Royal Tiger Imports has about 3 dozen M1 carbines left, repatriated from Ethiopia according to their website. I bit the bullet....
They start at 899 listed as "good to excellent" and you can pay a handsome extra for "un-issued" condition. YouTube has a few videos that show some pretty clean carbines, but I've no idea what they actually look like. These days, unless you can see it in person, you role the dice. HOWEVER, if they're as advertised, I'll finally have a carbine for my collection. I'll try and post what I get here once it comes in....

I'm in for the pics. I've been toying with the idea of getting one.

From what I've seen...I'd have bought one...but I got my fill nearly 20 years ago...

still in stock

I would be amazed if anything coming out of Ethiopia was in any better shape than from Afghanistan!

Here's a link to a threat about these

http://www.uscarbinecal30.com/forum/ethiopian-carbines_topic4581_page2.html

Ian just did a video of his on Forgotten Weapons.

I'm actively trying to resist buying one....hoping I drag my feet long enough that they're all gone honestly

Same here, but also leery on the condition. You figure it's $1300 for the "excellent to unissued" condition Carbines. The impression I'm getting is the "unissued" were still service Carbines that went arsenal rebuilds but kept their original sights and such.

I'm leery of buying 1 I can't inspect myself. I already own 4 M-1 Carbines (2 USGI Inlands, 1 "Howa" and a new production Fulton Armory) so while I'd love to get one I figure it's better I pass. I'm really wanting another "shooter" and at that price point I can almost get another new production FA or wait and see what I find real time I like

Same here. Was going to call today to see if they had any Saginaws or Underwoods but I didn't see the number anywhere on the website.

Argh I want but can't. About to start major remodeling project.

Get good magazines, that's there Achilles heal.

I'm very tempted, wanted to add an M1 carbine to my collection. How are these in terms or condition vs price of what I would find on gunbroker?

Best deal since the last CMP guns outside of an elderly neighbor or similar so long as you don't mind the import stamp.

Someone scored and got a nice Un-Quality Hardware carbine with early flip sight and barrel band for the basic price. It was posted on the Carbine Collectors website. That's not happening again.

If someone is wanting a decent Carbine now this has potential on the EE here

https://www.ar15.com/forums/Equipment-Exchange/Austrian-Inland-m1-carbine-LGK/131-1981302/

Not my ad. I've been tempted to ask for more pictures but know if I do I'd end up buying it , You'd have to ask the seller what make it is, but the "Bavarian" Carbines have excellent rep for being cared for. I already own 4 carbines and need another one right now like I need another hole in my head

@METT_T
On the home page:
PHONE: 407-203-4861

One of the advantages of this shipment is these carbines did not go through the US arsenal rebuild process, so will have a lot of early parts.

Most of them did, and have the postwar rear sight, safety, and bayonet lug barrel band.  You have to pay RTI a $400 premium for one with early features that isn't upgraded.

That one guy just lucked out by getting one with early features without paying extra for it.

I have one on the way ($899, no extras).

Should have it tomorrow or Saturday.

I'll post pics when I get it.

they included the serial number on my order info when they added the tracking number. Inland, Aug 1944.

What did they charge for the shipping?, tax /

$30ish shipping from FL to PA. Not great but I've seen worse for a rifle.

They did not charge tax, which more than makes up for it.

Yeah, it's hard for me to imagine buying a carbine literally rejected by Ethiopia.

Arrived today.

Very dirty, will need a thorough cleaning.

Under the grime is what should be a very nice M1 carbine, with much of the bluing still there.

Barrel and receiver match up, Inland Aug 1944. Barrel rifling looks decent, but bore is dirty. I will withhold judgement on barrel condition until I clean it.

Flat top bolt.

OI marked straight stock with 2 rivet handguard. low wood. lots of dings, small gouges, and handling marks; but no cracks or real bad gouges.  STD PROD RWH rebuild mark. Proof mark 'P' appears to have worn off, and the cross cannon cartouche is practically gone too (was really hard to find any trace of it). Still, it is a serviceable correct WW2 stock.

Type 3 barrel band

Adjustable sights

lever safety.

incredibly dirty but I think WW2 vintage sling and oiler.

Import mark is fairly discrete and doesn't bother me.

All in all, pretty darn happy with it, especially given what M1 carbines are going for lately.

Will take pics over weekend after trying to clean it up.

Nice.
I am ready.
Tried to register there, what is the fed tax id# on the registration about /for ?, won't let it go through without.
 Never seen that with other milsurp places.

I don't remember having to do that...

Just called, she said it is a glitch in the system;and you can checkout without registering.

nice, good luck to you. Paying for any of the upgrades?

I did check the sling out on mine, and it is a later wartime sling. C shaped tip and I found the Klikit marking on the snap

Cleaning it up now. After a 32oz crowler of Founder's Canadian Breakfast Stout and about two hours of TLC, really liking this rifle.

Pictures tomorrow.

My LGS, despite receiving two 10-fer orders of #1 and #4 Enfields could not get their hands on a carbine (any grade) for some reason. I don't think they are selling them to dealers, holding out for the higher prices "the great unwashed" are willing to pay.

Not that I'm in the market for another Carbine but if the condition of the Enfields are anything to go by I'd pass on buying one sight unseen.

That said they got in a couple of #4 MK-2s in the last batch that were sound but pretty much devoid of finish.

LOL....I like the variety of ragged-out .mil and sporting slings that come with them. One even had a IDF Mauser sling attached.

Some pics for now. Will try to do better tomorrow maybe. Looks better in person. Lighting indoors isn't helping.

Attached File


Attached File


Attached File


Attached File

How does the bore look?

Just got mine today and looks to be in similar condition. A few caveats. The extra I paid for "very good to excellent" must not have applied to mine, the finish on the barrel and bayonet lug are almost gone, to the extent that the only marking I can make out is a faint "W". I see no remnants of a date code. The stock looks about the same as yours. There are so far, no acceptance marks or numbers on the stock. In fact, there are very few markings at all on this carbine.
The good news, if I'm right, is the markings on the receiver, barely visible under the rear sight, is "Quality Hardware" I THINK> It's really hard to see but that's what it appears to be. The barrel, while devoid of finish or markings, appears bright and clean on the inside, rifle looks crisp. No idea on ME / TE yet.
Only thing I have concerns about so far is the trigger group. The supplied magazine fits VERY tight, and takes a lot of effort to insert or remove the mags, and the walls of the mag well literally appear bent inwards. Damage? IDK. But it's concerning. What I know about carbines is nill, so I'll wait for the educated to weigh in.
I got the thing apart and the stock is being scrubbed of 70 years of accumulated gunk. The metal parts are being scrubbed. Hopefully I can tell more about it in the coming days. Maybe I can even figure out how to up load pics....

Surprisingly good once I got the gunk out. I don't have a set of gauges but passes the ol' upside-down cartridge test with flying colors. Bore is fairly bright with decent tread left on the tires.

Any tips on a safe way to clean up the sling? It is filthy with dirt and grease, but I don't want to damage it either. I have it off the rifle as it's sludged up enough that it is slightly unpleasant to touch and leaves marks.

Roninsan, you might be surprised what shows up after cleaning the crap off. The cross cannons on mine were only slightly visible after one round of cleaning, but can be fairly easily noticed now. Very shallow and were hidden in grime.

Yours sounds like a Winchester barrel, mid war they stopped putting dates on them. It might only have the W, and a proof mark which is probably hidden under the longer type 3 barrel band.. It also could easily be the original barrel as Quality did not make barrels and used those supplied by others, including Winchester.

Ok, so after several hours of scrubbing, this is what I can make out with a magnifying glass and flashlight. I can barely see the serial number under the rear sight, and from left to right I can make out "QUA" and on the right side what looks like "H.C."

The barrel has a lot of finish wear forward of the bayonet mount, and the top of the mount also, and I mean down to bare metal. On the top of the barrel where the stampings usually are I can make out a faint "W", no date stamp, and then slightly below that I can see what appears to be an oval, with an "I" and a "W" stamped over the "I". I could be wrong but that's what it looks like. On the right side of the barrel near the tappet looks to be an "F" and what may be a flaming bomb. They're stamped at an angle so it's hard to tell.

The bolt is a flat type and on the lug on the right side is "UN-O" . The slide has a "P" with two lines forming a semi-box around the "P". On the outside of the slide there is what looks like "OX" but running vertically.

The trigger housing has "Q-NL" on the right side near the back of the housing. The mag release has an "M" with a line under it. The safety has "J.A.O" on the underside of the paddle. The hammer has a circle with a slash running through it, with a "B" on the top half of the slash and a "R" on the bottom half.
After thoroughly cleaning the stock, I see no markings on it anywhere. No "P" no crossed cannons, no letters. The stock was pretty beat up but cleaned up nicely. I've got two coats of linseed oil on it so far, and it looks much better, but still see no markings or remnants anywhere.

I'm tossed up about a repark of the metal. I know it's "original" and some people urge leaving it as is. But there's a bunch of bare metal showing and it seems to me it would be better to refinish and protect the metal than to have issues with rust. I know if this is a Quality gun it may have a little more collector value than the more plentiful Inlands, but there's no parting with this in my future so I'm really not worried about resale value. And who knows how many times these things have been rebuilt / finished anyway??

The bore looks really nice and passes the bullet test, no idea on the throat. I plan to shoot this, maybe not a lot, but it will be shot. Wife's already got her eye on it. Anyway, anyone have questions I'll do the best I can to answer them. Comments or suggestions will be appreciated. Thanks!

Thank you both for the bore condition and reports!

My vote, do the repark and replace springs and the extractor if you can. If you never intend to sell the gun better to have something that looks "nice".

I would even get a new stock for it, keep the one that came with it but get a Boyds set use that as your "shooting" stock. Stock parts are cheap enough you can not have to worry about moving those around.

I'm "real" tempted to get one of these myself with my Trump bucks but I already own 4 M-1 Carbines, I don't need another

Do NOT get a Sarco replacement stock.  They took it back, but the whole rear end of the stock was dimentionally off and it was brown paint on wood, not stained.

Not sure if I'll replace the stock or not. It's dinged up pretty good, but after stripping it and, so far, three coats of linseed oil it looks better. If I do repark it, which I probably will, a Boyds may be appropriate. I do want it nice, like my Garand and my '03. We'll see! I just hope it shoots nice, I can see this getting used around the farm pretty regular. If we ever get the carbines back from Korea I'd like another, but finances won't allow it right now. Glad I got one though, always wanted one and figured now was a good chance. Getting a fairly rare one without asking or paying extra for it made it even better. If you want one go for it!

I wouldn't get my hopes up about any more Carbines being imported from Korea. Obuma signed a EO banning it and I doubt Trump will ever rescind it.

Got a Winchester VG to EX on the way. Hand select only avail for VG to EX on up.  I was quoted $150 for winchester, $200 for others except rockola, and $300 for rock Ola hand select. Shipping was about $35 if memory serves.

Hopefully it comes with a good magazine and has a good bore.

These DO come with a magazine, right?

I was waiting to see pics.

Thinking I will pass on the extras and roll the dice for $935

Yup, mine came with a usable but worn OI-B marked mag.

It wasn't an EO from Obama. It was a decision by one bureaucrat in the State Department that could be changed by Trump  or Pompeo or some other appointee in State nodding yes if someone asked them to change it. Problem is that nobody gives a shit.

Yeah I figured we'd never see them again, sadly. I'm glad I finally got one anyway.

There is one major issue I'm concerned about, the mag well. I've taken the whole gun apart, cleaned everything, scrubbed and re-oiled the stock and she looks much better. BUT, to my eyes the sides of the mag well are both bent inwards, making the insertion and removal of a magazine very difficult. I looked at some pics on the web and all the trigger group housings look like the walls of the mag well are straight. Mine are visibly bent. Tried to post a pic but my -1G internet sucks.
I could get another Quality Hardware trigger housing, but I'm wondering if this is something that could be fixed? No idea how they got bent inwards, maybe it was run over at some point? Anyway, thoughts? I sure don't want to damage it worse but at this point I'd take a chance repairing it looking at prices of housings now....

*IF* I order one, I was thinking I’d pay the extra $100, now I’m rethinking it.

I might bite the bullet. I already have a nice NPM I got for $450 back in 2012, but I need a Winchester to go with my Winchester Garand...

From the looks of mine I'm not sure paying the extra 100 bucks got me much more, but having not seen a "standard" one it's hard to say. While mine has a lot of finish wear on the barrel, the bore looks mint. The stock cleaned up pretty nice, and the dings here and there give it character. The trigger housing is my only issue. Gonna look around and see if I can find another Quality Hardware housing and replace the one in it. All told I'm still pretty satisfied.

Thanks man. Don't know why I didn't see that. But I've successfully talked myself out of one of these...for the moment.

I dont think the inventory on their site is accurate as in the one video they had stacks of carbines numbering into the hundreds it looked like. I'm sure they have to look over each one for grading and function first.  In the one video with Ian, it was stated this was just the first load of weapons.

I'm torn on what carbine type to order after reading this. I'm half tempted to go with the early ones just because it will be worth more I'm sure in the coming years.