Ruger MKIII 22-45 P512

The Ruger Standard 22 series has been around since 1949, and Ruger itself heralded their introduction as the first significant improvement in automatics since the god of guns handed us the 1905 Browning which morphed into the 1911 Colt.

I am a fan of the Ruger MkII's and in other articles you will see me tell readers to jump on one because you have to go to a Smith and Wesson Model 41 to beat the performance and at half the price you couldn't go wrong.

This year marks the first solid production year of the the new Ruger MK III and with the rabbits being so thick and we being in high plinking season I decided to add a Ruger MKIII 22-45 to my Ruger MK II and MK I collection.  I chose the 22/45 version for two reason, one its the gun I recommend to all first time shooters, and second it was the only MK III the local dealer had on the shelf next to his MK II's. 

I picked up the 22 pistol for $247 plus some tax about $50 bucks more than they were 3 years ago which is a huge price jump on introduction guns.  First appearance and feel of the new 22/45 grip was very nice, this is the closest a 22 gets to feeling like a 1911 without buying a conversion kit which would cost you more money than a New Ruger 22 pistol.  You have a hard time selling a conversion kit so why go that route if you don't have to.

The new Ruger MK III 22 Pistol is for the most part a "Lawyer-ed up" version of the Ruger MK II 22 pistol, with some marketing bite in other areas.  I like the fact that my Ruger pistol comes with a scope mount and is drilled and tapped for a scope or red dot scope , this was an outstanding addition to the line.  In the past the mounting of a scope on a Ruger MKII that wasn't a target model meant very hard to find special rings and the removal of the rear site as part of the scope mount.  In addition the front slip on ring would wear the blue off your pistol destroying the resell value.  This new method is clean and leaves the pistol in one piece when mounting a Red dot Scope to the handgun.

I don't like the thought or lack there of that went into the new safety features.  While I am sure the lawyers loved it, you have to ask "Are lawyers your primary market?". I am not opposed in any way to making a firearm safer to handle, but when those "Rubber stamped" safety features actually make the firearm harder to handle, human being's will avoid the safeties if they can.  The bullet in chamber indicator changed the way this gun cycles and it's noticeable if you shoot Ruger MK II's.  The Keyed safety is becoming a common sight these days since Taurus first introduced it on their entire production line.  Unlike Taurus I don't think a lot of thought was put into Rugers Keyed safety, except that they HAD to have one.  When I think about locking a gun down to prevent kids from using it when I am not around it means long term storage.  That doesn't mean leave the gun cocked for 6 months in the closest.  In order to engage the keyed safety the Ruger MKIII Target Model 22/45 it must be cocked in order to engage the keyed safety.  The thumb safety must be engaged in order to lock the bolt with a key.  A weak spring is not going to do much for safety when I am fumbling with shells that don't pick up off the magazine right in a few years.  There is a cause and effect going on here and these safeties are creating future unsafe conditions, this is why we don't let lawyers design our firearms any more than we should let the lawyers in Congress design our cars for "Better efficiency".

So how did it shoot?

I love the feel of the new 22/45 grip this was a huge improvement over the old 22/45, only  why not fix the old problems while your redesigning the whole gun.  The magazines on the new 22/45 MKIII do not drop free, in fact you have to pry the magazine lose from the start and you can feel the resistance all the way down as you extract it.  I may not of noticed this so much expect for all the stove piped rounds I had and clearing the loaded weapon became a safety chore instead of pushing a button and dropping the 22 magazine and just clearing the chamber.  

As I mentioned it stove piped a bunch, this appears to be a combination of factors;

New gun - new guns are tight and it generally takes 500 rounds to break off the metal burrs that can play with the timing of the firearm.

Magazines-These magazines are TIGHT- too tight as they are not moving up and down in their grove smoothly and applying the proper pressure to the shells to move the next one in position all the time.

Chamber indicator- This is yet a another piece of resistance that a spring must overcome to close the bolt and since the first rule of firearms is all guns are loaded at all times its more a legal defense than a safety feature.

Trigger- What the hell did they do to this trigger it was no winner before but now it slides around like a Phoenix Arms, with a hard pop at the end of the pull.

The spring is notably stronger than in my MKII's which makes a rapid fire spread quite a bit.  There is no crown at all on this pistol and is probably the primary cause of the 2 inch groups we received when trying to target shoot.  The word's target model on the side and the performance at 25 yards did not jive.  I expect much more from Ruger as this is a step down in performance not up.

I would recommend that the MKIV have some improvements.

Drop the in chamber indicator and place your key lock here.  Use a KISS method of a hole in the bolt to keep the engineering on target.
Put a crown on your 22's its the crown jewel of Rugers heritage don't screw it up with production cost numbers.
Make sure magazines drop free of the guns, this is the biggest safety improvement that any brand of firearm can make.
Unlawyer that trigger, Ruger needs to decide if its making guns for responsible adults or for kids with no supervision.  Kids with no supervision are not paying the bills  I will guarantee you that.

While none of this would keep me from buying the Ruger 22/45 because comparing it to other brands its still a leader, now its just in a world of manufactures racing to the bottom.  Small time firearm manufactures are running at 100% capacity to produce firearms because of the high demand for top quality firearms, we never get to do stories about them because the companies stay 6 months behind in production.  With the passage of the manufactures protection act I would expect the quality of these firearms to return or the guns of old go the way of the Dodo bird.

I will miss the worry free days of blurting out to "get a Ruger 22/45" as a reaction when folks ask what should I get for my first gun.  Ruger is bought for its reliability and price two things that are fading when lawyers keep engineering the firearms.