I have AK's and AR's but for some reason I have this desire to have a couple of M1 Carbines. I've always had a fondness for those little rifles, just handy with lots of firepower. I even believe if given the choice or option of which rifle to carry during WWII or Korea I would have willfully chose that little carbine over everything else.

I feel that as most combat occurs well within 100 yards, it is more than capable of engaging and disabling targets within that range, with 15 or 30 round magazines that's some impressive firepower. I understand it doesn't have the power of the M1 Garand or BAR, but I just don't feel that you need that much power for a combat weapon, they were using sub-machine guns for instance. I get that sub-machines fill a particular role, but for combat where the ranges can be from point blank to a couple of hundred yards, I'd rather have the range than the high fire rate.

But considering any decent carbines these days are fetching premium prices, I don't see any carbines in my immediate future.

I was fortunate enough to grab a couple from CMP. They truly are fantastic little guns.

You can find import marked guns for 7-800.

....."Most combat occurs well within 100yards"...........It does?..are you sure about that?..

I understand the nostalgia of the weapon and I think it would be a handy little ranch rifle..but for a modern day battle carry rifle..No

I could see it would make a fun play gun.

I had one and whenever I shot it , I kept thinking the M4 is better in all regards
Traded it for a Jap Katana

Do tell, links?

I got mine off the EE here, you just have to check often and jump when it comes along.

I wish I would have bought a truckload when they were $75 back in the eighties

For a civilian? I'd say he's more than accurate. If you're in a gunfight with someone at greater than 100yds you should probably vacate the area.

Considering that the M4 has had the advantage of 75 years of evolution since the M1 carbine became our first widely issued box magazine fed service rifle, I would hope so.

Gotta search. Gun shows and GB.

Well, I have not been in combat...but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express and.....I did save a lot of money by switching to GEICO!

I know, corny, my 7 yo grandson and I are the only males in our household, well aside from the cat, but he don't count, which means the rest of the family are females, which means they can't handle big guns and really don't care for the AR's or AK's (except for my younger daughter, she loves the AK and wants me to give it to her), but an M1 Carbine? That would suit them perfectly.

I've been down the battle rifle road and did a U-turn, AK's and AR's in 6.8 are much better suited for we non-military units. They are all lefties too, I hope carbines are lefty friendly. But for casual fun, plinking, paper blasting and defense I think they'd make a perfect long-arm for them. There is the SKS, yes, ammo compatibility also, but they are bigger overall than the carbine which would be defeating the purpose and they also load from the top which is neither here nor there with proper training.

I want to steer clear of the current production M1's from Thompson or Springfield Armory, I'd like a military grade that still has some good life in it, which makes should I look for and/or stay away from? I don't need matching serial numbers or premier grade, service grade will do.

I overpaid for a Standard Products M1 a couple of years ago. No worries, as I like it and it shoots great. They are very fun weapons. Keep yer eyes on gunjoker.

Everybody who shoots my carbine likes my carbine.

Matching numbers isn't really a thing.  It's a very complex deal when it comes to what goes with what.  Contractors, subcontractors and different "types" which evolved with times.  Anyways....   All the parts were made to interchange anyways....  You might know all that.  

I could talk about Carbines for hours because I like them a lot.  And I intended to make them my go to Home Defense /  SHTF guns.  I'll try to give you my take on them in a short form, just because I like talking about them.  

I have 2 right now.  A standard products with an underwood barrel and an inland with an IBM barrel.    When I first got them I replaces all the springs and cleaned them, broke them down, etc etc.  The one slip up I had was I bought op slide springs from Fulton and in the end I found out they were short.  Mine never ran good until after realizing I should've measured the springs.   I assumed since I got them new from Fulton they would be GTG, but I was wrong.  So now that I've replaced them a few years ago, they seem to be running like tops.  Well actually I've only tried the one.  

I've shot mine all the way out to 300 and could hit silhouettes.  But at that distance I was aiming pretty far off the target for some reason.  It might've been the wind.  Mine I found to be 4-6 MOA at 100 yards.  Which seems good enough to me for minute of man shooting.  

Maybe I'll do a pros - cons thing:

Pros:
Super light and handy
Easy to shoot
plenty powerful for serous work, despite what some say, at least from what I've gathered
longer sight radius than a M4, better for older eyes
looks great
good capacity
supposedly very reliable (although it wasn't the case for me with the op slide thing)

Cons:
After I replaced all the springs and extractors.  We started shooting them and I broke an extractor, and an ejector.  I felt like for a while I was rebuilding bolts quite a bit, early on.  And then the stupid bolt tool broke on me since I was using it so much.  
For some reason the stock feels awkward to me.  The length of the pistol grip to the trigger is a bit longer than most any other traditional stock I have.  Garands and M1A's have a shorter reach.  It makes it a bit awkward for me.
30 rounders are hit and miss.  I have one that I thought as supposed to be a Korean one (which are the good ones) that will start flinging unfired rounds into the air when there's about 7 left in the mag.
Good mags in general might be hard to find, although maybe with all these newer manufactured ones, there are good mags on the market now.  I don't really know.  
Ejection can be problematic.  Brass to the top of the head at times.  

Anyways....  one thing that is really neat about them now is my son has really taken to them.  A guy let him shoot one at the range once and he really liked it, so I dug mine out and started to let him shoot it.  It's a natural progression because he shot the 10/22 like it was going out of style too.   So now at least he's got an HD gun.  I gotta get some more ammo for it, and try some SD ammo in it and make sure it functions.  

I wish my M4gery was as light and handy, but I'm with the others.  I just trust an AR more.  

Nice! Thanks for the write up. It's hard to believe that so many were made yet seem as scarce as hen's teeth and expensive. I too should've bought them when they were under $100 way back when.

I'm not really interested in the 30-round magazines, I'll stick with the 15-rounders, I imagine they're more reliable, readily available and cheaper?

I only bought one 14 years ago for $100 because why not.
First time i pulled the trigger fell in love. It is so much fun to shoot.
Everyone should own one.

A classic. No gun safe should be without one. I have two original Inlands, an IBM and a Bluesky imported Underwood. As mentioned they are one of the funnest rifles to shoot ever made. I'd say pay upfront for original WW2, but I've also heard good things about the new production Inland and Kahr rifles.
It's my understanding there was no such thing as a "matching numbers" M1 carbine, and you should stay away form any you find as it is NOT going to be original...or don't at least pay a premium for it. As said before, the wartime MFR's just made this part or that part, and sent them all off to be grab-bag assembled elsewhere. If you want a WW2 original, and don't want to wait for a screaming deal, the CMP auctions usually go ~$1100-1300. Which seems like a lot (especially when I bought that Bluesky in great shape for $225 years ago), but they don't do anything but appreciate, and the $1200 spent today will likely by $1500 in a few years. Or $2500. Some are already PAYING those prices for good rifles. Just saying if you can afford it, the CMP is a great place to get ORIGINAL, unmolested carbines in whatever configuration or maker you like.
Now you got me thinking I better go buy a couple more.

All USGI models are basically equal. In the last year I picked up a Standard Products at Cabelas for $675 and a National Postal Meter at the Tulsa show for $750. Both are import marked but otherwise very nice. I'll post some pics

The iwi/auto ord were bad only because the chamber was tight.

Springfield only made recievers. No collector value. I bought one for $300 changed the shot out barrel and runs like a champ. I also have an old inland which I mentioned above. I like both and both run great.

The word on the street USED to be that just buy USGI 15 rounders, or 30 round Korean.  I imagine things might have changed but it's a good baseline.  Kind of like AR's.  Used to be just use USGI, now we got magpul, lancer, etc etc.

Sort of.  Ones that have early type equipment go for far more than arsenal rebuild.  An unmolested WWII Carbine will have a round bolt, Rear Flip sight, no bayo lug, a push button safety and a high wood stock.  When you see ones that still have that stuff on it, they can go for double of what a typical USGI carbine goes for.  Maybe more.  Now the thing you have to watch out for are guys putting reproduction early equipment, calling it USGI and selling for those higher prices.   Just something to watch out for.   Or even if someone claims it's all USGI and have put repro parts on it and still wants good money.  I've seen USGI rear flip sights go for 250 bucks, all by itself.  Years ago.  The genuine USGI WWII stuff carries a lot of value.  

If you're talking just a run of the mill arsenal rebuild.  You probably mostly are correct.  But there are some receivers (well the whole rifle with that particular receiver) that might carry a bit more value than others.  Rock Ola and Winchester I think typically do.  Especially the Rock Ola.  Because they were one of the lower number contractors and I guess since they made juke boxes, some find that desirable.  Or something like that.  This is how I understand it.

So if I were to go the "new" production route, which would be the best quality for the money? There's Fulton Armory, James River Armory (Rockola), new Inland Mfg., Auto-Ordnance and probably a couple more I'm missing. I've heard lots of good things about Fulton Armory, but your going to pay for it.

That, I don't know.  There's a guy named Cold Blue around here somewhere and I think he knows.  I was tempted to go the new production route and I think you have a good chance of getting one that works.  I also think the ones you mentioned are supposed to be made to the same specs and can use USGI parts.  

People used to poo poo the Auto Ordnance for a little while, but then it seemed like they gained a better rep over time.  I think the new Inlands might be OK too.  I really don't know though.  I know one of the guys in the M14 forum just bought an M14 from one of these newer makers and supposedly they're real good.  But now I forget which one.  LOL.  Besides my recoil spring issue with Fulton, my BIL has bought different things from them over the years, including an A1 AR15 and they all seem to be really good.  They charge more for their stuff than some of the other places.  Not sure if there is good reason for that or not.  

I think your family would probably really enjoy one and you too.  And I would think be quite deadly.  And lots of guys have had theirs run and run and not had the issues I had.  

You might have to go on another forum to get the real skinny, or just be trend setter yourself.  There is not a huge following of the M-1 Carbine on this sight, but I know some guys know their stuff.   You might get more feedback in the M1 forum.  You could start a thread asking about the newer production ones over there.

The guy has stated he's looking for a shooter, so I was informing him that USGI carbines are functionally essentially equivalent.

As for aftermarket, honestly the Inlands and JRA don't have the best rep so far. The Kahrs have had a lot of the bugs worked out and the Fultons are fine but pricey.

Buy USGI, even a rack grade carbine is going to be more reliable than the aftermarkets.

Sure, it isn't an M-4....................but it will do what it was intended to do..............I'd have no problem carrying one.

Reconsidering the 30-round mags, which are good ones and are they dead-nuts reliable?

Whats a good price these days for an Alpine put together with all GI parts in a an M2 potbelly stock

I apologize.  I wanted to make sure he knew about the whole WWII, arsenal rebuild situation.   At least he might understand why some are a lot more than others.   And to be careful about getting ripped off.

The only new production I would consider is from Fulton, you will pay but they are beautiful rifles and 100% GI compatible (unlike the others). Fulton used to use all GI components but supplies have been drying up so they are starting to build/procure some of their own modern ones as needed. Again you will pay but they are worth the price.

The only 30 rounders we have ever found reliable are USGI, but be prepared to pay for legit ones. Most of the ones on the market are reproductions and some are even forgeries trying to sucker people into thinking they are legit USGI. Best bet is to stick with 15's, they are also lighter and much handier anyway.

The M1 carbine is one of the handiest rifles I've ever encountered. I loved them so much I ended up buying a transferable M2.

Even though the prices seem high they will keep going up. Expensive today is a bargain tomorrow so buy them while they're still relatively available. In my experience, gun shows are full of M1 carbines and decent deals on them. I've found better deals on carbines at gun shows than I have on the forums or gun broker, which is almost never the case.

Well I will have to attend the next gun show in my area to check that out, maybe get lucky.

My LGS has a stack of them from an estate. Anything in particular you are looking for? I could go check them out for you. I seem to recall them being 900-1200 and having a variety of manufacturers. I know next to nothing about carbines except these looked pretty nice and everything in that collection was shot little and was well taken care of.

Nice, wish I could see them first hand. I'd have to look them over before I took the dive.

Ya I wish I knew more about them, but if you find any maker or import mark you really like I could check and take pics. I'm pretty sure I saw some Bavarian markings, but it's been awhile since I checked them out. I think there are like 15 left unless they have more in the back which they might. They do sell on gunbroker, but they didn't put most of the estate stuff on there.

30rd mags

100% reliable for me so far. You might also want  to upgrade to an M2 style magazine catch if yours isn't already equipped with one. They can be found for $10+/-

I do want original G.I. milspec, not a repro., I don't think it matters which mfg as long as it has good chamber and rifling and it's beat up too bad.

Are those easily installed?

Video
Fast Forward to 1:45, it takes about 10 seconds to swap out.

Check here often, people sell complete M1's:

CMP Forums

I just picked up ths Alpine yesterday for $550 as a shooter. Now I can keep my GI in the safe nice and pretty!. The Alpine is all GI except the rec., barrel and upper HG. The pot belly stock, mag and C tip sling were nice extras!

Attached File
Attached File

I have two of them. A Winchester and an Inland. The biggest problem I have is finding affordable ammo.

Very cool.  That's a nice looking stock.  That might be a good candidate for that rail you can put on top.  I think Ultimak makes one and mount an RDS.  Altough not necessary of course.  

I've never heard of Alpine........

Here's a dude looking to trade an Ultimak rail and a pouch....  shoot, I should be interested in this... hehehe

http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_7_138/1605829_WTT--USGI-M1-carbine-M6-B-Ultimak-rail.html