Got me a new old one- Marlin Camp 45

My last time home, I traded into an excellent condition Marlin Camp 45. Semi auto .45 ACP carbine. You don't wanna know what I gave up for it. I had been wanting one for a very long time, and it had always made sense to me. Just a good ole' .45 ACP cast bullet chucker to play with. Takes the same mags as my 1911, doesn't seem too picky at all. Frankly, I was thinking it would make a dandy little suburbanite house/ yard rifle for the wife. It has many more idiosyncrasies than I bargained for. Still not sure what to think.

On the plus side, I've got a fairly extensive amount of .45 ACP brass and bullets. It's one of the few calibers I cast for. I like the idea of guns that shoot slow, fat, heavy lead bullets that I make at home.

The first (and only) time I shot it was kind of weird. I was planning on shooting some rifles at the outdoor range. Packed the guns and kids up, drove a half hour, only to find my range card would not open the un-manned gate. So...I turned back around, and managed to make it to the indoor range, where my handgun caliber carbine was welcome. So, I was thankful to have it. I found the carbine to be very reliable. No stoppages or malfunctions in 200 rounds. shooting off hand at 25 yards, or course all the bullet holes touched. No real test of accuracy there, but at least I do know it's "good enough" As ever though, the devil often hides in the details.

Here's the not so good and the questionable...the magazine release is tiny. You really gotta push hard to release it, and that darn sure ain't gonna happen with gloves on. Also, the rifle has a mag-disconnect safety on it, which gives the gun a bit more of a heavy, gritty trigger pull than it needs, albeit manageable for the work and distances I would use it for. Also, because of the magazine dis-connect, you have to manually pull the mags out from the gun, which means kinda pawing at the small tab of a flush fit magazine. an extended eight or ten round mag probably would not experience this problem, but I don't currently own any.

Another big problem, is that the Marlins are a blow back action and under sprung from the factory. One problem with that is the action gets filthy- I'm not concerned with that, being as I'm not planning to take it to some remote rice paddy or desert where I wouldn't ever clean it. I really didn't think it was THAT bad after two hundred rounds. The heavy 21 pound spring does become a problem in that my wife can barely cock the rifle under the best conditions. You would think that heavy spring would negate a lot of recoil, but it actually surprises me how much recoil it has for a .45 ACP. Not that it's bad, for even the most recoil sensitive person, but just more than I expected. One of my bigger gripes is dear LAWD that thing flings the brass! It's a reloader's nightmare as far as that goes! It would chuck brass an easy 25 ft. It might have gone further, but kept hitting the wall.

So...part of me is intrigued with this cantankerous little gem. The other part of me is tempted to send it on it's way. If it was easier cocking, required a lighter spring, had a larger magazine release, no magazine disconnect, and didn't launch my brass into orbit, I think I'd be much more pleased with it. For now....it's a wait and see proposition. Assuming I do keep it around awhile to give it a chance, any suggestions for optics? Definitely something light, compact with zero to low magnification, I'm thinking. Maybe a red dot, although I'm still distrustful of electronic devices. Anyhoo, I'm curious to hear your thoughts, especially if you've owned one of these.

I have read about those guns, and have been very curious about them. Do you have any pictures of it? How much did it set you back?

I'm on the North Slope right now, but would be happy to snap a few pics of it when I get back to the house in a week or so.

It set me back a S&W 625-3. They're averaging about $700-$800 these days, which to me gives them pretty stout competition with the Just Right carbines and the Mech Tech conversions, but I always liked the simplistic down to earth styling of the Marlin.

I've heard bad things about the Just Right carbines & positive things on the Mech Tech stuff.  It also seems like the people who have the Marlin Camp Carbines really like them and generally hold on to them. Take some pics when you get back.

Yeah. Will do. I found some solutions to the idiosyncrasies last night. I think I'm gonna replace the 21 pound spring with a 16 pounder. Still not perfect for that gun, but it's a lot better than the factory 11 pound spring, and easier for the wife to handle.

Then I found these to assist in the same matter: http://powercustom.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1153

I'm pretty sure I can fix the mag-disconnect. some people say it's complicated, but I don't think that's coming from a very experienced lot.

Even if not, the ten round mags will do wonders to help in that area.

Then I gotta figure out what the heck the .45 carbine is good for. I've got plinking, wild or nuisance dogs, and home defense on the top of it's ability list. I'm fairly certain is would do fine against black bear, and there are worst things for moose.

I thought I'd heard the JR carbines had been tightening up? In any case, they just have never attracted me for some reason I can't put a finger on. They just feel pretty low quality for my hard earned dollars.