Anyone knowledgable about M1 Carbines?

[Jimbo]

I have a M1 Carbine that I have been trying to do a little research on and an expert opinion would be helpful. Thanks.

[dee]

Not much to them, what ya got?

[Jimbo]

Not much to them, what ya got?

I was having a confusing time looking up the serial number. It has a National Postal Meter stamp on the receiver with the serial number 5260783, the bolt is the "flat top" style, the trigger group is stamped with "Inland", the barrel is a Marlin with a P stamp and no import mark, the front site is marked "SW", the recoil plate is "w", the replacement springfield stock is stamped with SA on the inner side.

From what I can tell National postal meter records show them building these from 1942-1944 with their serial number's ending at 4,432,099 in June, 1944. My serial number shows up under Inland, but the receiver is a NPM style, as well as the stamp, with no "line out". Anyway, here are a couple pics.

http://m1family.com/topic465.html

M1 Carbine Production:

Inland Manufacturing Division, G.M.C............. 2,632,097 |43.0%
Winchester Repeating Arms Co.................... 828,059 .. |13.5%
Underwood-Elliot-Fisher Co......................... 545,616 .. | 8.9%
* Saginaw Steering Gear Div., G.M.C............. 517,212 .. |8.5%
** National Postal Meter Co......................... 413,017 .. | 6.8%
*** Quality Hardware & Machine Co................ 359,666 .. | 5.9%
International Business Machines Corp (IBM)...... 346,500 .. | 5.7%
Standard Products Co................................ 247,160 .. | 4.0%
Rock-Ola Co........................................... 228,500 .. | 3.7%
———
Total: 6,221,220

-Inland ..................................| 1 - 5
-Winchester ...........................| 6 - 10
-Inland ..................................| 11 - 999,999
-Winchester ...........................| 1,000,000 - 1,349,999
-Underwood ...........................| 1,350,000 - 1,449,999
-National Postal Meter ..............| 1,450,000 - 1,549,999
-Quality Hardware ...................| 1,550,000 - 1,662,519
-Rock-Ola ..............................| 1,662,520 - 1,762,519
-Irwin Pedersen-Saginaw Gear ...| 1,762,520 - 1,875,039
-Quality Hardware ...................| 1,875,040 - 1,937,519
-National Postal Meter ..............| 1,937,520 - 1,982,519
-Standard Products .................| 1,982,520 - 2,352,519
-Underwood ...........................| 2,352,520 - 2,912,519
-Inland ..................................| 2,912,520 - 3,212,519
-Irwin Pedersen-Saginaw Gear .. | 3,212,520 - 3,250,019
-Saginaw .............................. | 3,250,520 - 3,651,519
-International Business Machines | 3,651,520 - 4,009,999
-Underwood ............................| 4,010,000 - 4,074,999
-Winchester ...........................| 4,075,000 - 4,075,009
-National Postal Meter ..............| 4,075,010 - 4,432,099
-Quality Hardware ...................| 4,432,100 - 4,532,099
-Rock-Ola ..............................| 4,532,100 - 4,632,099
-Quality Hardware ...................| 4,632,100 - 4,879,525
-Inland ..................................| 4,879,526 - 5,549,921
-Winchester ...........................| 5,549,922 - 5,834,618
-Saginaw ...............................| 5,834,619 - 6,071,188
-Rock-Ola ..............................| 6,071,189 - 6,099,688
-Underwood ............................| 6,099,689 - 6,199,688
-Rock-Ola ..............................| 6,199,689 - 6,219,688
-Inland ..................................| 6,219,689 - 6,449,867
-Winchester ............................| 6,449,868 - 6,629,883
-Inland ..................................| 6,629,884 - 7,234,883
-Winchester ............................| 7,234,884 - 7,369,660
-Inland ..................................| 7,369,661 - 8,069,660

[soap]

those rifles are junk, i'll take it off ur hands for a few bucks...













JK, i would cut off my own dick, and through it on top of an ant hill... for an M1

[Jimbo]

Ha, I fell in love with this thing as a kid, my Dad never understood my fascination. It was just an old small round surplus rifle to him when he bought it many decades ago.

[Stephen]

I think they look cool and all but what makes a m1 better than another rifle?

My buddy has about 15 of those things and a cool corner cabinet that holds 12 and each one is from a diff country

[soap]

i like em. the only thing i like more is an M1 grand . or a new springfield M1 socom II

i just like the cool factor about any M1,

[helosailor]

Looks like a typical arsenal rebuild. The government took parts off of damaged or otherwise unusable rifles and made complete rifle out of them. Sometimes, the parts are worth more than the complete rifle.
I used to have one that my Dad had bought. It had a Rock-ola barrel and bolt, but the rest was nothing special. I ended up selling it for $700 and I regret it a lot.

[DieselSmoke]

I have and all original matching Inland that was willed to me.

[GSXRK5]

My step dad has one that he inherited from his dad. I don't know much about em or shot one for that matter. It looks pretty old.

[Jimbo]

Looks like a typical arsenal rebuild. The government took parts off of damaged or otherwise unusable rifles and made complete rifle out of them. Sometimes, the parts are worth more than the complete rifle.
I used to have one that my Dad had bought. It had a Rock-ola barrel and bolt, but the rest was nothing special. I ended up selling it for $700 and I regret it a lot.

Most of them are mixmasters. The Marlin barrel is correct for the NPM receiver however as NPM did not manufacture any receivers.
Still doesn't explain the serial number though.

[dee]

May or may not be an arsenal rebuild since National Postal didn't make all their parts but used everyone's. The big puzzling aspect is the serial number being higher than what it should be.

[Jimbo]

I have and all original matching Inland that was willed to me.

From what I have heard, most "matching" rifles were purpose made after the fact.
Even Inland used parts from the other factories, not to mention rebuilds/repairs while still in service.

-All matching vs how it left the factory:

****** There is a difference between an all matching carbine and how it left the factory, a lot of M1 Carbine contractors shipped parts to other Contractors. Just because its all matching doesn't necessary mean that is how it left the factory. So don't get super disappointing if your Carbine is not all matching, its possible its exactly how it was when it left the factory!!! An example say Underwood was low on sears, Inland would ship some Sears to them. Sometimes marked or unmarked. Here is some known shipments to Inland, how ever there could be more shipments that occurred that are unknown but this is a good reference. (most parts were shipped together in groups, magazine catches with sears, etc)

(Organized by year. 1942 - 1944)

-Underwood shipped approximately 16,000 Firing pins to Inland in 1942.
-Winchester shipped approximately 1,200 firing pins to Inland in 1942.
-Rock-Ola Shipped approximately 10,000 sears to Inland in 1943.
-Underwood shipped approximately 4,000 Rear (Flip sights) to Inland in 1943.
-Winchester shipped approximately 4,000 hammers to Inland in 1943.
-National Postal Meter shipped approximately 25,000 Rear (Flip sights) to Inland in 1944.
-National Postal Meter shipped approximately 1,000 Rear Sight Leafs to Inland in 1944.

Example: You have an all matching Inland except hammer that's marked "W" for Winchester, there is a good chance it left the factory just like that!!!

[Jimbo]

May or may not be an arsenal rebuild since National Postal didn't make all their parts but used everyone's. The big puzzling aspect is the serial number being higher than what it should be.

Yeah, I believe NPM only made four parts. While Marlin never made an M1, they did supply barrels to factories that did not make their own. I was told NPM received the last shipment from Marlin in March 1944.

-Primary stock & hand guard supplier: Trimble Nursery and Furniture Co.

-Barrel suppliers: Rock-Ola, I.B.M, Underwood, Buffalo Arms, Marlin and Winchester.

-Parts made directly by National Postal Meter: Bolts, Receivers, Trigger housings and slides (These parts will have revision numbers stamped on them, Example: N - 14)

-Winchester shipped approximately 500 recoil plates to NPM in 1942.
-Inland shipped approximately 7,000 slides to NPM in 1943.
-Inland shipped approximately 1,000 magazines to NPM in 1943.
-Inland shipped approximately 5,000 rear flip sights to NPM in 1943.
-Inland shipped approximately 500 butt plates to NPM in 1943.
-I.B.M shipped approximately 4,000 hammers to NPM in 1943.
-Irwin-Pederson shipped approximately 500 firing pins to NPM in 1943.
-Rock-Ola shipped approximately 5,000 recoil plates to NPM in 1943.
-Underwood shipped approximately 6,000 rear flip sights to NPM in 1943.
-Underwood shipped approximately 300 bolts to NPM in 1943.
-Underwood shipped approximately 500 hammers to NPM in 1943.
-Underwood shipped approximately 500 bolts to NPM in 1943.
-Underwood shipped approximately 5,000 sears to NPM in 1943.
-Underwood shipped approximately 1,500 receivers to NPM in 1943.

[Jimbo]

May or may not be an arsenal rebuild since National Postal didn't make all their parts but used everyone's. The big puzzling aspect is the serial number being higher than what it should be.

Yes, honestly, the rear sight hasn't been off this gun in thirty years that I know of and I half suspected a "line out" to be under there. Even though there was no record of a inland shipment to NPM and Inland receivers are slightly different.