Yesterday's Weapons Forums

I think I mentioned wifey's seester was going through junk pickups & tractors before the scrap metal cutter-upper guy had at them & she found a Ruger 22 auto pistola in a glove box of a pickup that had a burned up motor. We figured it up & it had been there for at least 23 years. she told me it was "pretty rusty" & I assumed the worst. I also scored a brang new upper off gunborker for a fast 50.

I get in from work this AM & was quite pleased to see a 22 that WILL run again! I don't think heat from the burning engine hurt anything since the magazine works fine & the trigger pops back normally after dry firing. It took some WD-40 and manual cycling, but the bolt moves freely now & it dry fires 1/3 of the time. The bore is junk of course, but I mostly wanted the new upper since it's D&T... and I have a nice Red Dot scope I've never used.

So instead of soaking in diesel for a couple weeks, I'll hose it down good with WD-40 & chuck up a wire brush in my cheep drill press. So far I think all I'll need is a spring kit. Woo hoo!! Cheep toys are good! SW


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Slava Ukraini!!

Not bad looking for more than 2 decades in a glovebox. Looks like a fun project, but then I'm a bit partial to Ruger Mk.1's & 2's. Keep us posted on progress.

No time today but I did discover how to take the upper off. Google-fu works! SW

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Slava Ukraini!!

...that exact model is the first pistol I ever bought back in '79 or 80....dont remember 'xactly...but it was one of them 2... I wuz stoopid and bought it cause it reminded me of a P 08 Lugar....

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....Naj puška govori!....
.............deplorable typical "bitter clinger"....

Taking them apart is easy, but I can never get that blasted hammer strut back into the spring housing in less three attempts and a bit of rather colorful language my wife find quite inappropriate. (except when she uses it, and that she will never admit to doing)

Yes. Reciting 2 or 3 pages from the Funk & Wagnall's Unabridged Curse Word Compendium actually helps! SW

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Slava Ukraini!!

My carpenter brother was redoing someone's house and found one of these in a wet cellar. The rust was not quite as bad as yours but the left hand holster had some bite marks on it. It is my favorite go-to pistol. I am right handed.

Bern

I just got it ALL the way apart - cleaned - scrubbed the rust off & discovered the new upper has some dimensional differences. The loaded chamber indicator ( thank yew, risk management ) came out but it's too tight to run.

I scrubbed the bore & it's actually excellent. Bullet lube must have preserved it & dirt just blew in over the years.

So I put the old upper back on but can't QUITE get the take down lever back in. I was gnashing my teeth a little too vigorously so it's time for a break. A nap is sounding good right now. SW

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Slava Ukraini!!

Okay... after a nice nap I dived back in & got everything that is held by the hammer pin back in place right. Held my mouth just right & got the hammer strut where it was supposed to go with a minimum of sweat.


Took it out for a test drive & it ran w/o a bobble! I'll address the new upper issues later on - shouldn't take all that much. For now I just want a new set of grips tpo keep the hammer pin from walking out & a new front sight blade. Looks like some bonehead ( not me) dropped it on the front sight more than once.

It doesn't look like a big improvement, but it felt good to get it running relaibly after all those years. SW


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Slava Ukraini!!

time for a spray on coat of duro caot from Brownells!

I tried to wear one of these out when I lived on the farm......shot a hundred rounds a day for practice.....single and living at home ALWAYS has it's rewards!
anyhoo....the trigger broke in half one year....called RUger(no email in the 70's!) and they sent me a new trigger free~
can't remember where the pistol got offt to....I THINK I left it in my truck I sold..........

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The serial # dates it to 1952.

Rad

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1952 , thats a fine old ruger , i like her in that cleaned look , even the old grip scales would satisfy me , just a little more work with that brass bristled brush and oil ,

but i agree that duracoat could make her look new again , and new grip scales would dress her up ,

these are really awsome running pieces ,

It's a rainy day here ( Yay!! ) and since I cleaned the garage yesterday, it was time to goof off in the gun room. I finally got the new upper on and it runs great.

The big hold up was the plastic loaded chamber indicator. The old bolt isn't relieved for it. So out that piece of risk management crap-ola came & things went much smoother.

There was still a little metal to relieve & it didn't take much to have free bolt travel. I'm still debating how to plug the nasty void where the piece of sh.... plastic was.

There's a gun show this weekend & I'll see about a new set o' grips - those are an absolute necessity to keep the hammer pin from trying to leave.

Something I discovered was don't try to tap the trigger pin out. It's held in place by a tiny keeper clip that is a REAL bastage to remove and even tougher to replace. As in 'unless there's a pressing reason to remove the trigger group... DON'T!'. SW

Shot of new upper in place with loaded chamber indicator removed.


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New upper in place with old upper for comparison. Loaded chamber indicator parts shown for size pperspective.


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The whole thing looks a lot better from this side.


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Slava Ukraini!!

while i agree it looks improved , i would spend extra effort on its original bits to restore it to some glory in original form , just me and just sayin ...........

Does it work now?

Best Regards,

Mark

Yup! It runs like a champ! The only bobble is that the safety/bolt hold open doesn't work. The grips were warped from sitting in that glove box all those years. Being too cheep to buy a new set, I boiled the old ones for a half hour.

Sounds extreme, but it works! I sat them on a counter with a Websters Unabridged ( really!) to keep them flat. Right back in spec! The upper is factory D&T for a scope mount. I need to find which one as I have a red dot I could hang on it. SW

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Slava Ukraini!!

OK , im all for the red dot , it will be fun , post photos please

but keep that old upper with it , if i were a future owner id want that ability to have it original ,

BTW, Todd from Family Firearms and Finishes (another forum) advised me that you boil the wood and let the wood and water return to room temperature. This reduces the warpage. I shall do this with some hand guards down the road.

He did show me a SKS he did like that and it looked NEW IN BOX….quite impressive. Be sure to make sure the wood doesn't float with a brick or two.

Best Regards,

Mark