MKIII Hunter stovepipe problem

[NJKen 23]

As the title suggests, I am having about 1 in 10 shots stovepipe. I have had this pistol for about a year and have put about 5,000 rounds through it. I have done a little research and I think the extractor may be failing. I have ordered a Volquartsen exact edge extractor to replace it.

I stripped the gun down and I cant honestly say that the extractor looks that bad. The edge of the claw is not quite square anymore but it still seems to grab OK. The main point of this post is that I am looking for others that have experience with this problem or my solution. I love shooting this pistol and with the lack of availability on firearms parts I wanna start looking as soon as possible if I need another part!

Ken

[tony357 386]

What ammo were you using?

Extractor has been an issue with this firearm.

make sure it is good and clean check your chamber for build up.

[222 3]

I installed VQ extractor/firing pin into my mkiii hunter 3 weeks ago. Shot about 5 times and 800 rounds since. Haven't had 1 stovepipe.

 

Before that.. yup a stovepipe every 10-30 rounds, sometimes multiple times in 1 magazine.

 

As I installed it I compared new to old. By look there's some cosmetic differences. By feel I could tell the new one was sharper.

[NJKen 23]

What ammo were you using?

Extractor has been an issue with this firearm.

make sure it is good and clean check your chamber for build up.

Any ammo at all. CCi minimag, federal bulk, Remington GB, and american eagle (federal) are the ones Ive tried lately, none better than the other.

I did let the gun get a little dirtier than I normally would but after a thourough strip and clean the problem remained the same.

[NJKen 23]

I installed VQ extractor/firing pin into my mkiii hunter 3 weeks ago. Shot about 5 times and 800 rounds since. Haven't had 1 stovepipe.

 

Before that.. yup a stovepipe every 10-30 rounds, sometimes multiple times in 1 magazine.

 

As I installed it I compared new to old. By look there's some cosmetic differences. By feel I could tell the new one was sharper.

Thats the support I was looking for! How many rounds do you think you had through it before it started doing it? Mine would stovepipe once in a couple hundred rounds since new. The last 500 rounds it went from occasional to about every fifth shot.

I stripped it and cleaned it since I thought It was cruded up like Tony suggested.

Ken

[222 3]

Thats the support I was looking for! How many rounds do you think you had through it before it started doing it? Mine would stovepipe once in a couple hundred rounds since new. The last 500 rounds it went from occasional to about every fifth shot.

I stripped it and cleaned it since I thought It was cruded up like Tony suggested.

Ken

 

I knew my problem wasn't crud because I clean all my firearms after every range visit.

 

I've put probably 5000 rounds through in the past 2 years. FTE/stovepipe was always a problem for me ever since new. I can't say it happened more or less at any point, or with any ammo: I use Federal Bulk, CCI Blazer, CCI SV, CCI mini-mag, and it would stovepipe all of them.

 

 

Finally I just got sick of it and spent the money for new extractor.

 

After swapping the extractor and firing pin, I've shot a few hundred rounds each of CCI Blazer, Winchester Dynapoint, and Remington Golden Bullet, the old and not improved. 0 fail to fire. 0 fail to eject. 1 squib on the golden bullet, but I think cartridge was defective.

[mp123 0]

Extractor broke off all together on mine. Probably after about 8,000 rounds.

Damn thing still worked but 1 out of 4 was a stove pipe.

Put the new Ruger extractor in and those puppies really fly out the side.

Dirty ammo will give you light strikes more than stove pipes.

The area on the bottom just before the breech has to to be cleaned.

Best thing to use is a dental pick and a pair of glasses so you can see what you are doing. :-)

[NJdiverTony 27]

Hey guys, is this a problem with older MKIII's or all of them? I have an MKIII that I bought brand new a few months ago, but haven't had any problems with it. Just wondering if this is something I need to keep an eye out for. I've got about 1200 to 1300 rounds through it already and I've had maybe 2 stovepipes and 3 or 4 FTF's... but I attributed those to the .22lr ammo I was using.

[alec.mc 180]

I've got a Ruger mark 2 from the 80s that has its original extractor in it, no issues whatsoever, very reliable gun.

 

I've probably put close to 20,000 rounds through it no problems since I've owned it

[JackDaWack 2,895]

I'm intrigued, My MkIII target has had zero issues in 2k rounds.

 

An i"m curious as to how the extractor would fix the issue..?

[222 3]

Many folks don't have problems with extractor.

 

As I understood it, in normal extraction, extractor pulls spent shell straight backwards until it hits the part of the receiver that kicks it to the right.

If the extractor doesn't have a full and deep grip on the rim, it may not pull it straight backwards but instead rotate the shell clockwise. Extractor loses grip on the rim, bolt snaps back and forth to chamber another round, and the spent casing prevents the new round from fully chambering.

 

If I wasn't stovepiping I wouldn't have bothered replacing. I still have the stock trigger group, sear, hammer, etc... Accurizing may reduce pre-travel and trigger pull, but I'm too lazy and cheap.

[NJKen 23]

Many folks don't have problems with extractor.

 

As I understood it, in normal extraction, extractor pulls spent shell straight backwards until it hits the part of the receiver that kicks it to the right.

If the extractor doesn't have a full and deep grip on the rim, it may not pull it straight backwards but instead rotate the shell clockwise. Extractor loses grip on the rim, bolt snaps back and forth to chamber another round, and the spent casing prevents the new round from fully chambering.

 

If I wasn't stovepiping I wouldn't have bothered replacing. I still have the stock trigger group, sear, hammer, etc... Accurizing may reduce pre-travel and trigger pull, but I'm too lazy and cheap.

That is exactly what I think was happeneing to mine. The tip of the claw was not square at all. It almost looked like it was missing a little piece of the tip. The part of the extractor that keys it into the bolt was all beat to hell and didnot even want to come out. I had to grip it with a pair of needle nose pliers and work it back and forth the get it out. The Exact edge extractor dropped rite into the hole. If I pull back the bolt by hand it will fling a round about 4 feet out of the breech now! I will update this Saturday night after I hit the range.

Ken

[222 3]

sounds very promising!

[kman 56]

I installed VQ extractor/firing pin into my mkiii hunter 3 weeks ago. Shot about 5 times and 800 rounds since. Haven't had 1 stovepipe.

 

Before that.. yup a stovepipe every 10-30 rounds, sometimes multiple times in 1 magazine.

 

As I installed it I compared new to old. By look there's some cosmetic differences. By feel I could tell the new one was sharper.

 

Same here. Volquartsen extractor and firing pin made mine 100% reliable. Totally worth it

 

Sent from my DROID2 GLOBAL using Tapatalk 2

 

 

[NJKen 23]

So I made it to the range tonight instead of last Saturday, that seems to be my new normal, be a few days late.

Anyway, the exact edge extractor is AWESOME! 200 rounds and not one hint of any type of malfunction other than the first round did not chamber. I think that may have been my fault. I didnt get the magazine locked in good. It is worth the $10 investment to try if you ever experience a stovepipe on this gun.

Ken

[222 3]

That is awesome.

 

[kman 56]

The VQ firing pin also was good - before that, I would have numerous instances where the firing pin left a dent, but the round would not go off. I thought it was the ammo but I didn't have any problem with the same ammo in my .22 rifle. With the VQ firing pin, that problem stopped as well.

 

Definitely recommended to make your Mark II/III reliable