The Ruger MK II was probably the epitome of the breed out of the box. The Mark III was one step forward and two steps back. They drilled and tapped all the receivers - step forward - but then put a dumb looking loaded chamber indicator on it and a magazine safety, the latter being detrimental to the trigger pull. They did move the magazine release to the "proper" place but I had no complaints with where it was.
I have to say my current Mark IV is my favorite .22 pistol but it took some mods to get there. The Volquartsen trigger upgrade was an absolute requirement, and it had a lot of failures to fire with Federal Automatch. The firing pin on the Mark IV comes to a smaller point and hits less surface area of the cartridge rim. Putting in a Volquartsen firing pin with a larger, more squared off tip solved the problem, the new firing pin being identical in profile to the ones in the older Mark III.
But now it has a great trigger, is very reliable, and I can switch from a 6" lightweight barrel to a 5.5" target barrel in about 20 seconds, so two guns in one. And if I wanted, there are other uppers out there that would all work just fine using the already optimized grip frame and bolt.
That said, I try to be objective about things, especially when making recommendations to someone. A lot of folks really like their Buckmark pistols and I had no issues with mine at all, it was a fine pistol right out of the box, no extra parts or mods needed. For someone who doesn't want to add more money or mess around to get a pistol to where it should be, the Buckmark would be the way to go. The Victory would be good as well but I was surprised at how heavy it was compared to the other two.
All in my not at all humble and highly valued opinion, of course.
