Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Ruger Mk IV .22

Will wait for time to tell. The manufacturer will brag about new features. They will leave out the, almost inevitable, cost cutting measures. With luck, time will show they do not hurt the product.

Gotta wonder if the CNC lower is a cost savings. If it is, it can't be much of a savings.

The previous lower was two stampings welded together. The welding, then clean up & polishing had to drive costs up. It's a complex weld, I don't know if it could be machine welded. If not, that's labor time for a welder with a good deal of talent. If it's machine welding, then that machine cost them a pretty penny.

A CNC aluminum lower could maybe be done at around the same cost or slightly lower...can't see the steel version being cheaper though. And according to their video both are machined from a billet, not from a rough casting.

Looking at the photos on Gunblast, I'm not seeing anything that comes across as a cost saving measure. In fact, the fully machined frame, cast controls, and re-designed takedown appears to be things that would cost more to make.

MSRP on the Ruger website shows a $30.00 price increase for the Mk IV over the Mk III. I can't imagine the Mk III's will be made much longer now that the Mk IV is out.

They better start threading those things because there are about five billion stamps in the queue right now.




Clark

It is not a direct comparison, but in the late '80's Remington went cnc. They cheapened the wood and finish, and an 870 express sold for under half of a Wingmaster. All these production systems cost big $$$. But you can take a less than average idiot have him feed it chunks of steel, and take out receivers in no time. Your per unit cost is not as high. Another example, I was standing on the dock at Harley Davidson,? York Pa, watching a guy clamping 8 inch aluminum rounds into a cnc unit. He would close the door, wait about 3 minutes, then remove a fully turned and milled front wheel hub. Completely blew my mind to see that happen that fast.

Ditto...

Where did they put the serial numbers on this one?

Still not on the frame?

That quick take down feature is just awesome. I could imagine building a very minimal lower for it that turns it into a super compact single shot survival gun or a bare bones repeater looking like a Welrod.

That I might like.

I'm still using a 6 7/8" MKI that Dad bought in a west Texas pawn shop in 1960-1, and another MK I with a 5" bull barrel that I picked up from one of my guys in the seventies. They still work good and since I don't shoot matches, the nine shot magazines are fine.

I last did a takedown cleaning of Dad's for him back in the late sixties when I carved a set of stocks for him. The 5", never. What I do is remove the magazines and stocks, and drop the unit in a gunsmith cleaner, the one that has the low pressure stream of solvent, with the the bolt propped open. Soak it for a while then let the stream flow in and through the piece. Clean the bore, blow the thing dry with compressed air and call it good. They shoot every time.

Dad's rode under the seat of his farm truck in a rug until he passed away ten years ago. His had thousands of rounds through it. Dad had a jihad going with the crows in his cotton fields back in the bowl weevil days, and forever with geese destroying his wheat fields. I'm not sure how many of either he ever killed, but he could shoot and they would leave, until he was gone, then they would sneak back.

Best,

Jack

I never had a beef with the takedown. I don't especially like the LCI, but have learned to ignore it - and there is a plug on the market if I had any problem with that. What I have always wished they would change, was the safety button. It never has felt like any approximation of the 1911 safety to me, even on the 22/45 models. This new safety might at least work better, although I think it will still feel different that a 1911 or HP safety.

I like these changes. But, I think I'm going to hold out for a Lite version.

BTW - the right side photos clearly show the serial number on the receiver.