I found one of these for sale locally in excellent shape with original mags decal box manual for $600. Out the door with tax it would be $646. Is this a good deal or shoud i just look at 9mm AR's. Any known issues with the Camp Carbine. I know +p was a nono but I think wolf makes a heavier spring to make it ok to use +p.

For the cost buy the new ruger pc9 carbine.

Green top here in richmond has gone through 3 or 4 marlin camp carbines in the last couple of months as people buy the ruger.

As far as i remember the marlin Camp carbine was bullet weight and velocity dependant. As well as not very forgiving of bullet type. IE some hollow points would not feed.

The ruger is far more versitile in that area and can be had for 100 bucks less.

If you can find a cheap one, and have a large stash of S&W 3rd Gen 9mm mags already, then picking up a Camp 9 might make sense.

But that's not really a good deal, and the Camp 9 isn't the best option for just a general 9mm carbine. For the same price of a bit more, you can have a newer, better, more customizable 9mm carbine, like the Ruger PC9 or a 9mm AR.

Note that the Camp 9 relies on an internal plastic buffer at the rear of the receiver to absorb the recoil force of the bolt during firing. These get brittle with age and break with use over time, and since most Camp 9s are relatively old, you can be pretty much guaranteed that the buffer is worn out and cracked. If you do end up buying that rifle, I highly suggest replacing the buffer before firing.

I was aware of the buffer issue. The shop did replace it before they put it on sale. The Ruger carbine in my opinion is very ugly. I have fired one just one mag. It was accurate. I guess I prefer wood and blued barrels / actions. I have one S&W 5906 mag. It comes with the Marlin flat mag and an extended mag mecgar I believe. I am also a Marlin fan, this impacts my thinking. Yes on the Marlin the bolt is heavy, steel receiver, spring to absorb the recoil... I am thinking I will pass. I wish the Ruger PC9 was more like a Mini 14 in style. A shame it is not.

While a Camp Carbine is cool, the price is a bit high, and with the abundance of good 9mm carbines on the market in that price range (or less than), I'd look elsewhere too. PC Carbine, Beretta CX4 9mm would be top of my list.

Tough call. The Marlin Camp Carbines are classic guns, with nice finish and a wood stock.

That said, $600 sounds a little high.

Picture below is of my 9mm AR carbine. Upper with BCG and charging handle cost me $400. RRA Colt conversion magazine block appears to list for about $100. Metalform Mags are roughly $30 each for the 32 round sticks. Since you pretty much need a dedicated lower for the block, as taking it in and out isn't really an option, you would be well over $600 for upper, block, lower, LPK, mags, etc.

However, you could set it up as a pistol with brace, or have multiple uppers of different lengths. More money, yes, but more versatile.

I have no experience with the new Ruger offering, but if you already have a 9mm Glock, you are covered on the magazine front.

Maybe offer them something somewhat less for it?

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:
If you can find a cheap one, and have a large stash of S&W 3rd Gen 9mm mags already, then picking up a Camp 9 might make sense.

But that's not really a good deal, and the Camp 9 isn't the best option for just a general 9mm carbine. For the same price of a bit more, you can have a newer, better, more customizable 9mm carbine, like the Ruger PC9 or a 9mm AR.

Note that the Camp 9 relies on an internal plastic buffer at the rear of the receiver to absorb the recoil force of the bolt during firing. These get brittle with age and break with use over time, and since most Camp 9s are relatively old, you can be pretty much guaranteed that the buffer is worn out and cracked. If you do end up buying that rifle, I highly suggest replacing the buffer before firing.

The Buffers are under $10. Someone makes a delron one that is better than the factory one, also under $10.

I've had my Marlin Camp 9 for over 10 years. I've never shot hollowpoints through it, but it has eaten any ammo I have ever put through it and I've put a few thousand rounds without a hiccup. Choate makes a pretty nice folding stock for it, but any other modifications are limited. The gun balances well and is extremely accurate at pistol distances (I've never tried further), but at 25 yards I can shoot 1 hole groups with ease for 5-10 rounds with iron sights and any Walmart FMJ ammo (UMC,WWB etc). I have several 20 or 25 round magazines I picked up off of the internet for it, they feed flawlessly. They're well balanced and a good looking gun.

I'd pay $600 for one, if it's one of the later ones with the checkered stock and red FO front site. A friend of mine sold his Camp .45 a few years back for $1050 on gun broker. I paid about $350 for mine but that was 10 years ago. I've seen them sell in the $600 range for clean ones as they're looked upon like older S+W revolvers. A lot of people just like them and they have some collectors value to them.


No doubt a Colt M4 9mm copy/variant is much more versatile and about the same money. You can buy a new Ruger for less, but they just look FUGLY to me.

$600 or so seems to be the going price for a Camp 9 these days. I bought mine in 1985, the first year they were out, for around $200 to $250 brand new. I can’t remember and the receipt is long gone. Tho it’s not a gun I’ve put thousands of rounds thru, it has never malfunctioned on me. I put in a heavier Wolf 16.5 lb recoil spring back in 2011 and replaced the disintegrated recoil buffer with a Blackjack buffer. The original ones were cheap. The Blackjack buffers are 10 times better than the OEM buffers. Since the rifle is local, look closely at the stock in back of the receiver. If the gun has been shot a lot with a disintegrated buffer, it could crack the stock. The Camp 9's are in demand and the price will probably only go up. It’s a wonderful little rifle. The Marlin Owners Forum has a section dedicated to the Camp 9 & .45 rifles. Tons of info over there.

The issue is not the cost of the buffer. The concern is that the previous owner might have fired thousands of rounds with the worn out buffer unaware that it was even an issue. The wood stock could be cracked.

You couldn't give me one. Well, you could, but I'd sell it to some rube for $600 and would get another AR-15.

Mine fed everything. Accurate to 50 yards? I had multitudes of S&W magazines for it - all was unicorns and harmony.

Then I decided to clean it.

Wait until you attempt to re-assemble it. As soon as I had done that (and it was the most unpleasant maintenance operation on any weapon system I was ever forced to perform) I moved it to sale. Of course, it went fast. There is no shortage of desirous buyers out there.

But that number dropped by one when I got rid of that POS.

Have all the mavens on here describe re-assembly. Better yet - have one of them SHOW you a video of them doing it. Alone, without a third hand.

quote:

Originally posted by Fundman:
The issue is not the cost of the buffer. The concern is that the previous owner might have fired thousands of rounds with the worn out buffer unaware that it was even an issue. The wood stock could be cracked.

If the gun was fired a lot with no buffer more than a box or two of ammo the stock would be cracked at the back of the receiver. You should also be able to tell by wear in the action. I think you’re really over thinking it.


I’ve never had issues putting mine back together after cleaning it.

These were hard to find for the past couple of years. Ever since the Ruger hit the market, people have started trading their old camp carbines in.

I own the Beretta Storm 9mm carbine, the new Ruger 9mm carbine, a Colt 9mm carbine, a Kel-Tec Sub 2000 that takes Sig P226 magazines, a PSA 9mm carbine pistol- I really like my 9mm carbines. If I found a nice camp carbine for a good price, I would add one to my collection.