Dave Markowitz
Member
Together with RON in PA (Dad) I went to the range today. I brought the Marlin Camp .45 that I picked up last week, my Underwood M1 Carbine, my Springfield M1911A1, and Ruger GP-100. Dad had a S&W Model 10-7 and his Taurus Tracker in .45 ACP.
Since this was my first time out with the Marlin, I started off by firing from the bench at a target 25 yards downrange. The target was a paper plate with an orange dot I stuck in the middle. After firing the first shot I turned to Dad and suggested that I might want to quit while I was ahead -- the bullet hit the exact center of the dot. My followup shots made about a 1.5" group centered around the first shot. The gun is pretty accurate and for shooting out to 50 yards I didn't have to adjust the sights.
I ran 150 rounds of Winchester White Box 230 grain FMJ through the Marlin using a variety of magazines, and had one failure to feed the last round in one of my Shooting Star mags. That same mag gave me a failure to go into battery with my Springfield, so there may be something not quite right with it. Other than that, the Marlin performed flawlessly. Recoil is mild but has a bit of a weird feel to it, due to the blowback action. I had put a 16 lb. Wolffe recoil spring in the gun before taking it out, which was a good this. The OEM recoil spring is rated for only 11 lbs. Even with the 16 lb. spring I could barely see the empties fly out of the gun when Dad shot it. From the factory, it was grossly undersprung, IMO. Wolffe's 21 lb. spring might even be a good idea.
After today's experience with the Marlin Camp .45, I definitely plan to put a red dot sight on it. The gun is accurate and reliable, but the shooting experience is marred by the crummy factory sights. I'll leave them as a backup but a red dot is the way to get the most out of this gun, IMO.
I have two Chip McMormick Corp. 10 round Power Mags on order for the Marlin. Hopefully, they'll be as reliable as my existing CMC Shooting Stars.
I put only 50 rounds through the Springfield, since I had earmarked most of my .45 ACP for the Marlin, it being the new toy. It gave me one failure to fully go into battery, with the same mag that caused the failure to feed in the Marlin. As before, the Springer is a real joy to shoot -- accurate, powerful, and reliable.
Next up was my M1 Carbine. All told I put 145 rounds through it without a hitch. The first 25 were commercial Winchester 110 grain FMJs of late '90s vintage, while the remainder were milsurp RA52 (Remington) Ball, which came from Ammoman packed on stripper clips in bandoleers, inside of a sealed "spam" can. Although 52 years old, the Remington ammo looked as good as the day it left the factory and worked great. All rounds were fired through two aftermarket 15 round mags that Paul Nixon sent to me after finding that they didn't work in his Carbine. Well, my gun likes 'em so Paul, the check is in the mail.
I wrapped up with about 50 rounds of .38 Special through my GP-100. I still need to putz around with the rear sight and a file, since it shoots to the right for me. I didn't feel like fixing it today.
Dad's Model 10-7 is new to him. He run some UMC (blechh) 158 grain LRNs loads through it and found that it shot a bit low at ~10 yards. His handloads shot right about POA. As usual, he was making nice tiny groups with his Taurus.
Aside from our own guns we got the chance to shoot something different -- a Group Industries Uzi fitted with the fixed wood stock. Although our range doesn't allow full auto, shooting it even on semiauto was neat. The recoil of an 8 lb gun chambered for 9mmP is next to non-existent. What you do notice, though, it the bolt going forward when you pull the trigger, since it fires from an open bolt. It's quite different from shooting a closed-bolt gun.
Since this was my first time out with the Marlin, I started off by firing from the bench at a target 25 yards downrange. The target was a paper plate with an orange dot I stuck in the middle. After firing the first shot I turned to Dad and suggested that I might want to quit while I was ahead -- the bullet hit the exact center of the dot. My followup shots made about a 1.5" group centered around the first shot. The gun is pretty accurate and for shooting out to 50 yards I didn't have to adjust the sights.
I ran 150 rounds of Winchester White Box 230 grain FMJ through the Marlin using a variety of magazines, and had one failure to feed the last round in one of my Shooting Star mags. That same mag gave me a failure to go into battery with my Springfield, so there may be something not quite right with it. Other than that, the Marlin performed flawlessly. Recoil is mild but has a bit of a weird feel to it, due to the blowback action. I had put a 16 lb. Wolffe recoil spring in the gun before taking it out, which was a good this. The OEM recoil spring is rated for only 11 lbs. Even with the 16 lb. spring I could barely see the empties fly out of the gun when Dad shot it. From the factory, it was grossly undersprung, IMO. Wolffe's 21 lb. spring might even be a good idea.
After today's experience with the Marlin Camp .45, I definitely plan to put a red dot sight on it. The gun is accurate and reliable, but the shooting experience is marred by the crummy factory sights. I'll leave them as a backup but a red dot is the way to get the most out of this gun, IMO.
I have two Chip McMormick Corp. 10 round Power Mags on order for the Marlin. Hopefully, they'll be as reliable as my existing CMC Shooting Stars.
I put only 50 rounds through the Springfield, since I had earmarked most of my .45 ACP for the Marlin, it being the new toy. It gave me one failure to fully go into battery, with the same mag that caused the failure to feed in the Marlin. As before, the Springer is a real joy to shoot -- accurate, powerful, and reliable.
Next up was my M1 Carbine. All told I put 145 rounds through it without a hitch. The first 25 were commercial Winchester 110 grain FMJs of late '90s vintage, while the remainder were milsurp RA52 (Remington) Ball, which came from Ammoman packed on stripper clips in bandoleers, inside of a sealed "spam" can. Although 52 years old, the Remington ammo looked as good as the day it left the factory and worked great. All rounds were fired through two aftermarket 15 round mags that Paul Nixon sent to me after finding that they didn't work in his Carbine. Well, my gun likes 'em so Paul, the check is in the mail.
I wrapped up with about 50 rounds of .38 Special through my GP-100. I still need to putz around with the rear sight and a file, since it shoots to the right for me. I didn't feel like fixing it today.
Dad's Model 10-7 is new to him. He run some UMC (blechh) 158 grain LRNs loads through it and found that it shot a bit low at ~10 yards. His handloads shot right about POA. As usual, he was making nice tiny groups with his Taurus.
Aside from our own guns we got the chance to shoot something different -- a Group Industries Uzi fitted with the fixed wood stock. Although our range doesn't allow full auto, shooting it even on semiauto was neat. The recoil of an 8 lb gun chambered for 9mmP is next to non-existent. What you do notice, though, it the bolt going forward when you pull the trigger, since it fires from an open bolt. It's quite different from shooting a closed-bolt gun.
