Mark 45 carbine was meant, not only for police, but for practically everybody who spent time outdoors: “For you four-wheelers, it’s good security in your vehicle’s gun rack. For farmers, guides and others in remote areas, the Mark 45 is often life insurance. For just plain plinking, it’s a blast.” Thus the Mark 45 carbine was one of the first centerfire rifles to be marketed as what we might call a Fun Gun, one whose primary application was just the good, clean fun of shooting.
Like the earlier Volunteers, the Mark 45 was loosely modeled after the Thompson, but any such resemblance was purely superfi cial. In addition to the fake Thompson-style compensator and squared receiver, the Mark 45 used what was apparently a reconditioned Thompson buttstock. Its pistol grip, however, was an oddly-proportioned, stubby affair only 2/3 as tall as the Thompson’s. The fi ns on the Mark 45’s barrel were a separately-machined shroud fitted over the barrel proper, and the bolt handle was situated on the left side of the receiver whereas the handles of the 1921/28 and M1/M1A1 Thompson were located on the top and right side, respectively. The 8-lb. Mark 45 also featured a loosely-fitted sliding crossbolt safety, quite unlike the Thompson’s swinging lever safety.
Commando Arms offered the Mark 45 with an incredible number of accessories that would make many of today’s manufacurers blush. For a retail price of around $150, you could get the basic Mark 45 carbine with a matte-blued or nickel-plated barrel and upper receiver and a 30-round stick magazine -- but that was just the beginning. You could also buy a vertical or horizontal foregrip and a sling swivel for the latter; a Weaver Quik-Point sight; a “heavy-gauge vinyl carrying case” or a fitted Packard Professional hard case; a web sling; and a variety of magazines. The magazines merit discussion.
Optional magazines for the Mark 45 included two half-length magazines of either five- or 15-round capacity; the standard 30-rounder; and a monstrous 90-round magazine that consisted of three staggered 30-round magazines spot-welded together! I can’t imagine how the carbine would balance with either the right or left side of the 90-round magazine inserted, but it must have been a handful. All of the stick mags were made from modifi ed mil-surplus Thompson magazines. The 30-round stick on my Mark 45, for example, is marked “S-W CO,” one of the more commonly-encountered Thompson mags.
The Mark 45’s front sight is integral with the faux compensator, which is pinned in place and therefore nonadjustable. The rear sight is a winged peep assembly allen-bolted to the receiver and adjustable for elevation only by bending it up and down. Such an arrangement hardly promotes match-grade accuracy, but let’s be serious.
Operation of the Mark 45 is as simple as it gets: simply insert a magazine, retract the bolt, release it, move the safety to the FIRE posiiton and blaze away. Counterintuitively, the FIRE position for the safety is all the way to the right; moving it to the left puts it on SAFE. This takes some getting used to for anyone who was brought up on Remington products, as I was.
From what I can tell by my own carbine, the quality of the Mark 45 wasn’t quite up to modern standards. The thin bluing is all right, I suppose, but the polymer receiver shows rather obvious mold flash marks. The trigger is an obscenity: a broad, stamped-metal blob with entirely too much play and over-travel. I’ve owned several capguns with better trigger pulls. The crossbolt safety is a loose fit in the lower receiver and its ends aren’t even polished, displaying obvious pits and toolmarks. Oh, well! What do you expect for $150 retail?
To take down the Mark 45 for cleaning or repair, make sure the bolt is fully forward and remove the two Phillips screws that hold the buttstock to the receiver. Pull the stock free. Remove the slotted screw on the underside of the receiver and pull apart the upper and lower halves of the receiver. Then carefully remove the allen screw that secures the rear sight; this allows you to remove the recoil spring plug and the spring. Now slide the bolt rearward, aligning it with the takedown recess in the upper receiver, and slide the bolt out the rear of the receiver.
Commando Arms was in business in Knoxville until the mid-1980s, when it finally fi zzled out and went gently into that good night. My Mark 45 bears a serial number in the 59,000 range, so Volunteer Enterprises/Commando Arms apparently made at least that many of them and probably a great many more. Commando Arms was succeeded by the short-lived Manchester Arms, an enterprise so obscure that most references don’t even list it. Manchester Arms Company was located in Lenoir City, Tennesse, about 25 miles southwest of Knoxville, and they continued to manufacture the Mark 45 for a brief time. The company also made a pistol variant of the carbine with a truncated barrel and no buttstock. It too accepted the 90-round magazine, and I’d pay good money to see someone fire one like that.
The Manchester Arms pistol seems to be as rare these days as the much earlier Apache Eagle carbine, which is to say pretty rare, and even the Volunteer Enterprises/Commando Arms Mark 45 carbines aren’t especially common. The value for one in Very Good or better condition is between $400 and $550 for the blued version, with the nickeled version bringing slightly more. This is downright cheap, though, compared to the earlier open-bolt Apache Eagle, which has skyrocketed in value. In October of 2008, for example, an Eagle Apache in Excellent condition sold for over $3,000 at an online gun auction.
Whether one is worth that kind of money is strictly up to you but speaking as a former kid, I find it awfully tempting.
A thing of beauty is a joy forever. Courtesy John Torelli of Jersey Small Arms Gunsmithing.
SEMI-AUTO PISTOLS BY JOHN MALLOY
The big news in the semiautomatic pistol world for 2011 is, of course, that the Colt/ Browning 1911 design has been in continuous — and growing — production for a full 100 years!
Few manufactured items of any kind are made continuously for a century. It is even rarer for a century-old item to be the leader in its fi eld. This position, however, has been achieved by the Colt/Browning 1911 pistol design.
As the 1911’s centennial approached, the venerable design gained, rather than lost, popularity. With the passing of the years, more and more companies added 1911s to their product lines. In the year 2010 alone, over half a dozen firms added their names to those offering a 1911. To celebrate the 100th anniversary, 1911 centennial commemoratives will be offered by a number of companies.
Not only has the original centerfire locked-breech 1911 design remained popular, but 22-caliber versions — blowback pistols styled after the 1911, and with many 1911 features — have been offered. Several new ones appear this year alone.
Even with the historical importance of the centennial, the news is not all 1911. The recent trend of very small 380-caliber pistols continues into this year. A number of new little .380s are added this year, offered by both major firms and smaller companies.
22-caliber pistols are always of interest, whether they look like 1911s or not. Several new .22 semiautomatic pistols appear this year. Also, more new conversion kits to allow larger-caliber pistols to handle .22 Long Rifle ammunition are being introduced. .22 pistols are regularly used for training, competition, hunting and recreational shooting.
Polymer-frame pistols remain strong sellers. Slowly gaining popularity over the years, polymers have become a mainstay in the world of autoloading pistols. A number of new polymer-frame guns, from a variety of companies, and in a variety of calibers, are being introduced.
Pistols varying greatly from traditional designs are being made, and the usefulness of carbines chambered for traditional autoloading pistol cartridges has been demonstrated. So, in this report, I’ll continue to cover unconventional pistols and pistol-caliber carbines. There are a lot of very interesting things going on in the world of semiautomatic pistols. Let’s take a look at what the companies are offering:
AKDAL
