I know that this is not a "Camp Perry Match Rifle" but when you get things working right I know you will see that is is capable of really decent accuracy. I think that if you stick to regular speed ammo (can be from 185-230gr) with the 21lb spring (Marlin said no +P ammo in the manual) you will probably: find better accuracy out of the carbine, not beat yourself or the carbine up, and have ammo that feeds and ejects correctly as the spring wears in a little bit. Remember that this is only a blow-back design and from what I understand about them is that BAB (big ass bolt) can only cycle so fast. It took my carbine almost 50+ rounds to start to cycle with 230 FMJ ball after I put the 21lb spring and buffer in. The EoTech is only capable of shooting within the "dot" and you need to shoot with both eyes open just like the ACOG. I think the carbines are more particular about their ammunition than most handguns. I remember shooting some Remington Golden Sabre downrange (late 90's) and the groups were huge (terrible out of the Colt GM too and it's been accurized) and I wondered why anyone would buy the stuff. I do remember freaking/impressing some guys out at the club doing head shots on the LE silhouette at 100 yds. I was shooting prone off of bags and I had a inexpensive fixed 4-power compact scope in the lowest rings I could get to work. They couldn't believe that a 45ACP round could be that accurate. That was with the stock spring and Marlin buffer. I'm lucky I never cracked my stock.

 

Camp 45 manual says - On page 1 - under "Before you use this Firearm" - third warning down: "Do not use +p+ ammo". I guess you can use +p ammo. I never found +p+ ammo and straight 45 ACP ammo always worked for me.

http://stevespages.com/pdf/marlin_45.pdf

 

I liked the concept of the Marlin .45 Camp Carbine, but we sure had a lot of problems with them when we used them as "long guns" in our police cars some years back. Stocks cracking & breaking, many malfunctions, etc. That was with a variety of different 230 gr FMJ ammo.

Will say though that they were light, handy, reasonably accurate little carbines offering some advantage over the .45 Colt 1911's we were carrying then - at least when it came to making good hits at 50 yards. I liked them then, despite the problems, and wish I had been able to buy one when the department sold them off.

FWIW, Guy

 

The 11 pound recoil spring was too light for the camp 9 and they also used it in the 45. That and the recoil buffer fell apart. The 16 or 21 pound spring solved the problem. The light recoil spring also put too much stress on the hammer strut and bridge causing them to bend or break.

 

Thanks for the responses. As I noted, I will fire off the rest of the Super 45 in small groups until there is none left. With the 21-lb recoil spring and buffer, it is safe...at least for sporadic use. Once it is gone I'll stick to +P rounds for SD, and FMJ for target/plinking. I'll also replace the buffer WELL before 5000 rounds, and the recoil spring for that matter.

I do want to shoot at 60-80m and see how the accuracy goes with the +P rounds vs. standard velocity.

 

Years ago when I could still see open sights well I shot 3 rounds stacked directly on top of one another with a camp .45 at 25 yards. I dug them out of the same hole in a piece of wood as one clump of metal. Those rifles are capable of good accuracy

 

Yeah, I'm 45 and my LASIK-corrected vision is going south. Just within the last year. Close up big time. I'll need reading glasses soon. Distance is fine, but the transition from distance to close and vice versa is MUCH slower. Oh well...

 

As my Father always told me "Getting old is not for the weak of heart". I use a red dot on my Camp rifles and AR's, scope on all my bolt guns. I keep Iron sight rifles for the youngsters when they want to go to the range. When they do well I let them try a scope.

 

That's my problem Batty. Lasik left me where I couldn't focus on all three planes very well. I'd do it agin though. It's great to get up in the morning and see without glasses or contacts.

 

Hey, I enjoyed 10 years of 20-20 with no issues from being legally blind. At my age, LASIK aside, the near vision begins to deteriorate so non of this is a surprise, bit it IS a bummer.

 

I tried the 21# spring in mine but didn't spend much time on loads for it. It didn't work great with hardball or much of anything I tried but I won't be trying 45 supers in it. I cracked the stock right away and am considering aftermarket simply for durability. Too bad because I kind of like the factory wood. I put back the factory spring (with Blackjack buffer) and had great reliability with hardball and stupendous accuracy with one of my reloads, 200gr Berry HP on 5ish of W231. It makes one big ragged hole at 30 yds about 3/4" And feeds very well. The trigger was really tripping me up but when I really concentrate it is remarkable. I found an old set of rings with integral bases from a 336 that fit (Millet?) and slapped on a Banner 1.5x-4x but haven't gotten a chance to test since. I'll let you know.

 

Thanks, I'm also going to pick up a 16# spring and give it a whirl.