# Problem With Ruger Mark III Mainspring Assembly



## Jim1952 (May 4, 2017)

I've had my Mark III for about 10 years and have never had any issues with reassembly after cleaning, but I made a dumb mistake and I need help. I inserted the mainspring assembly housing wrong, and it is now stuck, but loose. The bolt stop pin is not visible through the bolt, it is somewhere forward of that position. The bolt is in, and moves freely, but I cannot get it out. 

I recently installed a Volquartsen trigger kit (which works great), so that should not be the cause of any problems. I contacted Ruger, and unfortunately they will fix it, but remove my new trigger if they get hold of it, so they are not an option. Does anyone know if I can take this thing apart without first removing the bolt from the receiver, and then removing the receiver from the frame? I'm thinking I can start by removing the grips and then tap the sear pivot pin out. Hopefully this will give me access to whatever is hanging up the mainspring assembly housing.


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## DJ Niner (Oct 3, 2006)

I'd suggest trying to remove the mainspring housing again, but this time, use the thumb on one hand to press up on the housing where the web of your hand would normally be during shooting, as you try to unlatch and pivot it out. Wiggle it if you can. If there was enough clearance to get it into place, then there should be enough clearance to get it out, you just may have to GET the clearance by pushing upward on the housing.


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## Jim1952 (May 4, 2017)

I finally fixed it. In looking through older posts on this topic I found this: "To fix a seemingly stuck mainspring system, you must move the hammer forward. To do this, insert an empty magazine--make sure chamber is empty--hold down trigger and swing the gun up and forward. As if you had a ping pong ball on the muzzle and we're going to throw it forward.

You will not feel the hammer swing around--likely, but if you do that multiple times maybe at the end of the motion hitting the muzzle on your hand or some other padded surface, the hammer should move forward and allow you to disassemble as usual".

Well, I had tried this earlier, but the magazine would not insert. This time I did some extra tapping, wiggling and praying and somehow what had not worked last Saturday worked today. The magazine went in, I was able to shake the hammer to the forward position, and the mainspring could be removed, and then installed properly. The problem had been that the hammer needed to be in the forward position. Everything is installed properly now, and I am good to go.

This all happened because I forgot to remember to RTFM. Once I had installed the Volquartsen upgrade I had it in mind that this process would now be so easy and straight forward that it would not be necessary for me to read the steps each time I put the gun back together. The upgrade (really just making the Mark III more like a Mark II) allows me to pull the trigger to drop the hammer without inserting a magazine. So, it's a little easier, but you still have to insert the mainspring properly. Once I did that wrong, all bets were off. So, as if I needed the reminder, RTFM every time.


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