OK, I suck at taking pictures, but I thought some might be interested in seeing my M1 Carbine.  The history:

My Grandaddy was a part-time gunsmith who specialized in custom stock inlays and such-he'd buy old pianos for the ivory keys and inlay stocks with it, stuff like that.  He bought two M1s mail-order thru the NRA in the early 60's for $19.95 each.  He hand-checkered and inlayed both of them and gave one to my his wife and one to his daughter.  He later gave my Grandmother another rifle, a '30s vintage Winchester 94 that he'd also fixed up.  He was a fine man and a true artist-I only wish I'd gotten to know him better as he passed away when I was 11.  

When I turned 18 and joined the military, my Grandmother gave me the Carbine as a going away present.  She planned to give the Winchester to my cousin when he turned 18.  Unfortunately, her house burned back in 2001 along with about 40 of my Grandfather's guns.  His best pieces, including my cousin's Winchester, an old Terni with a puma engraved on the stock, a beautiful 03A3 that he'd heavily customized, and a Westley Richards side-by-side, were in a wooden gun cabinet right next to the wood stove that had the chimney failure.  My Grandmother passed away about six months later.  

Fortunately, we had several of his other pieces at my parent's house, including a Remington 7600 .280, a Marlin 336C 30-30, and a Belgian Browning Auto 12.  And, of course, my Carbine.  It is my single most valued personal possesion.

She's an IBM, serial no. 3837XXX.  Barrel's still really nice and it still shoots great, although it's now in semi-retirement.  I know some purists might cringe at the alteration of the original stock, but I don't really care about the collector value.  

Again, sorry about the quality.  If anyone wants to see anything in particular or has suggestions for improvement, feel free.  

Looks like you suck a posting pics too...

Waiting for the pics...


ByteTheBullet  (-:

Quoted: Looks like you suck a posting pics too... Waiting for the pics... ByteTheBullet  (-:

Really?  I can see them fine.  Anybody else?

eta...huh, I reloaded the page and got the x, but right-clicked and hit "show picture" and they came back up.  Lemme try imageshack...stand by.

i couldnt see them at first, but if you right click and select view image they show up

Quoted: Quoted: Looks like you suck a posting pics too... Waiting for the pics... ByteTheBullet  (-: Really?  I can see them fine.  Anybody else?

Nope......

I can copy and paste the link and see them...

Maybe this will work..



ETA: the pic above works for me, but now the corresponding pic in your post shows too.

ETA: the right click, show pic doesn't work for me and when I refresh they return to red Xs


ByteTheBullet  (-:

I had to click on them to show.

Sorry Red x's

And check your title

Quoted: OK, I suck at taking pictures, but I thought some might be interested in seeing my M1 Carbine.  The history: My Grandaddy was a part-time gunsmith who specialized in custom stock inlays and such-he'd buy old pianos for the ivory keys and inlay stocks with it, stuff like that.  He bought two M1s mail-order thru the NRA in the early 60's for $19.95 each.  He hand-checkered and inlayed both of them and gave one to my his wife and one to his daughter.  He later gave my Grandmother another rifle, a '30s vintage Winchester 94 that he'd also fixed up.  He was a fine man and a true artist-I only wish I'd gotten to know him better as he passed away when I was 11.   When I turned 18 and joined the military, my Grandmother gave me the Carbine as a going away present.  She planned to give the Winchester to my cousin when he turned 18.  Unfortunately, her house burned back in 2001 along with about 40 of my Grandfather's guns.  His best pieces, including my cousin's Winchester, an old Terni with a puma engraved on the stock, a beautiful 03A3 that he'd heavily customized, and a Westley Richards side-by-side, were in a wooden gun cabinet right next to the wood stove that had the chimney failure.  My Grandmother passed away about six months later.   Fortunately, we had several of his other pieces at my parent's house, including a Remington 7600 .280, a Marlin 336C 30-30, and a Belgian Browning Auto 12.  And, of course, my Carbine.  It is my single most valued personal possesion. She's an IBM, serial no. 3837XXX.  Barrel's still really nice and it still shoots great, although it's now in semi-retirement.  I know some purists might cringe at the alteration of the original stock, but I don't really care about the collector value.   Again, sorry about the quality.  If anyone wants to see anything in particular or has suggestions for improvement, feel free.

Neat and very unique!

Whats a car-bean?

right-click, view image/show picture and it will show up.

kodakgallery doesn't seem to want you to mirror the pictures.  That's all.

Nice, what rear sight is that?

"Carbean" is a play on the pronounciation.  Some pronounce it "Car-bean" and some "Car-byn".  I'll change it to do away with the confusion.

Quoted: Whats a car-bean?

+1
What this forum needs is a spel chek feature.

Quoted: Whats a car-bean?

Its like the Oscar Myers weiner-mobile  but modeled aftera lima bean.

No?

nevermind.

ibtp   (pics)

X No pics!

That work?

Quoted: Nice, what rear sight is that?

Couldn't tell ya, don't know much about them.  I assumed it was just standard USGI.  That not the case?

Yep.  Very nice.

Quoted: That work?

yes


how to easily resize pictures

Works fine for me.
That's a mighty fine M1 ya' got there.

I can't see sheeit, need bigger pics!

He did fine work.  Congratulations.  And don't worry about the purists. You've got an heirloom.

Do not take offense to this:

Your grandfather is talented and does excellent inlay and checkering work.

This is just personal opinion and doesn't equate to much.
But to customize a piece of history is doing the rifle injustice.

Just have a USGI stock on hand if you planed to EVER sell it. Value would be much greater that way.

However, this is a family heirloom and should never be sold.

So please take my words as mindless internet drivel.

Sweet "car-bean"

Unique and cool. I like it.

Quoted: Quoted: That work? yes how to easily resize pictures

grrr...sorry, can't download anything, work computer.  Lemme try paint...hate 'puters...

That's a damn nice looking rifle.
Purists be damned, a legacy like that will stand to honor him and his craftsmanship for generations.

DaddyDett

Quoted: Do not take offense to this: Your grandfather is talented and does excellent inlay and checkering work. This is just personal opinion and doesn't equate to much. But to customize a piece of history is doing the rifle injustice. Just have a USGI stock on hand if you planed to EVER sell it. Value would be much greater that way. However, this is a family heirloom and should never be sold. So please take my words as mindless internet drivel.

Oh, don't worry, I understand where you're coming from and have thought about buying a correct stock for it.  I'd feel better about taking it out to the range.  But you've gotta remember, they were selling these things for nothing when it was purchased.  At least it wasn't "sporterized" like a lot of old Springfields.  And it'll never get sold.

Quoted: Quoted: Do not take offense to this: Your grandfather is talented and does excellent inlay and checkering work. This is just personal opinion and doesn't equate to much. But to customize a piece of history is doing the rifle injustice. Just have a USGI stock on hand if you planed to EVER sell it. Value would be much greater that way. However, this is a family heirloom and should never be sold. So please take my words as mindless internet drivel. Oh, don't worry, I understand where you're coming from and have thought about buying a correct stock for it.  I'd feel better about taking it out to the range.  But you've gotta remember, they were selling these things for nothing when it was purchased.  At least it wasn't "sporterized" like a lot of old Springfields.  And it'll never get sold.

+1 ..when they were sold, there were millions of 'em around (literally!)...so if someone sporterized it, who cared? You could always order another dozen...if someone wants something to cry about, before I left NY, I saw an all-matching K43...that someone had totally sporterized; it was a war bringback, and the guy who bought it back did a half-assed job of sporterizing it. Probably shot great and took more than it's share of deer but man...it looked bad.

The piece looks great! Unlike some of the home butchery jobs I've seen, that actually looks very good for a hunting carbine..and it'd probably make one HELL of a backwoods deer/game gun. Light and handy, the way they should be.

Don't worry about value (and I'm sure you're not)...something like that isn't for a collector. It's for a hunter and/or an appreciator of fine gunsmithing and craftsmanship.  It looks great.

Quoted: Quoted: Do not take offense to this: Your grandfather is talented and does excellent inlay and checkering work. This is just personal opinion and doesn't equate to much. But to customize a piece of history is doing the rifle injustice. Just have a USGI stock on hand if you planed to EVER sell it. Value would be much greater that way. However, this is a family heirloom and should never be sold. So please take my words as mindless internet drivel. Oh, don't worry, I understand where you're coming from and have thought about buying a correct stock for it.  I'd feel better about taking it out to the range.  But you've gotta remember, they were selling these things for nothing when it was purchased.  At least it wasn't "sporterized" like a lot of old Springfields.  And it'll never get sold.

Thanks for not wanting my head!

As evil ed said. These rifles were serisouly a dime a dozen sold on the surplus market. If one or two became "sporterized" over the years, it was fine for the purist, as there were thousands upon thousands for the purist to enjoy. Today the WWII and Korea Era firearms are drying up as we speak.

Perhaps i spend too much on the Curios and Relics forum. Where an all original 50+ year old firearms is quite the amazing sight.

I just need to  enjoy the fact that there is a .30 cal carbine in the hands of someone who values it and didn't pawn it off!

I see the pics...
good woodworking...I like it

Quoted: Thanks for not wanting my head! As evil ed said. These rifles were serisouly a dime a dozen sold on the surplus market. If one or two became "sporterized" over the years, it was fine for the purist, as there were thousands upon thousands for the purist to enjoy. Today the WWII and Korea Era firearms are drying up as we speak. Perhaps i spend too much on the Curios and Relics forum. Where an all original 50+ year old firearms is quite the amazing sight. I just need to  enjoy the fact that there is a .30 cal carbine in the hands of someone who values it and didn't pawn it off!

Don't worry...you're not the only one. I damn near cried when I saw that done-up K43 hanging on the wall...(and cried again when I saw the gunshop wanted $1500 for it..)

I still get annoyed when I see a perfectly good WWII USGI 1911A1 customed up into race or match guns...I mean, did they really have to radius the backstrap and hard chrome it? Not to mention bevel the magwell, hack the slide to throw some Novaks on it, polish/adjust the feedramps, etc...They make perfectly good 1911's today that have all that from the factory...*grump*

Nicest looking "non stock" carbine I've ever seen.

Bump for the day crew.  Thanks for all the kind words, guys, if I ever get around to it I'll take some pics of some of my Grandad's other surviving work.

That is amazingly sweet.

My great-grandfather was a woodworker/stockmaker.

He lived in a rural area and was a jack-of-all-trades.

He would make stocks - or plow handles, or ax handles - whatever was needed.

My grandfather has some trinkets he made, but most of his stuff was made for customers.


I would LOVE to see some close-up pictures of that woodwork and ivory inlay on your M1. It's nice.



edited for clarity.