Guns Illustrated 2011. Dan Shideler

      Rollmarks on the left receiver of the Mark 45.

      Oh, and one other thing: the Thompson’s lower receiver was made of steel, while the Mark III’s was made from plastic. Yes, plastic. Today’s marketing potato-heads would undoubtedly call it “high-impact polymerized ABS” or something, but it was plastic -- a highly specialized thermoform plastic called polybutylene terephthalate, marketed by General Electric under the trade name “Valox.” The Mark III wasn’t the first production rifle to have a receiver fashioned partially of plastic -- I believe that distinction belongs to Remington’s Nylon 66 .22 rifle of 1959 -- but you have to give credit to Volunteer Enterprises for having the chutzpah to tool up the mold. According to Michael Winthrop, the Mark III’s plastic receiver was molded in Italy, where it was cheaper to do so. (In another cost-cutting measure, the Mark III was designed to use Thompson stick magazines, unlike its predecessors that used Grease Gun mags. Volunteer Arms got a good deal on war surplus Thompson magazines from a European supplier -- so good a deal that it made sense to redesign the receiver to accept the less-expensive tommygun magazines.)

      The Mark III was superseded by the short-lived Mark IV, and I must confess that I’ve been unable so far to find out exactly what the differences were between the Mark III and Mark IV. The Mark IV in turn gave way to the Mark V, which is the same gun that we know today as the Mark 45 carbine. However, it seems that a company named Weath-erby already owned rights to the “Mark V” name, so Volunteer Enterprises quickly rechristened its latest carbine as the Mark 45. The company even ginned up a 9mm Parabellum version of the Mark 45 called the Mark Nine.

      It’s not known precisely how many Mark 45s were made under the Volunteer Enterprises name, but it is known that around 1978 (some sources say 1982) the company changed its name to Commando Arms. I remember seeing the Mark 45 in the gun magazines of the period, and although I was married with a small daughter, I wanted one just as I had wanted the earlier Eagle carbine.

      Thanks to my new friend John Torelli of Jersey Small Arms Gunsmithing of Millville, New Jersey (856-825-5766), I have been able to learn quite a bit about the Volunteer Enterprises/Commando Arms Mark 45 Carbine. As a promotional slick for the new gun explained, “This Mark 45 Carbine, originally designed for law enforcement use, is built to operate reliably in conditions in which other guns could fail. If not beautiful, it’s practical, inexpensive and it works.” Commando Arms further explained that the 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.