Mark III Barrel Cracking

Last week I noticed that my Ruger would have a tendency to shoot to the left- this was only noticable from 8 yards out - any closed and everything was ok. 8 out of 10 would be left of center. Well it was back to checking grip, wrist, pull et. al and nothing would change it . My brother who has a lot of guns and experience suggested it may be the ammo. So yesterday I shot a lot of a different brand- and had about a 12% FTF rate. Today I decided to clean it ( it had been @ 1,400 rounds since last cleaning). There is a crack from both sides of the loaded chamber pin hole - one going to the chamber indicator slot and the other to the rear corner of the lug recess. The crack has probigated thru both ligaments. I have good close up pics but have not yet learnt how to download with the new camera Santa brought me.

Tomorrow AM I will be calling Ruger. This is the third issue ( Part Failure) and I bought the gun new in August 2009- the other 2 were broken springs. Plus the front sight worked loose and the rear sight fell off. Had to tightnond them in. @4 weeks ago I decided to call Ruger and get a U notched rear sight. They charged me $ 15.75- I didn't say anything but I had read on a December 2009 post that they would replace the V notch with only a phone call. A few days ago I saw a post where a rear sight was obtained at no charged within the last 2 weeks.

I am really frustrated and expected more from an American company in both design and quality.

I'd be surprised if they didn't offer a new MKIII

I'm surprised your having trouble at all.

I own a Browning Buck Mark right now.

But in the past I've owned a Mark I & Mark II and they were great guns .

Nary a single problem.

Hope you get it taken care of to your satisfaction.

:smt1099

DonDavis,

The Mark III has the loaded chamber indicator - the Mark I and II didn't. In my hunble opinion, the problem is associated with the design and fatigue endurance limit of the material. The design has 3 stress concentration features; the sharp corner of the female lug opening, the sharp corner at the base of the spotface in the bottom side of the barrel for the lever retaining pin and the hole in the barrel for the retaining pin. These are all so close that the cumulative stress intensification is so high that the stress range goes out of sight. Perhaps a different alloy of steel would improve this situation. This is just my opinion- I don't know how and to what extent Ruger does stress analysis of this design.

I did call Ruger today and the lady was very nice and emailed me a post-paid shipping lable. Now I need to hook up my new printer so I can get the ball rolling.

Thank you all for your good wishes.

Paul

Could you post pics before it ships out?

Please see my 1/26/10 post for a pic of the crack. Just give it a few seconds to decrease the size of the pic.
Paul