Mark III Ruger

[bandit1250]

Probably most members here have heard me say at least a few times that I am not a hand gun guy. In all honesty and not bragging but I was a decent shot with them when I had ones that I liked to shoot occasionally. Today I took my MK. III along with me squirrel hunting to sight it in after putting a 1-4 Tasco scope on with Leupold quick detach rings. These rings are really nice. A little heavy being all steel. Just loosen the levers and lift the scope off with the rings still attached and put back on and tighten the levers back down it is still on target or only a click or so off.
Any way I got it out to shoot it in and when I went to turn the adjustments I had put the scope on with the adjusters on the wrong side.
If I have ever done that before I can't remember doing that especially not noticing it was wrong before going to shoot it in. I carry tools for scope mounting and such in my truck so it was an easy job to fix what some dummy had done. The very first two shots were 1 1/2" high and almost 2" right. So I adjusted it and then shot farther out at a spot of moss on the front of a big flat rock. It was still about 1/2" to the right and a little high. So I used up the remainder of the magazine that had 7 rounds left. I actually shot my aiming point off the rock then had to hold on the spot where my bullets had marked the rock. I surprised myself with how good the group was on the front of the rock and really surprised that this MK. III is very accurate. So there was another rock farther out and I shot the entire mag full at a dark spot on the rock. I walked up and they were also good for a handgun off the hood of a junked car with my plastic carry case and a sand bag for a rest. I measured the group with my Leatherman tool scale and it was 10 shots in a hair over 2 1/4". The other group I shot first was 1 1/2". That first group was 52 yds and the second was 62 yds. These groups were shot with very low priced(when I bought them) Aguila standard velocity ammo that is known to be a good lot number in my CZ 452's. Then I set up four rocks at the 52 yard spot about the size of a gray squirrel head. I hit four with 5 shots. I am so happy with this handgun I am going to go squirrel hunting with it next week if the weather cooperates and don't get to nasty. I may embarrass myself but what the heck it will still be fun and I have killed enough game this season. I will be using my shooting sticks for a rest for hunting. Squirrel activity is really not that great here this time of year unless it warms up a bit and the sun is out then it some times is a lot better. On another note. The trigger on the MK. III sucks!

[JEBar]

both of our sons have Mark I Ruger ... a nightmare to reassemble but they are very accurate

[fortyshooter]

Well not a Ruger but I have the S&W Victory which is similar and is easy to take down for cleaning. Looks like you have yours dialed in really well!
I don't use a scope on mine but it does have good Hi Viz front sight and works fine for my steel plinking and can killing.

[BigAl52]

I have a Mark III in the hunter model and it is very accurate. I dont mind the take down on them at all. What the heck Jim you need a brain exercise every once in a while.

[bandit1250]

Here is my MK.III in the front on left that now has the 1-4 Tasco Japan built scope on it. My wife's MK.II slab side with a Tasco red dot. On this picture my MK.III has a Redfield with choice of four different reticles.

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[fortyshooter]

Very nice collection there! What is the nice blue one in center?

[BigAl52]

Looks like a 586 Smith

[North Country Gal]

Absolutely you can do a lot of squirrel hunting with a handgun. I started handgun hunting in a big way, back in the late 60s and 70s, when handgun hunting was becoming very popular, thanks to some very influential gun writers at the time. Most of my squirrel and rabbit hunting was done with a Ruger Single Six with fixed sights and some with a Ruger Standard 22 auto. I never used a scoped handgun till the 80s with a TC Contender 22. In those early days, it was more about hunting skill and getting close than making long shots. The long range handgun hunting came a bit later with the rise in popularity of specialty handguns. In all my years of small game hunting, I took more game with a 22 handgun than a rifle.

As for the "infamous" Ruger Standard/MK take down and reassembly, I learned to do it on that very first Standard, just following the instructions in the manual. To me, it's no big deal, but I can see how it annoys a lot of folks. One of the issues I found was with QC at Ruger with some of the MKIIIs. Some of those MKIIIs must have been assembled with a hydraulic press, they were assembled so tight. I had a couple of friends bring their MKIIIs to me to get them apart - they couldn't do it - and then do the VQ trigger mods. Never had these issues with the early Marks. You should not need a mallet to take apart a properly made Ruger Mark. That's just shoddy Ruger QC.

Still, the MKIII is a true Ruger Mark. Same basic action, with a few add ons. I have no experience with the MK IV, though I do know that there have been fundamental changes to the action to accommodate the take down feature.

And, make no mistake, as bandit has shown us, Ruger Marks can be very accurate at longer ranges.

[bandit1250]

NCG, You speak about the gun writers from '60's and '70's and you are right in they helped making hand guns for hunting get a big popularity boost. I remember when I looked forward every month for my shooting mags to get to me in the mail. I was into hand guns in the 70's and up to the early 90's. By far Bob Milek was my all time favorite writer especially on Contenders. One year while out west on our yearly vacation to Wyoming/Montana for prairie dog/ground squirrel shoots my wife and I were in Thermopolis, Wyoming and got hold of Bob Mileks phone number and called his home. We barely missed catching him there and was told he had just left to hit some prairie dog towns and do some shooting. Steve Herrett was a big handgun guy and really made the Contenders popular along with Mr. Milek. My Dad's favorites were Elmer Keith and Skeeter Skelton. All of those mentioned here were good honest writers that contributed a lot to the hand gun sport whether it was hunting or just target shooting. Sure miss those articles from them and should have saved those old magazines. I may get back in to hand gun shooting a little more.

[BigAl52]

Dont forget John Taffin and Mike Venturino. John did a lot of handgun testing. I miss those monthly magazines myself