Help please Ruger MKIII 22/45

[Mad_Squirrell]

My Ruger MKIII 22/45 I purchased this gun used .I have put around 500 rounds through it without a single hiccup shoots great. My Dad also owns a MkII and I noticed the other day at the range that his slide would remain locked back after the last round was fired .Mine DOES NOT .After downloading the Ruger manual for the gun today and reading it fully (something I should have done the day I bought it ) I realized that the slide is supposed to be locking back after the last round is fired .Does any one have any answers as to why this malfunction is taking place .I plan on completley dissasembling it when I get back home this weekend and inspecting all the internals for excessive wear or damages . I know the previous owner and he said he did dissasemble it once. is there something he could have damaged/installed incorrectly while reassembling the gun that could cause this . any help on this matter would be greatly appreciated .

[Westwindmike]

Will the bolt lock back manually? Have you tried not firing, but just inserting an empty mag, then pulling the bolt back? The follower of the mag should push up the bolt catch unless it is really dirty between the catch and frame. Clean and oil and try again with empty mag.

[I_Like_Pie]

The follower of the magazine is what pushes up the bolt stop. If , as westwindmike stated, the bolt stop works on the gun....the only other problem is that it could be a mag problem.

Pull the bolt back, press up on the bolt stop, and release the bolt. If it works then move on to the mag...see if it is possibly bent at the lip to not allow the follower to go up all the way.

Either way - it won't hurt that gun at all.

[Capbyrd]

It is also possible that the previous owner did not correctly reassemble the pistol. Get online and find some diagrams, videos, pictures, etc of how to disassemble and reassemble before you start taking things apart.

But as previously stated, I would start by trying to manually lock the bolt back.

[eapking]

Boy, that would not be the first time. Those things are like a Rubics Cube.

[Tempest455]

They have to be put back together in specific order or they will not go back together correctly. There are some good Youtube vids on Mark III assembly.

[Mad_Squirrell]

Thanks for the come backs .Yes the slide will lock back if you manually push up the slide lock switch on the side but will not lock by itself . I'm on the road right now so I will have to wait until I get home tomorrow night to fiddle with it .

[Mad_Squirrell]

First of all thanks for the replies y'all got me started looking in the right direction . It appears the man I purchased this gun from was a tinkerer .I am just glad that he did not do any damage to the gun . First off he shaved the follower the only reason I can see for this was to increase the round capacity in the magazine by one I guess for him 10 was not enough It now will hold 11 instead of 10.

Secondly the reason the gun would not lock back was that when he reassembled the magazines he put the follower button on the wrong side and it was not making contact with the slide lock lever if its called that.

[Westwindmike]

Glad you solved the mystery. Have fun shooting the 22/45. They are great shooters.

[roverboy]

The .22/45 is a great gun. A friend had one back years ago and let me shoot it. He couldn't hit much with it and thought something was wrong. I was hitting with it right off the bat. I think it kinda ticked him off a little. I used to shoot handguns a lot and could shoot good. I don't know about now though. I don't shoot the handguns I've got much now.