.22 pistol selection

Yeah, I wouldn't write off the Ruger either.

In order to make a stock MkII or III competitive for target shooting, you have to install a few aftermarket parts.

https://www.volquartsen.com/vc//pages/public/ListItems.jsp?id=19

Mainly, an accurizing kit like what you see there. You could probably find that stuff for sale online from somewhere in Europe or ship it from America. The dollar is a joke right now compared to the Euro, so it should be plenty cheap for you.

Actually, don't buy an entire kit. Just buy these parts individually (and cheaper).

The trigger. A factory MkIII or MkII "slabsides" competition model comes with a trigger with an overtravel stop built in. It is a PAIN to adjust it, but it can be adjusted to make a pretty decent trigger pull.

Now, one of those Volquartsen triggers has both an overtravel stop and a pre-travel adjustment. That takes out a LOT of creep and slop and produces a very good trigger pull when you get it adjusted. And the VQ triggers are easy to adjust, not like the factory Ruger.

At a minimum, get the trigger. The new style one, not the stainless one. The older stainless one doesn't have a pre-travel screw. And get the polished target sear. That one took me about 45 minutes to install the first time, with tools. Now I can install them with just my fingers. I've done several of my friends' Rugers up for them.

I wouldn't waste money on the target hammer. I've never noticed a big benefit from it.

After those, consider the exact edge extractor. Sometimes a MkII jams with something I call "the Ruger stovepipe". The EEE might prevent that.

After that, consider a set of aftermarket grips. The Volthane grips are good. I like the wood grips from Herrets with the adjustable palm shelf. They cost the same as the Volthanes (provided you buy them from somebody other than Herrets!).

If you get the grips, you might also want to get an extended mag release IF you buy a MkII. If you get a MkIII, you won't need it. My advice, try for a MKII.

And disassembly? Yeah, everyone has a rough first time with it.

My advice? Only disassemble the gun ONE time.

Sounds crazy, right? That one time you disassemble it will be to install the parts I just recommended.

Put it back together, then NEVER take it apart again.

Go to an automotive supply store and buy a cheap spray can of either brake or carbuerator cleaner. Costs about $1.50 here. Should be pretty cheap there too. Open the action, lock the slide to the rear. Remove the grips. Spray that stuff in the ejection port, down into the frame, all over. Aside from the grips, the entire gun is STEEL and those chemicals will NOT harm the gun.

I swear to you, the gun will come out just as clean as the first time you took it out of the wrapper. That black crud will just run out the bottom of the mag well.

Use a coated cable pull-through or similiar thing to run patches through the barrel and you are done.

NEVER disassemble the gun again. You won't need to.

And you'll still be spending less money than those other guns you are considering.



There is a picture of my Ruger, next to my competition Pardini. The Ruger has the VQ trigger, sear, hammer, and Clark oversized hammer bushing (also a good idea for taking out trigger sloppiness!). Those are the Herrets wood grips and of course, a red dot sight for bullseye shooting.

The Ruger doesn't look exactly like that now, as I have polished the matte stainless finish with a Dremel moto-tool to a mirror-like brightness.

AZ, the main reason I don't unnecessarily disassemble my Ruger is that repeatedly doing it eventually leads to a loosening of frame to receiver fit. That necessitates sending it back to Ruger for tightening or using a piece cut from a soda can to shim up the looseness.

I don't know how long it would take for such looseness to occur, but I have seen more than one owner on other forums asking about how to fix this problem. That's how I know about the soda can fix.

Personally, I can disassemble and reassemble my Ruger almost blindfolded. That came from adding the parts I talked about to 3 of my own Rugers. Two slabside MkIIs and one MkIII Target. I also kitchen table gunsmithed guns for two friends of mine.

My specialty was modifying MkIIIs to get rid of the hated and unnecessary magazine safety cut-off. I remove the "guts" of the safety and then add a small washer from the motor pool bolt bin to the hammer bushing to mimic MkII specs.

I agree that it really isn't as tough as so many people make it out to be, but I don't make it a habit of insulting their manhood by mocking their impatience.

The man said he'd own a Ruger but for two problems. Trigger pull quality and difficulty of reassembly. I've told him how to either overcome or mitigate those two problems. In fact, he could have his friend take the thing apart and put it back together after the parts have been added.

And as I said, disassembly isn't even necessary to clean the barrel, as this can be done with any sort of pull through cable rather than ruining the barrel crown with a rod.

I did find your problem with buying parts in Germany interesting. I'd read of their ridiculous, ossified, stagnant and rule-bound mentality before, but am always suprised to see just how their "guild mentality" really keeps people from being self reliant. I've even heard that home owners cannot get permission to re-roof their own homes because they are not "professional" roofers.

It makes me smile to think how Americans would respond to somebody here trying to pull that crap on them!

I may have been a bit quick to judgement, but we all "know" that our east coast blue staters are essentially Europeans in everything but name. They even have nearly identical fertility and birth rates...which means that if we can get a handle on illegal immigration, we may just outlast them and start winning just about every election sometime after 2020 by default.

No sooner did I read that I was reminded of a recent skyscraper built in Philadelphia. The design was going to incorporate "waterless urinals" in all of the restrooms in the multi-story building. No pipes needed.

Except that when the Plumber's Union, probably staffed by people with names like Rocko and Nunzio, heard about that they immediately complained to the city government.

Guess which political party they belong to?

So, the government "convinced" the builder to go ahead with the waterless urinals, but to pay plumbers to put in completely unnecessary pipes AS IF standard water plumbing was going to be used.

As I said, our blue state east coasters are very much like Europeans in some regards. Some, like Philadelphia, are very much like Eastern Europeans before 1989.