Pittsburgh M! Carbine Gunsmith

**st.marys** · July 25th, 2009, 03:12 AM

I took my M1 Carbine paratrooper to Braverman Arms here in Pittsburgh today. I bought it from someone here, and the seller did tell me that it did not pass the go/no go gauge. The smith there also checked it and said the same thing. I asked if he could re-barrel it and he said he couldn't do it as he did not have the correct tooling etc. He suggested going online to find a M1 Carbine smith. I wondered if anyone here knows of someone in Pittsburgh that could do the replacement bbl and headspacing?

**Pa. Patriot** · July 25th, 2009, 11:18 AM

Which did it not pass? The GO or the NO-GO? Two different gauges.

GO is factory new (or re-barrel) minimum chamber. If it "fails" that gague the chamber is too small and needs reamed to minimum.

NO-GO is factory new (or rebarrel) max chamber dimension. The max size a new barrel chamber would be cut upon installation.

FIELD is *the* safety gauge. If the rifle fails FIELD gauge it should be considered unsafe to fire and re-barreled.

I ask these Q's because it sounds like there is some misunderstanding of how headspace is gauged. Your statement "fails go/no-go" doesn't really relate to any practical condition. I assume this is how you were told (go/no-go) so you are just repeating the statement. If that is the case I suspect you have been given some bad info. WHen I hear "fails go/no-go" I have to assume the rifle closed on a NOGO gauge. If a rifle closing on a NOGO gague is meaningless to the end user. Again, it is the armory gauge for maximum chamber size on a NEW barrel. FIELD is *the* safety gauge. So, for example, if the rifle closes on a NOGO but not on the FIELD you are fine. No need to change the barrel.

My advice is to find a smith with adequate knowledge of the above and the correct tools to first check the rifle and confirm or dispel that there is indeed a problem to begin with.

**st.marys** · July 28th, 2009, 01:33 PM

PaPatriot, thank you so much for the education. I have a feeling the guy at Bravermans didn't really know much about these rifles, and I have no idea what gauges he was using. He took it in the back, and when he came back he said it "failed the go/nogo" gauge. I have seen some specialty gunsmiths via Google that claim to specialize in garands and carbines, but who knows for sure. Anyone can hang a sign and put up a website. I heard that Ace near Pittsburgh might be able to help.

**Joe H** · July 30th, 2009, 08:58 AM

St Mary's,

Pa Patriot is dead on about the gages. Also, you should check headspace on the M1 Garand or M1 Carbine without the extractor in place. It's also a good idea to check without the springs.

Another option which I have used for an M1 Garand which should work for the Carbine is to grind a slot in the gage and insert it in the chamber in the proper orientation so that the extractor clears the gage. Then carefully close the bolt. If you let the spring close the bolt you will never get a good reading. As already noted you only need to check it with a "Field" gage. The bolt should not close on the Field gage.

Joe