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About three weeks ago I ordered a 5 1/2" target barrel Mk IV receiver and barrel from Volquartsen. They're selling them on clearance with sights for $40 including the original Ruger case and still have some if anyone's interested. They are actually off of 22/45's, Ruger model 40107 but they work just fine on the standard frame. My travails in removing the rear sight were detailed in a thread a while ago ("An open letter..."), but all ended well and a Fastfire III sight was installed in a Burris mount. I had previously installed a Volquartsen accurizing kit which really improved the trigger pull - based on personal experience and widespread anecdotal evidence the Mark IV's have the worst triggers Ruger has ever put into this line.

We finally had a bluebird day today so I got out after lunch and ran my available ammo through the new barrel and the original one to see how they compared. Bottom line is me likee new barrel.

Fired 10 shots each with Winchester Super-X, CCI AR Tactical and my expensive stash of Wolf Match Target. The red dot is obviously superior to open sights for shooting groups, that needs no justification in this forum. BUT - you still gotta hold steady and squeeze. Not nearly as good of a shot - i.e. as steady handed - as I was 20 years ago but I'll take what's left.


Upper row is with the 5 /2" target barrel. It liked the Winchester right off the bat. The second group with the Ar Tactical opened up badly for I think two reason - mostly I lost focus and let the dot wander around plus I can use the excuse that the barrel wasn't seasoned with the new ammo after shooting the Winchester. A second group was fired with appropriate Zen-like concentration and it obviously was much better. The Wolf MT wasn't bad but I can't account for those flyers. I had fired 10 rounds of that before this group of record to season the barrel some.

The second row is with the original 6" slender Standard barrel. Had cataract surgery last year in both eyes and my vision is hugely improved but the front sight is still a tiny bit blurry so it's hard to maintain a consistent vertical alignment, the vertically strung groups are proof of that. Lost focus on that Wolf MT group so tried again and tightened up the horizontal spread but still had the same vertical spread.

All groups at 25 yards fired over sandbags, those are 1 1/2" aiming squares.



Between the two barrels it's hard to pick a favorite. The heavy barrel and Fastfire combo are obviously the most accurate but I like the light weight and balance with the Standard barrel. Oh well, Ruger did us a great favor when they made the Mark IV line since it takes about 20 seconds to switch receivers/barrels, 40 seconds if you forget to put the bolt in and have to redo it.

Start with a Ruger Standard Model.



A few seconds later you have a Ruger 5 1/2" Target Model.

Did you just swap the bolt from one receiver to the other interchangeably with no fitting?

Nice work.


I picked up a MK IV 22/45 with the 5.5" target barrel. The trigger is pretty harsh.

My older MK II 22/45 has a very nice trigger right out of the box.

Yes, the one bolt works fine in both receivers. I was concerned about that and had emailed Volquartsen before buying it:

Me: Re the barreled receiver you offer for the Ruger Mk IV without bolt. To your knowledge does the existing bolt from my Mk IV Standard just slip right in without any fitting?
Volquartsen: Yes it does.

The older Mk II triggers were always pretty good. The magazine disconnect in the Mk III and IV sure doesn't help anything, that's another nice thing about the accurizing kit since it gives you a Mk II hammer bushing and removes the mag disconnect entirely.

Based on the success of the accurizing kit in the Mk IV I bought one for an older Mk III Target slabside. It definitely improved the trigger but it's still not as nice as the one in the Mk IV. Not sure why but that Ruger trigger is a kind of Rube Goldberg design to start with, lots of potential for slop.

Thank you. I may pick up one of those for my 22/45 LITE MK IV.

I love my little 22/45. With that barrel

Howdy, I have an old ruger standard model,and I was wondering if these new uppers would fit. Do ypu know about this? Thanks Winston

Only if it's a Mark IV with the takedown button at the back just under the bolt.

OK Thanks for the info. Winston