related questions for you...what ammo do you use and have you "tuned up" the magazines so the ammo runs better in the gun? 

So far I’ve tried Win SX, Fed bulk and some Armscor and they all shot pretty good. I tried a Vortex dot on the lite and that really shrunk groups. Really haven’t had a chance to really wring them out but overall they are minute of sparrow if I do my part. On both I put on a Dawson fiber front sight, TK trigger kit and base pads on the mags to mainly make them easier to fully insert. The full trigger kit removes the mag lockout and both triggers broke at 2.25 pounds or maybe a hair under. That was a bit light for my wife so I used the factory hammer spring and that set it right at 2.75-3 pounds. Her’s is still lighter than mine, go figure! The shorter take up and quicker reset helps along with the over travel stops on the trigger. 

[LowSpeedHighDrag]

One thing you might try is the Volquartsen magazine springs.  Made my Mark IV run much more reliably.

 

[dsquared]

On 9/3/2022 at 3:40 PM, Farmer said:

So far I’ve tried Win SX, Fed bulk and some Armscor and they all shot pretty good. I tried a Vortex dot on the lite and that really shrunk groups. Really haven’t had a chance to really wring them out but overall they are minute of sparrow if I do my part. On both I put on a Dawson fiber front sight, TK trigger kit and base pads on the mags to mainly make them easier to fully insert. The full trigger kit removes the mag lockout and both triggers broke at 2.25 pounds or maybe a hair under. That was a bit light for my wife so I used the factory hammer spring and that set it right at 2.75-3 pounds. Her’s is still lighter than mine, go figure! The shorter take up and quicker reset helps along with the over travel stops on the trigger. 

Once I get my MKIV back, the big upgrades I'll do to (hopefully) make it shoot more reliably are:

1) Volquartsen Accurizing Kit....I've heard it's a bit better than the Tandemkross trigger kit because the seer is more polished and tends to work better than the TK seer which has some kind of a "coating" on it.

2) Tandemkross Victory Trigger...I like the design of the flat face and flat front which will also slightly elongate the distance from the tang to the trigger face because I have big hands.

3) Tune up the magazines by slightly rounding off and polishing a couple of little bits on the magazine feed lips, removing any burs on, and polishing, the racetrack of the follower button and then polish the follower button channel that rides along the racetrack. Tandemkross has a good video about all this.

4) Maybe I'll polish the feed ramp....I've heard that can help with FTF issues.

 

The rest of the upgrades are more ease-of-use upgrades. They are the Halo, Extended Mag Release, Safety Thumb Ledge, Thumb Ledge, Tomahawk Mag Bumpers, Hive Grip and Game Changer compensator.

I've only read that making some of these modifications helps, so I'll have to report back. But if they do, I think it's a bit of a shame that Ruger can't make some modifications to make the gun run better right out of the box.

[Farmer]

11 hours ago, dsquared said:

Once I get my MKIV back, the big upgrades I'll do to (hopefully) make it shoot more reliably are:

1) Volquartsen Accurizing Kit....I've heard it's a bit better than the Tandemkross trigger kit because the seer is more polished and tends to work better than the TK seer which has some kind of a "coating" on it.

2) Tandemkross Victory Trigger...I like the design of the flat face and flat front which will also slightly elongate the distance from the tang to the trigger face because I have big hands.

3) Tune up the magazines by slightly rounding off and polishing a couple of little bits on the magazine feed lips, removing any burs on, and polishing, the racetrack of the follower button and then polish the follower button channel that rides along the racetrack. Tandemkross has a good video about all this.

4) Maybe I'll polish the feed ramp....I've heard that can help with FTF issues.

 

The rest of the upgrades are more ease-of-use upgrades. They are the Halo, Extended Mag Release, Safety Thumb Ledge, Thumb Ledge, Tomahawk Mag Bumpers, Hive Grip and Game Changer compensator.

I've only read that making some of these modifications helps, so I'll have to report back. But if they do, I think it's a bit of a shame that Ruger can't make some modifications to make the gun run better right out of the box.

Polishing that racetrack is a good idea. My brother has an old Standard Ruger and the edges on his mags were so sharp it would open your thumb up like a razor. If Ruger did all the “goodies” at the factory you’d probably have to spend a grand for one. My MK1 target cost $175.00 when I bought it new. 

Edited September 15, 2022 by Farmer
Sp

[Joe4d]

take the guts out of the mag,, throw the tube in your brass polisher with corncob media,,, run it over night. Used to do that with new STI 40 tubes.. worked wonders.

[dsquared]

On 9/2/2022 at 10:06 PM, Farmer said:

Please keep us updated on what they do for you or what they do. I know that some of the testing is nothing more than running a full mag through as fast as they can for functioning. I don’t know if they use extra hot rounds (proof) for all of them or not but they would foul pretty quick. My Mk1 took about 500 rounds to fully break in but it never leaded like these two. Always remember that once they start leading it will keep building up until it’s cleaned out. Yours looks like it was started at the factory and as you shot it, it just continued down the bbl. 

So I got my Mark IV back. The packing slip said that they replaced the rear sight (not sure why) and that they "repaired" the barrel insert. I don't know what that means. Maybe they just cleaned it out really good. But if they replaced it, I would have expected that it said "replaced". They went on to say they "targeted 10 rounds of CCI Mini Mag 40 GR CPRN at 15 yrds off hand with rest with no malfunctions." They also said that after the repair, "pistol was function fired 40 rounds of CCI Mini Mag 40GR CPRN, without malfuction." They included the target the shot with a nice and tight grouping. Accuracy within factory specs.

The technician then wrote that the condition the gun was in may be ammunition related and suggested to change brand and not to use unplated lead ammo. Recommended to switch to a copper washed .22LR

They sent a Ruger silicone cloth along with the firearm. Total turn around time from when they received it to when I received it back was 15 days. I'd say that is pretty good!! I was told it would be 4-6 weeks. I like it when business underpromise and overdeliver!

I just completed all the upgrades I was wanting to do and am looking forward to shooting it. The Volquartsen trigger kit feels so nice. And I love the feel of the Tandemkross trigger. This time I will be shooting CCI Mini Mag, CPRN. 

 

 

  

[Farmer]

@dsquared
Wow, they provide allot more info than they used to. The ones I’ve sent in for repairs in the past would just say “Repaired” and that was it. In both of mine I shot copper washed bullets from the start so it’ll be interesting how yours works out. I have to make some time to get out and play with mine, maybe in a couple of weeks. 

Edited September 23, 2022 by Farmer