The
Ruger
Improvement Page
ok
youve just cleaned your pistol well to the hilt as far as it will get and
you want something more for it thats good to benifit it for your shooting
pleasure,well here is what i have done on my own and it works much better,feels
great and its smoother overall.
1st
take
a look at the bolt pic i have here.see how its been smoothed out and polished
to a shine? that was done with a piece of 600 grit wet or dry emery paper
and oil, then polished and cleaned well inside and out.reason for this
is to romove any rough surfaces and give the bolt a nice surface on which
to ride on.
see
the top 2 flats on either side of the reciol spring? those were also polished
up and the edges on the bolt bottom on the slot were slightly rounded and
they were pretty sharp as well and interfereing with a smooth traveling
bolt, the bottom inner rail on the bolt as well that rides on the hammer
face was smoothed out as well.the recoil spring can be lifted up and out
without fear of flying apart on you,its staked at both ends so that the
guide and holder wont fly off.now you can also remove the firing pin and
with a piece of paper mark how it went back in,just simply push the pin
in and thruand then lift up the firing pin ,see the stop and spring under
it? mark on the paper how it went in,this must be put back in the same
way so the pin does not fly off the chamber face when its shot or dryfired.do
not soak the 600 grit emery paper in oil !!!!! only a few drops to
keep from the bluing from clogging the papers pores is needed and wipe
the bolt off frequently.never ever never be putting the bolt body in a
vise without two leather pads on each side to protect it and never ever
never over tighten the vise!!!!!!!!.just enough to hold the bolt from moving
is fine.i used an old belt of leather with the emery paper under it using
a shoe shine method to polish it wiping frequently so no buildup or drip
from the emery got in any crevices etc making it a fairly clean job to
do.
2nd
now
that the bolts done,why not the inside of the reciever too? yep i did that
as well but ! i had used a round ash dowel to hold the 600 grit emery paper
doubled up to smooth the inner walls up with.again taking my time doing
it as well to insure a nice smooth job, i had bought my ruger used so the
inner area wear the takedown pin protrudes thru the top of the reciever
had some galling and a raised lip around the holes.after the smoothing
over taking these down the bolt feels like glass now as i pull it back
to cock it.do not under any circumstances take that riveted guide in the
reciever!!!!! this is as far as you need do for this smoothing up process.im
sure with a dremel and jewelers rouge you could carefully reach in the
front reciever port and do the area with a bullet felt tip mounted on it
but i chose not too
3rd
if
you care to you may as well do the top of the hammer seeing how the bottom
inner guide rail on the bolt that pushes the hammer down on charging it
was done might as well make a matched set!!! take the grips off,this can
be a bit of a trick to get back together as well too.also leave that safety
in while the hammer is out! it has a ball detent that likes to go flying
out when taken out of the frame.to reinsert the hammer with its bushing,the
safety should be off position,the hammer + bushing installed on the disconnecter
bar,now push the sear forward ,this will show a notch that the disconnecter
tab can fit into on its right side as it and the hammer are pushed in place,then
the pin be secured into it all holding it and the grips can be reinstalled
on the frame.
4th
now
is the time to polish the feed ramp with a dremel and felt bullet tip with
rouge or some 600 grit emery wrapped on a thin thin dowel.this will
help the bullet feed into the chamber much easier with a smooth surface
to glide up on.go realllll easy here ,remember we want to polish the area
not remove metal!
5th
grips!
theyres many kinds out theyre to be had if one looks hard enough for them.i
like the plastic stock factorys myself ,sometimes if its spring time
out and im hunting in the rain alot and i want a nonslip grip i will get
a piece of bycycle inner tube and slip this right over the grip on the
mk1.i oil the tube first.it makes it very easy to slide up and the rubber
absorbs the oil in ten minutes so it stays put without slipping. i did
see tho over on the ajax web sight for grips all kinds, white and black
pearl,ivroid,real ivory, exotic woods etc.i kinda like the ivroid polymer
and white pearl myself.taget grips that are full tilt adjustable in every
way are out theyre but keep in mind very expensive and would look kinda
dumb on my lil' ol' 4.75" barelled ruger.i could see those on a ten inch
bull barelled job.
6th
magazines,
you can use a mk2 magazine in the mk1 if you ust simply take the follower
pin on the side out on the right and move it to the left.now you have a
ten shot mk1.....
7th
bore
cleaning, use a bronze bore guide when cleaning the barrel out,leading
will come out with some effort and repeat cleans if its very heavy.for
those who shoot the copper washed stuff and still cant get the streakes
out soak the bore for 30 minutes in outers or hoppes solvent.now get some
stainless chore bot scouring pad and take a small piece of it and wrap
it on an old worn brush and run ten strokes thru the bore,clean it well
again,run some dry patches and inspect it.it should be gone,if not repeat
the process.some find that theyre pistol groups better after 100 shots
or a few mags have been fired.i never bought into that much so i shoot
with an absolute clean bore sight in from theyre and leave it at that.after
100 rounds i just run some slightly damp patches thru to get the fouling
out on the lands and grooves.
8th
for
those used pistols that just seemed to be owned by mickey rat the mongol
who never used a plastic mallet on the muzzle to tap the pistol reciever
back a muzzle crown can be done with a 3/8" steel ball bearing and a little
99 cent tube of valve grinding compound and some oil. first take a patch
and put it in the bore about 1/4" down from the muzzle, now take the ball
and coat it in the compound and by hand turn the ball in all directions
for an even cut on the crown with a light pressure,when it feels smooth
cutting stop,wipe the crown and look, the surface cut should be a smoth
and even cut all the way around.this can be done in ten minutes or so.apply
more compound if neccesary to finish the job.
then
push the patch out from the chamber end,never from the muzzle down.remember
valve grinding compound cuts steel and we want the bore as mint as possible.
