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M1 Carbine...


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I buy few weapons but this one was too nice to pass up when it showed up on my doorstep yesterday!

 

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Well………lets hear more about this beauty………..pictures and such.

Oh, and have a Merry Christmas!

 

Chuck

 

Will do! Merry Christmas!

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Yes nice early five digit serial number with 7-42 barrel. I must say if you were to try putting that carbine back into it's original 1942 "factory configuration" you can plan on spending a lot of money. Early two position sight and narrow front band w/swivel will cost decent money. Early hammer and safety will be pricey as well. Not sure what bolt is in your carbine but an early correctly marked Inland bolt with the correct internals is another expensive part. Good chance there are internal trigger housing parts you will need to find as well. Finding the proper Inland "I" cut hi-wood stock will be a little harder and will again cost good money.

 

Even if you find these parts and want to spend the money, all you will have is a " restored" M1 carbine that is NOT factory original. That is a very nice carbine but it has not been in it's factory original state for a long time, probably sometime in the 1940's. I would keep it as is and enjoy it. It is however your property and you are free to do with it as you like.

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wartimecollectables.com

Yes nice early five digit serial number with 7-42 barrel. I must say if you were to try putting that carbine back into it's original 1942 "factory configuration" you can plan on spending a lot of money. Early two position sight and narrow front band w/swivel will cost decent money. Early hammer and safety will be pricey as well. Not sure what bolt is in your carbine but an early correctly marked Inland bolt with the correct internals is another expensive part. Good chance there are internal trigger housing parts you will need to find as well. Finding the proper Inland "I" cut hi-wood stock will be a little harder and will again cost good money.

 

Even if you find these parts and want to spend the money, all you will have is a " restored" M1 carbine that is NOT factory original. That is a very nice carbine but it has not been in it's factory original state for a long time, probably sometime in the 1940's. I would keep it as is and enjoy it. It is however your property and you are free to do with it as you like.

Agree completely, I know it's been like this for many years, likely as you noted since the 40's. I'm FAR from an expert on this (or any firearm) but from what I'm reading, many were delivered to the military with mixed parts as manufacturers scrambled to produce them.

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Is there a slot in the stock on the left side of the reciever/bolt area? if so its an M2 stock which isnt uncommon to find on rebuilds and reissues.

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wartimecollectables.com

Is there a slot in the stock on the left side of the reciever/bolt area? if so its an M2 stock which isnt uncommon to find on rebuilds and reissues.

 

Good call

 

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I've owned several post war rebuilds and even gave my two sons one each. Currently I own one that's a great shooter. I am of the option that they should not be "restored" as they will never original again. As a disclaimer I will state that I own a 100 percent original early Underwood so I do have a bias.

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I agree. Keep it as it came out of service. Putting it back in a "forced" configuration, may or may not be accurate anyway. As said, many of these came from the manufacture with mixed parts anyway. ALL the manufactures at that time were not competing as they all had their contracts to fullfill. All the different manufactures supported each other. I.E. if Winchester was low on trigger housings, Inland or any of the other manufactures would supply them so that they could get their guns to service, and visa versa, and they left any particular manufacture with their own parts, or other manufacture parts, whatever they had on hand. The guys that insist on the parts being pure to the manufacture I believe just do not understand that. ALL or most all the guns at some point went through arsenals at some point, many of them many times, and odds of them coming out with 100% pure parts was zero to none. These were not collector items, or ever thought to be collector items at that time. They were war machines, and they did what ever they had to do, and put whatever parts they had available in them to get them to the field for the war effort. I prefer them as they left service. Not "forced" in any particular configuration post war.

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I agree. Keep it as it came out of service. Putting it back in a "forced" configuration, may or may not be accurate anyway. As said, many of these came from the manufacture with mixed parts anyway. ALL the manufactures at that time were not competing as they all had their contracts to fullfill. All the different manufactures supported each other. I.E. if Winchester was low on trigger housings, Inland or any of the other manufactures would supply them so that they could get their guns to service, and visa versa, and they left any particular manufacture with their own parts, or other manufacture parts, whatever they had on hand. The guys that insist on the parts being pure to the manufacture I believe just do not understand that. ALL or most all the guns at some point went through arsenals at some point, many of them many times, and odds of them coming out with 100% pure parts was zero to none. These were not collector items, or ever thought to be collector items at that time. They were war machines, and they did what ever they had to do, and put whatever parts they had available in them to get them to the field for the war effort. I prefer them as they left service. Not "forced" in any particular configuration post war.

Agreed!

I definitely won't be altering the weapon, and have doubts about considering this a 'sporter' or postwar put together. But yes, it's gotta be factory spec does seem to be the prevailing opinion even though what you have added is true!

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Do keep that barrel band (non-bayo lug) if it is an authentic early one. The M1 carbine originally did not sport a bayo lug, because it was not intended to be a "combat" weapon. It was designed as a smaller, lighter weapon for non-combatants in lue of lugging around the heavy M1 Garand Battle rifle. It was only shortly after they started putting bayo lugs on the band. Most of the early ones got that later bayonet lugged band when they went through arsenals, so if that is authentic to the rifle, do keep that. I wouldn't consider yours a "Sporter".It doesn't look cut up at all. Only the paint on the front sight someone put on for visibility. That may, or may not have been done by a GI that carried it. I dont believe that does anything "wrong" to it. The only thing you need to be concerned with is if all the parts are USGI, and era correct (during war, not post war). Regardless of manufactures, just as long as they are all manufactures that supplied rifles and parts during the conflict. I think you have a nice rifle. I have a couple myself (Winchesters) and a couple Garands. Love them both.

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A nice early Inland as your carbine is, may be a candidate for restoration. Why? If the rear sight base is not badly dimple/staked and there is no T3 barrel band shadow then I would consider it a possible project. A close up picture from the top of the rear sight and a picture of the top of the barrel about the rear 2/3 of the length should reveal any shadow if present. At the time your carbine was built at Inland, only Winchester was also building them, so the possibility of another prime carbine manufacturer's parts being on your rifle as it was originally assembled, is I believe, zero.

A rebuild would be a long time project, but it would be fun. The search for the correct period parts can be expensive, but they are out there. Check the "CMP M1 Carbine " forum for parts.

If the carbine were mine and it had a nice rear sight base and no barrel band shadow, I would pursue a rebuild . Hope this helps

 

Chuck

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