M1 Carbine

[DerpSchnitzel]

Buy it.
If you don't, you're sure to regret it.

I certainly plan to do so, but I'm a bit skeptical because of the price, and I'm not totally sure what's prone to breaking/needing replacement on them. I'm not buying it to just hang it on the wall, I wanna make sure it shoots well too.

[DerpSchnitzel]

Look for the manufacturer name behind/under the rear sight, or on the receiver ring in front of the bolt and just behind the handguard. USGI Carbines were ALWAYS mfr-marked behind/under the rear sight.

The manufacturers of USGI M1 Carbines include:

Inland Div. of General Motors (made a variety of auto parts including stampings, die castings, and turned/machined parts, captive for GM)
Saginaw Steering Gear Div of General Motors (made the steering gearboxes and other suspension parts for GM)
Saginaw-IP Div of General Motors (Saginaw took over after Irwin Pedersen could not perform)
Irwin Pedersen of Grand Rapids, MI (a furniture manufacturer who failed to perform, was taken over by Saginaw Steering Gear Div)
IBM (International Business Machines)
Rock-Ola (jukebox mfr)
National Postal Meter (later Commercial Controls Corp, of which only just over 200 were made so marked)
Underwood-Elliot-Fisher (a typewriter manufacturer)
Standard Products Corp (mfr of auto parts)
Winchester


The manufacturers of commercial copies of the US M1 Carbine include:

* Alpine of Azusa, Calif.
* AMAC or Jacksonville, Ark. (acquired Iver Johnson Arms)
* AMPCO of Miami, Fla.
* Bullseye Gun Works of Miami, Fla.
* Federal Ordnance of South El Monte, Calif.
* Global Arms
* H&S of Plainfield, NJ (predecessor of Plainfield Machine)
* Howa of Nagoya, Japan, made carbines and parts for the post-WWII Japanese and Thai militaries, and limited numbers of a hunting rifle version
* Israel Arms International (IAI) of Houston, Texas assembled carbines from parts from other sources
* The Iver Johnson Arms of Plainfield, NJ and later Jacksonville, Ark., (acquired M1 Carbine operations of Plainfield Machine) and followed the lead of Universal in producing a pistol version called the "Enforcer".
* Johnston-Tucker of St. Louis, Mo.
* Millvile Ordnance (MOCO) of Union, N.J. (predecessor of H&S)
* National Ordnance of Azusa, Calif. and later South El Monte, Calif.
* NATO of Atlanta, GA
* Plainfield Machine Company of Plainfield, N.J. and later Middlesex, N.J. (P.O. Box in Dunellen, N.J.), M1 Carbine manufacture later purchased and operated by Iver Johnson
* Rock Island Armory of Geneseo, Ill.
* Rowen, Becker Company of Waterville, Ohio
* Springfield Armory of Geneseo, Ill.
* Texas Armament Co. of Brownwood, Tex.
* Universal Firearms of Hialeah, Fla. - Early Universal guns were, like other manufacturers, assembled from USGI parts. However, beginning in 1968, the company began producing the "New Carbine", which externally resembled the M1 but was in fact a completely new firearm internally, using a different receiver, bolt carrier, bolt, recoil spring assembly, etc. with almost no interchangeability with GI-issue carbines.
Acquired by Iver Johnson in 1983 and moved to Jacksonville, Ark. in 1985.
* Inland Manufacturing (a recent startup company making expensive copies of the original).


If the Carbine in the OP is of USGI manufacture, it could be worth from $700 to $1500+. If the barrel is import stamped something like "Blue Sky, Arlington, VA" it's a USGI that was reimported commercially and marked as required by the BATFE. These tend to be lower in value than non-import M1 Carbines.

If the Carbine in the OP is a commercial copy, its market value is ~$350 to $500. Many don't function well, except for the early Universal and Plainfield guns, the Rock Island / Springfield Armory Inc copies, the IAI guns, some Iver Johnson guns (no all, some were problematic) , the Auto Ordnance copies, and the recent Inland Manufacturing commercial copies. Most of the rest are sketchy.

The comment about the gas piston needing cleaning suggests to me that there might be a functional cycling problem. All USGI and commercial Carbine ammo was non-corrosively primed, from day one. However, there was some corrosively-primed Carbine ammo imported from Korea in the late 1990s/early 2000s that is still seen on the market. THAT will corrode a barrel and gas cylinder/piston. The ammo is packed in small rectangular manila folder colored boxes of 50, and will have both English and Korean lettering. The ammo cans also have English and Korean lettering. Stay far away.

Beware cheaply-made copies of M1 Carbine 15rd and 30rd magazines; they tend to be problematic. Stick with 15rd USGI mags, and clean them will if bought used.

HTH,

Noah

Thank you. This wall of text is exactly what I was looking for.

I spoke to him some more. He said it shoots fine for the most part, but the springs are like 70 years old, and I guess he never got a hold of the gas piston nut wrench to clean it properly.

Based on what he's saying, I'm led to believe it's not a reproduction model.

[Ronin]

Thank you. This wall of text is exactly what I was looking for.

I spoke to him some more. He said it shoots fine for the most part, but the springs are like 70 years old, and I guess he never got a hold of the gas piston nut wrench to clean it properly.

Based on what he's saying, I'm led to believe it's not a reproduction model.

If you don't want to buy it, I'd be happy to help your buddy out.

[RockIsland]

[DerpSchnitzel]

I still haven't seen it, but we talked some more. Hopefully Friday or Saturday we'll meet at the local range to take a look and shoot it. As far as he knows it's not a repro, but he's not totally sure on the manufacturer. He has a few mags and some ammo to go with it.

It's only a matter of time, gentlemen. That M1 Carbine will be mine.

[heatheroo]

I’ve got a 1944 IBM. Fun gun to shoot.

[W2MC]

Thank you. This wall of text is exactly what I was looking for.

I spoke to him some more. He said it shoots fine for the most part, but the springs are like 70 years old, and I guess he never got a hold of the gas piston nut wrench to clean it properly.

Based on what he's saying, I'm led to believe it's not a reproduction model.

I've got a gas piston wrench (around here '''somewhere''') if you need it.........

[DerpSchnitzel]

I've got a gas piston wrench (around here '''somewhere''') if you need it.........

I appreciate that, but I see Sarco and a few other sites have them, and I'm gonna need a spring kit and probably a sling, oiler, and mag pouch anyway. I think I'm good.

[Noah_Zark]

USGI gas piston nuts have three lugs, and some commercial gas piston nuts have two. The wrenches are not interchangeable, but the two-lug wrenches are a tough find nowadays. If the Carbine indeed turns out to be USGI, just be sure the gas piston nut wrench is three-lug.

Springs are available from Wolff: https://www.gunsprings.com/index.cfm...s&cID=2&mID=98

Noah

[Steeltrap]

It's been several years since I bot my M-1 and it's a sort of sad story.

A guy at my gun club (good guy) put his up for sale. IIRC I think at that time I paid him $700 for it. So, I bot dies, powder 'n bullets and loaded mild loads for the old carbine.

Well...after about 500-700 rounds the rifle began to give me problems. I can't recall now if it was FTF or just misfiring so I disassembled it to attempt to determine the problem. After much looking I found that the receiver metal on the lower left side of the bolt race's had "peened" to the point where the bolt would not lock up properly. The "fix" was to have the receiver welded in that spot.....a task that many warn not to do.

So, after much consideration I went to an M-1 web site that is all about the M-1, and parted out the carbine. I got back my $700 in selling the parts...but what a PITA to do all that packaging and shipping.

I was ask by a few of those individuals on that site if I would sell them the receiver. I declined as my fear was someone would "fix" it via welding and then do a build and sell it to an unsuspecting buyer.

I still have the receiver......somewhere in my workshop.

Now, I'm not saying every M-1 is going to break, but be aware that these guns are old. Very old. Battle tested for sure.....but old is old. If I were to buy another M-1 I'd look to the new Inland factory builds. (I think it's Inland). I bot the M-1 for range plinking and having fun. But it was sad that I had to part it out. But I really felt I had no other choices.

FWIW