I have an M1 Carbine made by Inland.

It's been shot less than 100 times, at first, it was fine, but now the following problem occurs:


It seems that I cannot get the bolt to lock into place, so it will fire. I *believe* I can get the firing pin to drop, but no round will fire (It's not the ammo's fault). When it does fire, which is rarely, the bolt has moved about another inch forward, so it seemingly locks into place. (Going into battery is the correct term, I believe)

I would give you a more detailed description, but I currently do not have this gun in my possesion.


Anyone got any ideas??? Trying to aviod a gunsmith here.. need to save some $$$ :-)


Thanks, all help appricated!


PS.. the M1 was just recently given to me. Before it was my fathers, and I am very sad/embarrassed/pissed to admit it has never been cleaned or oiled.

I am very sad/embarrassed/pissed that you haven't cleaned/oiled it yet.

Break it down, clean it REALLY good, oil it up REALLY good, then try it.

I don't think that would do it, because, no matter how hard I try to push that bolt forward, it wont move...

Perhaps it is experiencing a problem I recently encountered with my own Inland M1 Carbine.

Mine had been totally reliable but one day at a shoot after about 400 rounds it would not go into battery nor would it lock open.  The bolt was, in effect, stuck where it was.

I finally noticed that the guide lug on the bolt that rides in the channel cut into the receiver had basically de-railed.

Towards the rear of the receiver there is a rather half-moon machined cut and that area had apparantely worn down over the years of use.

I was able to get it all back together but now can induce this issue by pulling the bolt all the way to the rear and lifting up and out.

Beyond that I don't know what else to tell you.

BTT

Frozen gas cylinder?

Once you clean it up, Use grease, not oil on any high speed metal to metal contact points.

???

Sorry for my lack of knowledge...

BTT - HELP!!

btt... come on.... anyone?!?!?

btt

After making sure the weapon is unloaded,loosen the front barrel band, depress the  spring in the locking catch and slide the assemblt forward on the barrel. Remove the handguard. Remove thr receiver/barrel/trigger hosing assembly from the stock. Examine the moving parts. What do you see binding up?

Check your operating rod handle, some folks install nice new stocks on miltary weapons without checking for optimum operating rod clearance, Hence gun fires until op-rod gets bent preventing it from going into battery.

My guess and DITTO on the cleaning as suggested.

Mike

gun is 100$ original.. or, well, it was bought brand spanking new at gi joes like 10 years ago, maybe a little more...

guess i'll have to try the cleaning thing, disasemble it, and see what is binding up.. thanks for the help all!

Need more details ! Will the slide and bolt move freely when no mag or ammo is in the gun ? Or is the bolt not closing on a chambered round ? what ammo are U using ? This is what I would look for , Cracked or broken bolt, Badly bent spring guide, Deformed recievr, stock interference, Bad reloads.

I've recently been bitten by the M1 Carbine bug so I'm interested in knowing what your problem is also.

After reading your post again, I might be mistaken, but it seems that you were trying to fire the rifle without the bolt completely locked forward. Was this with ammo in the chamber?
Probably isn't a good idea to try to shoot it if the bolt doesn't lock up properly. Having a case rupture near your face is probably not a pleasant experience.
Forgive me if I misunderstood your post.

I'm lucky that I have a gunsmith locally that happens to love to work on Carbines and if needed can have him help me out.
These other guys posted some real good tips of what to check out but if your still not sure then maybe getting professional help would be in order.

If you don't have anybody locally, I can suggest this place as I've heard good things about them. For $75 they will clean, inspect and test fire your rifle.

[url]http://www.fultonarmory.com/M1CarbRifles.htm[/url]

Ammo is not reloads. The slide/bolt will move freely back and fourth with ammo in, or out of the gun. With ammo in or out of the gun, doesnt matter, the bolt still wont go forward enough to lock into place...



Princeton: never thought of that... wont be trying that anymore!!!!! :)

If you can take the action out of the buttstock and try it to test for wood interference , if it still is not working take off the trigger group and try it if then it doesnt move freely take out the bolt and examine it closely for deformation ( carbine bolts are rather weak because of the extractor cut and WILL BREAK causing damage to the receiver ! ) I've see 2 carbines ruined terminially because of broken bolts that showed the same symptums you describe. Also a carbine will not fire unless the bolt is fully in battery, The tip of the firing pin foot must clear a clearance notch in the receiver, The same set up as a Garand....