I just finished a project of customizing a Ruger MKIII 22/45 4" Bull Barrel .22 LR Handgun. When I started with this project I wanted a fairly compact, open sighted Handgun to be carried in a holster, and also one that was as close to size, weight and feel of my Kimber Model BP TEN II .45 ACP as possible.

To start with the first thing I did was contact HiViz Sights and ordered their HiViz Fiber Optic Front Sight for the Ruger. I also ordered all the extra Lite Pipe Inserts they have available, ie Red, Green, Orange and White in all 3 sizes, .090", .110" and .120" diameters (the sight comes with the Red & Green and I had to order the Orange & White extra). To mate up with this front sight I ordered a V Notch Rear Blade for my Ruger Fully Adjustable Rear Sight from Ruger.

I then ordered a Clark Custom Guns Steel Ruger Trigger. I have used the Clark Triggers in Ruger MKII's before and prefer the feel of this trigger to others I have tried. The Clark Custom Guns Steel Ruger Trigger has a slightly different geometry than the Aluminum Ruger Trigger, and the finger lever of the Clark Trigger doesn't have quite as sharp of a curve to it, and it is slightly longer also. The Clark Trigger comes over sized and they need to be fitted to the individual frame they are going to be installed in. Basically this amounts to reducing the width at the pivot point, but not so much so the trigger has side to side play like is common with the Ruger Factory Trigger. The Clark Trigger also has an externally adjustable overtravel stop.

I also polished the face of the sear buy wet sanding it's contact surface with 1500 grit sand paper wrapped tightly around a file to get it super smooth in a few strokes (taking care to keep the sear flat and to not round the edges). In addition I also eliminated the Magazine Disconnector Safety. This can be done fairly simply in a couple different ways.

Lastly I thought the Grip on this Ruger MKIII 22/45 left something to be desired. I had read an article on the net about how to modify the 22/45 grip frame to accept 1911 grips. I ordered Ed Brown Stainless-Steel Grip Screw Bushings and Grip Screws, and a set of Hogue 1911 Rubber Finger Groove Grips. The raised portion of the polymer grip on the 22/45 needs to be sanded, filed or ground down flat with the rest of the grip frame. Once that is done 4 holes need to be drilled and the 1911 grip screw bushings installed into the frame (once mine were threaded into the frame they were removed and JB Weld was applied to the threads to make sure they would not come loose, and the Hogue 1911 Grips were attached in the same manner was you'd put them on a 1911.



Above is a photo of the finished Ruger MKIII 22/45 4" Bull Barrel (actually I installed the Clark Custom Guns Steel Ruger Trigger after I took this photo). All I can say is it does not feel at all like it did originally. These simple do it yourself modifications transformed this little Ruger in to one of my favorite Handguns. It is a joy to shoot, and feels just great in my hands. The Clark Trigger gives the trigger a totally different feel, eliminates most of the take up / pretravel, and is so much better in my opinion it is hard to describe. The slightly polishing of the sear, and eliminating the Magazine Disconnector Safety resulted in a super crisp 3 pound trigger pull.

Larry

That's a NICE combination of upgrades -- and I bet it does handle extremely well.

If you don't want to get it scuffed in your safe, I do have an empty, cushioned spot in mine...

quote:

Originally posted by Bobby Tomek:
If you don't want to get it scuffed in your safe, I do have an empty, cushioned spot in mine...

Thanks for the offer Bobby, but it has a nice place to live.

I just yesterday ordered a stable mate to this one, and will do most of the same mods to it. I ordered a 5 1/2" Bull Barrel version of the Ruger MKIII 22/45. Probably do the trigger, grip mods, but this one will wear a Bushnell Trophy Electronic Dot Sight that I have sitting here. This Bushnell has 4 retices (4 MOA Dot, 10 MOA Dot, Crosshair & 4 MOA Dot inside of a 35 MOA Circle) and the 4 reticles can be illuminated in either Red or Green. With a little luck I can pick up the new one next week.

Larry

WOW! Nice one!