I am thinking about an M-1 Carbine. Are the ones made by ISRAELI ARMS INTERNATIONAL any good? What is a reliable brand? What should I say away from? Any help would be great I have never even touched one.

 The IAI is probably a pretty good carbine as it is made to USGI specs as best as I remember. I think they can be bought from AIM Surplus for about $375.00 new. You might also look around for a used GI carbine that's in good shape. Several makers were Rockola, Winchester, National Postalmeter, IBM, Underwood, General Motors and probably some more that I can't think of right now. These have started to get a bit pricey these days though. Avoid the Universals as they aren't GI spec as well as Plainfield and Iver Johnson. Stick with GI 15 rd. mags. The 30 rounders are crap and prone to jamming. Be sure to keep this gun pretty clean if it is to be used in the defense role at all and use hollow points if they feed well in your carbine. For plinking, you can be more leniant in your choices of ammo. Hope this was helpful.

thanks, this would be for plinking. The 30 rounds don't work? Are there any that are ok?

I've never had problems with GI 30rd mags in my Postal Meter USGI carbine.  The 15rd ones are a very handy size though, and obviously you can carry two on the stock in the "stock pouch".

If you're going to use 30rd mags, you should have the M2 mag catch installed, which has a third finger on the catch to mate to the bump on the side of the USGI 30rd mags.  This helps with the extra weight of the 30 rounder.  I could see where there might be problems if you used them without the M2 catch.  

Most aftermarket 30rd mags will not hold the bolt back on an empty mag.  They use the same follower that was used in 15rd mag production to cut cost.  USGI 30rd mags have a squared off back on the "false cartridge" bump in the follower.  This catches the bolt when empty to tell you it's empty.  The M1 Carbine doesn't have a last round bolt hold-open feature like an M14/M16, so this is the best they could come up with.  When you pull out the empty mag the bolt goes forward, and you ahve to cycle the bolt after putting in a fresh mag.  I've seen both aftermarket and GI mags with this feature, but I've only seen aftermarket with the 15rd follower style.  So it isn't a 100% identification, but it will help you out some.

Ross

I bought an Iver Johnson years ago and have never had a problem with it.  Light and handy.  Fairly accurate also.  Yea, be careful about using any aftermarket mags.  I bought a bunch about 1993 and some worked some did not.  

I had an IAI M1 Carbine...it was an excellent gun.  I had it about 2 years and shot it quite a bit...accurate, very reliable and sooo much fun...  In the 2 years I had it never a single malfunction... I only sold it because a firend of mine kept whining on and on how bad he wanted it...and he'd let me shoot it whenever I wanted

Just a brief history of the M1 Carbine.
38 months of production (June 1942 to August 1945). 9 major manufacturers and over 1600 subcontractors produced 6,117,827 carbines during this period. At full production some of these major manufactures produced 1400 complete M1 Carbines per DAY!

M1 Carbine Production
Inland Manufacturing Division, G.M.C......2,632,097 43.0%
Winchester Repeating Arms Co..............……818,059 13.5%
Underwood-Elliot-Fisher Co................……..545,616 8.9%
Saginaw Steering Gear Div., G.M.C........…...293,592 4.8%
National Postal Meter Co..................………..413,017 6.7%
Quality Hardware & Machine Co.............…..359,666 5.9%
International Business Machines Corp..…..…346,500 5.7%
Standard Products Co......................………….247,160 4.0%
Rock-Ola Co...............................……………..228,500 3.7%
Saginaw Grand Rapids S'G'..………………………..223,620 3.6%
Irwin-Pedersen Arms Co..…………………….3,542 .05%

I-P had assembled only 3,542 guns at the time, none of which were accepted by the government.
Total: 6,121,369 Carbines Note: Auto Ordnance was subcontracted by I.B.M. to make few M1 Carbine receivers for IBM, few early NPM receivers are marked "Rochester", for the Rochester Defense Corp. A very few late receivers (239) are marked "CCC", for Commercial Controls Corp.
Some Quality Hardware carbines were assembled using receivers made by Union Switch & Signal Co, hence the "UN-QUALITY" marked carbines.
The list goes on.

Both Irwin Pederson and Saginaw S'G' were made at the same plant.
Few Irwin Pederson receivers tested acceptable were used, identified Saginaw S'G' and the remainder scrapped when Saginaw division of GM took over IP in Grand Rapids.

The best book for history of the m1 Carbine is War Baby by Larry Ruth.

All USGI M1 Carbines are equal to each other. All parts interchange between all USGI manufactures.
IAI is hit or miss with reliablity. A decent shooter USGI will run about $450.00 in which you can replace the barrel on to have a equally accurate rifle as a new IAI but it will be USGI.

Carbines are one of my all time favorite guns to shoot.  Picked up an really mint Inland about a year ago.  

In general, carbines are scarce and expensve in these parts.  About $650 is the going rate for a rack grade shooter.  Avoid the Iver Johnson/Plainfields/Universals.  Some but not all parts will interchange with GI.  My shooting partners Universal literally wore out after a couple of thousand rounds.  I have no experience with the IAI guns.  They look okay but strike me as overpriced. At least the one I looked at seemd overpriced.  I believe the dealer was asking $599.  The metal handguard just doesn't look right.  I've never used any of the 30 round mags but have heard they can be finicky.  

Highly recommend Scott Duff's book on carbines.  Lots of good information in a small package.  

I just got an IAI Carbine, and immediately ditched the awful-looking metal handguard for a new walnut H/G from SARCO ($8.95) that matches the stock perfectly. Damn thing didn't have a bayonet lug type barrel-band, either, so...One strange thing, though, is that the trigger housing looks like it is of a "laminated" type of construction. Has anyone else ever seen this? I am seriously thinking of getting a new trigger housing from Fulton Armory, but if this one's OK, no need, I guess...

zardoz,
I know what you mean about the laminated TG, mine looks like there are copper colored laminates.  Mine is GI AFAIK and i got it from the CMP.

It probably has no effect on the reliability or function, but to me it just looks....strange. Well, if yours is the same, Curt, and the CMP gave it to you like that, that's good 'nuff for me; I'm goin' to the range Saturday to sight-in. Btw, SARCO, Inc has good prices on parts and stuff, for those in the need.

Quoted: One strange thing, though, is that the trigger housing looks like it is of a "laminated" type of construction. Has anyone else ever seen this? I am seriously thinking of getting a new trigger housing from Fulton Armory, but if this one's OK, no need, I guess...

It could be a USGI trigger guard. Some USGI trigger guards were stamped two-piece design then braised together to save time and money verses the milled type.
If it is a USGI trigger guard there will be a manufactures code letter stamp to the rear of the trigger guard. In the pic it shows S'G' for Saginaw Grand Rapids, although this one is the milled type.

Shameless plug.

I am selling my 1943 Inland.  If interested, check here:www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?id=102592


I have 2 after market 30 round mags and 1 GI, the after market mags suck, stick with the GI stuff.

I own an IAI carbine paid 400.00 brand new birch stock.
Great little plinker.

The only thing i don't care for is the cost of the ammo, its expensive compared to 223 ammo.

I should invest in reload equipment for the m1

Buy it, you will not be sorry

I found out that the so-called "laminated" trigger housing is indeed laminated. During the war, to cut the cost of production, trigger housings were made of stamped "slices" (for want of a better term), which were brazed together.