Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires Ruger MK IV

I just pulled my old Ruger MKII out of the box. My Ranger buddy in the service bought it for me when I ETS'd. I have killed numerous animals with the thing since 1981, recently, I put down a family of coons in a dark feed room on the farm. It was fun as hell! I want to upgrade to a MKIV and am leaning on the heavy barrel target model. The tactical model looks cool as hell though too! Any recommendations?

Troublesome82: I have a BUNCH of Ruger MK type pistols, and I mean a BUNCH of them.
I own and Hunt with both the Ruger MK-IV "Hunter" and the Ruger MK-IV "Target" heavy barrel models.
I get excellent accuracy from both (I have non-magnifying "red-dot sights on both) and I highly recommend either model to you - mine are both stainless by the way.
Best of luck to you and I am sure you will be happy with the heavy barrel models.
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

Thanks, Dude! I love the little MKII I have!

Those came out largely in response to S&W’s Victory I think, which was getting a lot of praise for the easy take-down. I have the S&W, tricked out with parts from Tandemkross, and it’s a good shooter, but the Ruger looks really nice, if nearly twice the price. Saw one yesterday, in fact.

I’d get one if the target or competition versions for the blade sight over F.O. ones, even though it would get a red dot.

I have both the MKIIs and MKIVs, love them both. My favorite mark II is a 5.5in bull barrel stainless target. Great firearm and started my love of Rugers. My MK is a 7.5 Fluted bull stainless hunter model. Love it to. I added a tactical upper that I picked up from Volquartsen for a song. It came threaded with optics and accessory rails. That upper is my suppressor host. They all shoot great. Keep an eye on Volquartsen's website for closeouts. They sell off alot of factory takeoffs that they have left over from their customs. I think I paid $100 for my tactical upper shipped. Target barrel uppers I've seen as cheep as $40. Not a bad way to go to add a little modularity to your pistol.

I sold my MKII and now I've got a MKIV 5.5" target barrel. I really like the fast takedown and reassembly with the MKIV.

Have 1.5 Ruger Mark IV's and like it/them. Bought a 6" Standard model pistol and later a 5.5" target barrel from Volquartsen's clearance page hence the 1.5 lead in. It takes about 20 seconds to switch from one upper to the other.

Put a Volquartsen accurizing kit in it - hammer, trigger, etc. - and the pull turned out great. Put the same kit in two separate Mk III's and for whatever reason the Mk IV has the best pull of all of them. They each have their ammo likes and dislikes but with their favorite brands there is no real difference in accuracy among all three pistols.

One thing the Mk IV might use is an upgraded firing pin. The factory pin has a sharp tip with not a lot of surface area so it gave me a bunch of misfires with Federal ammo. Put a Volquartsen firing pin in it which has a tip with more striking area and that cured the problem 100%. The misfires were only with Federal Automatch so obviously not a major problem, but was easily solved.

And I really, really, really like the easy take down and reassembly.

Just get something very different from your MK II (which are brilliant), and enjoy the crap out of it. I'm not much of a Ruger guy, but I always seem to have one of the MK series .22's on hand...you just can't beat them.

Heavy barrel target model would be my choice

S&W Model 41, even better

My son has a Mk II Government Target, shoots great. I’m partial to the Mk IV 22/45, but the alloy frame is probably better. Nice to pop a button and flip up the receiver/barrel and the ambi safety is good for me.

Got off couple of 41’s, but the Rugers are fun to shoot.

The MK IV Tactical goes well with a suppressor.

I've had a MKK2 target and now have the MK4 competition. I like the ease of take down and it shoots well. Put a Burris Fast Fire 3 dot on it and fun to shoot. Balance and well handling.

The only reason I see to get a 'Tactical' Mark 4 is if you have or are getting a suppressor.

Though the rail under the barrel would be handy (with a weapon light) if you are out after vermin at night.

Jerry

I have the MK IV Hunter and love it. Previously had a MK II 5.5" Target. Good gun but a royal pain in the butt to clean and reassemble. I swear I had to do the assembly process at least twice every time to get it correct.
I put an upgrade kit in the Hunter and the pull is awesome.

I have the Mk IV 22/45 Tactical. I put a Swampfox Kingslayer sight on it and installed a Volquartsen trigger kit.

It's scary accurate with CCI SV, Subsonic and Pistol Match. Really fahqin' scary with Lapua Polar Biathlon. It also shoots Eley, S-K, Norma TAC-22 and several others rather well.

I do prefer the 22/45 versions over the other MK xxx pistols.

Yes to the Model 41. I've got a scoped Performance Center version and it's silly accurate. I also have a Mark-IV Hunter and Buck Mark Target. Of the three, the Mark-IV Hunter is the best bang for the buck.

Just for S&G I put an Ultradot on my Mark IV. It’s not half bad.

Which half?

The big half.