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Posted: 5/21/2014 4:51:53 AM EDT
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One day I stopped in at one of the local pawn shops and spotted a M1 Carbine on the rack. The guy at the counter said that it was a Universal with an IBM barrel.
I asked to have a look at it and this is what I saw. 
The barrel markings were worn but I could make out the flaming boom and the letters OOD. It was not an IBM barrel. :think: 
The top od the receiver had what looked like the military markings. 
It had the adjustable rear sight and I couldn't see the manufacture name, but I could see the first two letters on the left side of the sight UN. When I looked on the right side of the sight I could see the letters OOD. It has been a long time since I saw the TV show Wheel of Fortune, but I still know how to play the game. UN_ _ _ _OOD, add DERW and you have UNDERWOOD. 
I do my best to never pay the asking price on a used gun. So I asked what he could do on the price. He said he would let me have it for $450 out the door. 
So I bought it. Here are a few more pics. 
Well it a Universal, but not a Universal Firearms. It is a WWII subcontracted receiver made by Universal Windings for Underwood. You can see the small W at the rear of the receiver in this pic. 
ONLY ~380,000 of the ~6,000,000 total manufactured carbines were made by UNDERWOOD with a receiver subcontracted by one of six subcontractors. S/N range assigned to these subcontracted receivers; 2352520 - 2732519 Subcontractor marks; B S T W WTA WWA |
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http://jlpowers.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/Eek-a-Mouse1.bmp Thats just wrong.. even if its a universal. Quoted:
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Great deal!. Around here even Universals are sky high. My neighbor has got a Universal that he cut the barrel to 16" and put a 3x9 scope on it, it looks stupid as hell. http://jlpowers.net/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/Eek-a-Mouse1.bmp Thats just wrong.. even if its a universal. He didn't even crown the barrel, just hacked-sawed it off. I want to buy it if he would sell it for cheap, put a new front sight on it and thread it for a suppressor. He can keep the 3x9. |
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You did great! It's a great feeling when one of those killer deals happens like that. Did it come with the mag and sling? Yep.
I found another US Carbine sling in an antique shop last month for $12. I'm going to put it on my NPM as soon as I can remember where I put my extra oilers. |
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There is what looks like an Importers mark under the front of the barrel, but it's so tiny that I can't make it out. Quoted:
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Is it import marked? The finish looks a lot like a Korean park job. There is what looks like an Importers mark under the front of the barrel, but it's so tiny that I can't make it out. Arl. Ord., VA most likely. They used a exceptionally small stamp on their Korean imports. They were tied in with Blue Sky in some manner but I don't recall how. I have a IBM that is a AO import. It has a weird double stamp on the barrel. This one escaped the just before export Korean park job many of them got. All I did to it was replace the springs. 
In 2010 I gave $200 and one of AIM's $99 Ishapore 7.62 Enfield specials they had around that time for it so I guess it works out to about the same as you paid for yours. |
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Arl. Ord., VA most likely. They used a exceptionally small stamp on their Korean imports. They were tied in with Blue Sky in some manner but I don't recall how. They were the same company. They changed their name to Arlington Ordnance to avoid the bad publicity Blue Sky had gotten with their heavily applied import marks that bent/crimped some barrels. |
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They were the same company. They changed their name to Arlington Ordnance to avoid the bad publicity Blue Sky had gotten with their heavily applied import marks that bent/crimped some barrels. Quoted:
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Arl. Ord., VA most likely. They used a exceptionally small stamp on their Korean imports. They were tied in with Blue Sky in some manner but I don't recall how. They were the same company. They changed their name to Arlington Ordnance to avoid the bad publicity Blue Sky had gotten with their heavily applied import marks that bent/crimped some barrels. LOL...Well they went completely in the opposite direction with the Arl. Ord. Va stamp. They are struck so light you can't hardly make it out. When they had a storefront in Chantilly, Va back in the late 80s I must have went through 100 Korean Garands one day and very one of them would swallow a M2 round to the case. The Carbines all looked like warmed-over crap. I swear you could have used that weird gray park for sandpaper it was so rough. 
What impressed me were the SMLEs of different flavors they had in the attached warehouse. There must have been 50 pallets with Enfields stacked 6' high on each pallet. They had a pile of broke Enfields in the middle of the floor that must have been 15' tall. I always kicked myself for not offering to buy the broke ones. 
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