So, conventional wisdom says you need a .22 for cheap marksmanship practice. And 10 years ago, I came across a Mk II Standard on consignment. The price was a no-brainer, it functions reliably, and it's pretty accurate, but I've just been underwhelmed with it.

Maybe it's the grip angle, or the tiny sights, or the knowledge that without a suppressor, I'm not going to be doing anything useful with it (like pest control). I'm not doing combat drills with this, so it's hard to say it's practice.

Anyway, I've learned that a barrel swap isn't all that feasible. And since the upper has the serial number, an upper swap is near-impossible in CA.

Can I get better sights for this thing? What can I do to make shooting this more fun?

Pic:

Don't be disappointed. You have a great gun. It's all steel so recoil will be ridiculously a non-issue.

I would contact Ruger and see about a factory MKII rear sight.

In all of my years in the industry Ruger has been a solid company.

There are also other rear sights (adjustable) that you can get as well.

Hope this helps.

Well, conventional wisdom is wrong. For pistols and PCCs, you're better off casting and loading your own bullets. You'll shoot full-power rounds for about the same cost per shot as .22. The only use for .22 is as a beginner's and small game cartridge.

Sell it to someone looking for a MKII and buy one that has better sights or the ability to mount a red dot if yours does not.

When I can buy ammo off the shelf that costs $.06 a round I would say conventional wisdom is still pretty conventional. Casting and reloading also can take up a bit of time as well as a initial investment.

Not everything has to be tactical, shooting .22 is just lots of fun in my opinion.

Hard to beat reduced noise, concussion, and recoil.

That thing is nice.  Enjoy it.

If you want to sell or trade  it I'd be interested

Great question, I have the same in heavy barrel government model but it has better sites.  I have a Leupold 2 X on it now.........That helps me tired eyes..........

Is the receiver tapped on that if so you could put a rail on top and add a red dot.

Or a scope?

Bushnell TRS-25.

I've had a Mk II Government Target Model for several decades now.  It is absolutely the last gun I'd ever part with.  Deadly accurate.  Outstanding trigger.  Has brought more gophers to justice than most guns alive!  If you're not happy with yours, trade it off for a target model is my advice.

Volquartsen, optic and good grips

I just bought a Mark II off of GB, with a, 5.5" bull barrel, adjustable rear sight, and was sold/appears to be in 95+% condition. I plan to put a couple hundred rounds thru it to see if I like that adjustable rear sight. Usually I hate an adjustable rear sight on a handgun but I can swap it out to a non adjustable sight easily enough. 1). I have a bunch of CB longs that I can feed one at a time hand massaged from the magazine if need be for varmint control without alerting or annoying neighbors. 2). Using full power loads I plan to teach my daughter how to shoot on this pistol as recoil will be non-existent. 3). I've wanted one of these Mark II's for the better part of 20 years; have currently or have in the past owned most major kinds/styles/brands of pistols... just never got around to owning a Mark II. I bought a Mark III (3) years ago with a Burris Fast Fire II RDS as well. I hated that pistol. The trigger felt like shit, the under barrel Picatinny rail was severely canted, the polymer frame felt cheap, too light for what it was and had sharp edges; and lastly I ended up hated an RDS on a pistol and wished constantly it had traditional irons instead. I sold in within a month; I broke even on it as I only put 100 rounds thru it before realizing this wasn't anything that I much liked. YMMV. But every Mark II I've ever shot I really enjoyed it!