Who Owns M1 Carbines?

[my-rifle]

I just bought my first M1 Carbine. I've avoided the American rifles, because of the over-inflated prices, but I decided that since I collect antique military rifles I really should get one. As with most of my latest rifles it's my favorite for now. Of course it's prohibitively expensive to shoot, but I'll try my hand at reloading the ammo, so it shouldn't be as bad as it could be.

The reason I bring this thread up is that I know these rifles are the latest trend, since the Garands are mostly gone, and people seem to be buying them up. Strangely though I don't see a lot of discussion about them, and only on surplusrifle.com do I see an actual forum for them.

 

[oldironsights]

The M1 carbines are easy & fun to shoot, fun to collect, easy to break down & clean, spare parts are still available, & the price of ammo is relative.
Have you compared the .30 carbine ammo by Armscorp or Aquila to other calibers?
These carbines are not intimidating to many shooters like the big Garand & are very easy to put on target, but where will you find a U.S. carbine M1 match?
I see pistol & rifle matches, but no carbine.
The .30 carbine is a great pistol round! I love the round in my AMT Automag & Ruger Blackhawk!

 

[jmw169]

I recently purchased a M1 underwood..Havent had to pleasure to shoot it yet. There is a Garand match at Honey island on Labor Day, and according to the web site you can shoot your M1 carbine at that match.. www.honeyisland.org

 

[LACamper]

You could always use it in a 3-gun match.

 

[dmiculek]

I own a couple. They are indeed neat and fun to shoot. If you are a reloader, they are economical to shoot as well. They also perform well with cast bullets.

Try www.jouster.com and culvers shooting pages. A ton of carbine info can be found there.

 

[phishyt]

Show me the damn thing REG!

THIS THREAD IS WORTHLESSWITHOUT PICS!

if i dont see the rifle you speak of - you do not own it!

 

[tgrshooter]

My dad has one, he payed $100 for it back in the 70s. It has a different, sporterized stock on it right now, but he wants to buy a military stock soon to put back on it. It's one of my fav to shoot, and definately his overall favorite. It's extremely light, very accurate with just the iron sights and recoil is not bad at all. You can buy wolf ammo for it really cheap, but my dad refuses to put wolf down his barrel

 

[dawg23]

if i dont see the rifle you speak of - you do not own it!

I don't have an IBM, a Standard Products and an Inland M-1 carbine.

I thought I did. But since I don't have any photos, I now realize that I was mistaken.

 

[my-rifle]

It's OK, I believe it was me at whom he aimed his barb, and I stand chagrined. Well, my Phishy friend you asked for it. It's not much of a carbine, but when I was buying it, my Century rep offered me a really good deal on a "cracked-stock" product. He warned me that the wood was probably in pretty bad shape - maybe even broken in half, but I've bought those "cracked-stock" rifles from him before, and none ever actually had a cracked stock.

​

You can see in these shots why Century sold it as a cracked-stock special. The import mark could be worse, and has been on other Century imports. I've been told that these were returns from Israel who no longer needs or wants them. I don't know how to gauge the muzzle, but a bullet dropped in the muzzle showed about 2mm of copper below the brass. I fired the little guy at the BZ already, and at 100 yards I was able to group at about 4" over iron sights. Not bad.

 

[dawg23]

I don't know how to gauge the muzzle, but a bullet dropped in the muzzle showed about 2mm of copper below the brass. I fired the little guy at the BZ already, and at 100 yards I was able to group at about 4" over iron sights. Not bad.

If you are getting 4" groups at 100 yards you have very little muzzle wear. Dropping a M1 Garand ball round in the muzzle is the shade-tree method. The gage below is slightly more accurate ..... measures wear to .0005"

Check out the link below to Fulton Armory .........click on "M-1 Carbine," and scroll down the page. Lots of parts and neat accessories, including:

Muzzle gauge for $35 - see attached image below
Replacement stocks for $50 - see attached image below

http://www.fulton-armory.com/



Here's the Shade-Tree Method (From CMP Forum)

Test the muzzle.
Get a USGI 30-06 M2 Ball round for a tool. Hold the carbine muzzle up and put the M2 round in point down. If the case mouth touches the barrel crown, it has been cleaned to death. You are usually out of luck although such worn muzzles often
provide acceptable accuracy. If the bullet ogive holds the case mouth up a 1/16" or so above the origin of the rifling at the bore/crown interface, there is a chance of a good shooter for several thousand rounds. If the bullet holds the case mouth 2/16" above the origin of the rifling at the bore/crown interface, there is half the barrel life left. If 3/16", 3/4 the barrel life. If it holds nearly a full 4/16", it is a near new barrel.

It is easiest to measure muzzles if you simply measure 1, 2, 3, and 4/16" from the case mouth and mark those spots with a fine tip magic marker. Then it is about like using a tire tread depth gauge plunger.

A Carbine round is useless for this test as the curve of the ogive is too pronounced or too quickly rounded. The bullet will enter the muzzle and the case mouth will often sit on the crown. The long taper of the M2 30-06 round provides a good test tool.

The reason to measure from the origin of the rifling is that the crown insets the origin of the rifling a variable depth from the end of the barrel/muzzle. The end of the barrel is not a square end. Some crowning cuts are deep, some crowning cuts are shallow.

By gauging to the origin of the rifling where the bore and crown meet, you have a consistent measurement.

If the muzzle end of the bore has been "counter-bored", it is more difficult to make accuracy predictions. If the Carbine is counter-bored, take it out and shoot it. USGI Carbines were to be counter-bored when rebuilt at USGI facilities. The purpose was to clean up any crown damage. Counter-boring is a normal condition in USGI Carbines. It is not a defect and was done to improve accuracy.

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[my-rifle]

Godd information Dawg, but damn! Now I have something else I HAVE TO buy. A $50 stock is a good deal, specially as I can keep the original, and since the new stock isn't original, I can clean out all the cosmoline and put a real tung oil finish on it. I have simply GOT to join the CMP and get access to those Garands and carbines in Alabama. This is killing me.

 

[Richard in LA]

I got an Inland Div. from the CMP last year, from the first batch. I got lucky and got a nice GI Walnut stock, and not one of the FAT marked birch stocks. You can barely see it in the picture, but about an inch in front of the mag pouch is the D.O.D. acceptance stamp on the stock.

 

[dzelenka]

I was at the CMP store last month and didn't see any that I considered worth the money.