This is posted on another website that I currently go to, but thought that some here might find it a little helpful.  Thanks.

The reason I’m starting yet another thread here about hammer bushings is that I wanted to give an unbiased review concerning these.   I have all three types of bushings (Sam’s, BAM’s, and Tandemkross’), a Ruger Mark III 22/45 6 7/8 Hunter, and here are my thoughts regarding each one of these:  
http://i723.photobucket.com/albums/ww236/checcles/th_CIMG1345.jpg

Most of the following pictures are just thumbnails and if you click on them, you will see a larger picture.

FIRST THINGS FIRST:

This is one of the easiest and one of the best modifications that you can do with your Ruger Mark III (including 22/45 and LITE) series pistol.

SGW Gunsmith’s sticky in the Mark III sub-forum regarding various bushings depending on the type of hammer/gun you have: Hammers & Bushings - RimfireCentral.com Forums


In other words, what I’m writing this post about is just concerning Mark III types of pistols:

[*]MKIII
[*]MKIII 22-45
[*]MKIII 22-45 Competition
[*]MKIII 22-45 Government Target
[*]MKIII 22-45 Target
[*]MKIII Competition
[*]MKIII Government Target
[*]MKIII Target
[*]MKIII LITE
[*]MKIII Hunter

If you have a Mark II and want to replace your hammer bushing for a better trigger feel, go check out Clark Custom Guns, Inc. Home Page or http://www.volquartsen.com/ because they make bushings for the Mark II hammers.  Again, everything from here on out is taking strictly about Mark III pistols.  

Special thanks to Bullseye for being the originator of the Mark III design for the bushing.


Why replace the stock hammer bushing/magazine disconnect:

When you replace the stock hammer bushing, you will completely remove the stupid magazine disconnect as well as shown in this picture from Bullseye’s website guntalk-online.com:
http://i723.photobucket.com/albums/ww236/checcles/MK3trigview3.jpg

If you don’t know what a magazine disconnect is: Safety (firearms) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


WHAT THIS MODIFICATION DOES:

[*]Magazines Fly Right Out! No more prying out bound up magazines after hitting the release button.
[*]Simplify Disassembly and Reassembly - No Magazine insertion/removal steps required
[*]Clean Up Trigger Slop. Note: The best thing available to really clean up your trigger pull is installing a Volqartsen target sear and an adjustable target trigger.
[*]Fewer Parts Simplifies Detail Strip

WHERE DO I GET ONE AND WHICH ONE? NOTE: These are in order as they were available to the public.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Sam Lam’s Bushing:
http://i723.photobucket.com/albums/ww236/checcles/th_IMG_20121103_150545.jpg

$11.00 shipped. Made of O1 tool steel.

Sam is a great guy and lives in Toronto Canada.  Basically you just send him an email at [email protected] and he quickly responds with his mailing address.  (I emailed him last week to verify his price and type of steel that he used, and literally got a reply 30 seconds later).  You then send him either cash or check through the mail and about 2+ weeks later, you will receive your bushing (protected by card-stalk and tape) in a regular mail envelope.  When I received mine, I was actually surprised that the mail processing machine rollers didn’t press or damage the bushing right out of the envelope.  I guess Sam has sent enough to the USA and understands exactly what it needs to get by.  He's been doing this for many years now.

Sam is a standup guy and stands behind every bushing he sells.  I’ve even heard of a customer sending him cash, and it unfortunately got lost in the mail, and yet Sam still sent him the bushing.

What does Sam do that is absolutely awesome? Ruger tolerances vary quite a bit, and most people don't know, but Sam will also make you a CUSTOM bushing to precisely fit YOUR hammer and pin if you send them to him. Same charge and turnaround time.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

BAM Bushing
http://i723.photobucket.com/albums/ww236/checcles/th_BAMbushing.jpg

$15.00 shipped.  Made of 304 Stainless Steel.

“BAM” are the initials of a great guy in Michigan.  The perk about him is that he is an awesome guy and has an actual website (http://bushing.webs.com/) where you can quickly order from and even go through a step by step picture guide on how to install a bushing.  

His online website is a PayPal web store but feel free to email him at [email protected] if you prefer another form of payment.  Shipping is free from Michigan to US addresses and he will try to get parts out within a business day of purchase.   Extremely fast shipping, provides tracking number, and has professional packaging (bubble wrap in a mailer envelope).
http://i723.photobucket.com/albums/ww236/checcles/th_IMG_20121103_153520.jpg

BAM’s bushing is stated to be slightly larger than the factory part and thus the resulting tight fit will reduce or eliminate the trigger slop that is caused by the loose factory bushing.  This sometimes requires buyers to literally freeze their bushing overnight in the freezer so that the metal will shrink just enough to fit snuggly within the hammer.  Some users swear by this tighter fit.  (It isn't the hammer that suppose to pivot on the bushing.  Its the hammer+bushing that's suppose to pivot on the hammer pivot pin.)

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

TANDEMKROSS' Bushing
http://i723.photobucket.com/albums/ww236/checcles/th_TKBushing.jpg

9.95 + 4.95 shipping = $14.90.  Made of 304 Stainless Steel.

Very new COMPANY out of New Hampshire.  Their bushing is designed to be a “drop-in” fit (no freezing or sanding required, regardless on your hammer’s tolerances).  Their bushing literally just dropped right in my hammer whereas the previous two required me to barely press them in with my thumb.  Tandemkross offers an official, written Lifetime Guarantee on their product.

These guys make it really easy to be able to order their product as they have a website (- T A N D E M K R O S S -), sell their product on Amazon and eBay, and even have phone support/ordering.  Yes, they can walk you through the installation on the phone if you need extra help as these Ruger pistols can seem a little complicated at first.  It is cheaper to order directly off their website since both Amazon and eBay charge them money.  They also have a great package deal on their website where one can buy the bushing and McFadden Ultimate Clip Loader with theoretically brings their bushing down to about 11.00 or so found HERE.  

Interesting to note, here are the links to their Amazon and ebay product feedbacks that they have zero editing control over: AMAZON   and  EBAY

They provide tracking numbers with every order, extremely fast USA shipping, and professional packaging (bubble mailer).  Note that it comes with printed, colored instructions.
http://i723.photobucket.com/albums/ww236/checcles/th_IMG_20121103_153255.jpg

Occasionally, Tandemkross offers a discount code to lower the cost.  They even did free shipping back in September and thus reduced their bushing cost to $9.95.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________





MY UNBIASED REVIEW:

http://i723.photobucket.com/albums/ww236/checcles/bushings.jpg

There ya have it.  If a couple extra bucks aren't an issue, might as well help our struggling economy a tiny bit and order an American-made product.  It'll arrive faster to your door anyways.  I've been happy with the Sam Lam bushing in my gun for the past year, but if I had to do it all over again, its great to know that I have other options available as I probably would order from BAM or Tandemkross without hesitation.

I thought about measuring each dimension and listing those here, but it would be pointless.  My hammer is different than yours.  Dimensions from the bushing manufacturers also can vary even between their batches.

Just looking at them:  My BAM and Tandemkross bushings are probably the ones with the best finish.  They both seem to put forth a little more effort to rounding out and deburring the edges.  I personally think BAM spends the most time sanding/polishing each bushing before he ships them out.

NOTE:  This is just my opinion and my observations.   What experience do I have with metal?  I took state and then competed in the National machining competition back in 2005.  

http://i723.photobucket.com/albums/ww236/checcles/th_IMG_20121103_151955.jpghttp://i723.photobucket.com/albums/ww236/checcles/th_IMG_20121103_152047.jpghttp://i723.photobucket.com/albums/ww236/checcles/th_IMG_20121103_151839.jpghttp://i723.photobucket.com/albums/ww236/checcles/th_IMG_20121103_151734.jpg

Regardless on how the bushings “look,” the truth is, all the three types of bushings worked equally as well in my pistol.  All fit perfectly.  All performed the functions that they all claim to perform.  I couldn’t tell a single difference between the three.  I was specifically looking for trigger slop and trigger weight and didn’t notice any distinction.   In other words, you really can’t go wrong with any option available right now.  

Note: my Ruger hammer probably has a pivot hole with a tolerance on the upper end as all three of the bushings didn’t require me to press fit them in.   Some here at RFC claim that a “press fit” design would be optimal.  

Obviously a more extensive review after firing thousands of shots which each bushing would have been better, but I wanted to post this thread now and let new-comers know of the great options available.  Nothing wrong with good ol’ capitalism at its finest.  We really are lucky to have 3 great options and 3 equally outstanding people/companies when it comes to customer satisfaction.  I can’t stress enough how friendly and helpful that all 3 of them are.  EVERY Mark III owner needs to do this simple modification!  

-Checcles


HOW TO INSTALL THE BUSHINGS:

YouTube videos on how to replace your stock hammer bushing with one of the above mentioned aftermarket bushing:

Ruger 22/45 mag disconnect removal - YouTube
TANDEMKROSS - Mark III magazine disconnect bushing install - YouTube

Picture tutorials:

Ruger Mark III 22/45 Magazine Disconnect Removal - Imgur – Taken off of BAM’s website
2245 Maintenance Page – General disassembly

Great writeup!!  I got the TK ordered a few days after i got my LITE.  Totally worth it!  I am their first comment on their YouTube video for installation.

Do you have the volquartsen trigger group? Do any of the bushings fit the vq hammer?

I have the bam bushing and I had to use the stock ruger hammer because the vq was too tight.  I didn't try freezing, and I don't think there is really much to be gained with the vq hammer, but I was curious...

Eta, this is on my mkIII 22/45.

There are 2 other options not listed,

Volquartsen makes a bushing they say is ideally sized for their hammer.

Clark Custom sells an oversized bushing and sear pin kit (for the 22/45, I think it is the hammer pin on a Mark but am not certain) which is my preference. The oversized bushing is usually a freeze/press fit into the hammer, eliminating one slop point and reducing trigger creep.

Any Mark II bushing will fit the VQ hammer.  This leaves VQ's and Clark Custom's hammer bushing as your options if you have VQ's hammer.  Most people, like yourself, realize that the VQ hammer has no benefit from the stock hammer.  Besides, the stock hammer is heavier and with rimfire, that technically is what you want.  Use your BAM bushing on your stock hammer after you freeze it overnight.  You'll love the results.



You are correct. My purpose was to compare the three bushings that are copies of Bullseye's original hammer bushing design.  VQ, like stated above and in my original post, make a great Mark II hammer bushing.  Clark Customs makes a bushing and hammer pin combo and those work well for both Mark II and Mark III hammers.