Iver Johnson M-1 Carbine. Any Good?

4

45automan

New member
Hey guys does anyone have an Iver M-1? I saw one in good shape for $250 but I know I can get the price down. Are these M-1's any good? I know there are some that should be avoided like the plauge. Is the Iver Johnson M1 compatiable with USGI parts? If it's not that would suck:( I never did get the M-1 Carbine I wanted. Nows my chance. Thanks for any help guys.
45automan
 
In a word, NO! In two words HELL NO! I bought a Universal which bought out/was sold to Iver Johnson. I wanted a cheap fun plinker. 500 rounds later I nearly blew the charging handle into my face since it broke where it engages the bolt lug. No the part was nowhere near USGI, none of them were, cast reciever too. I later got an IAI M-888 M-1 clone and couldn't be happier. Good metal, very accurate and reliable and great fun to shoot. It will set you back more, but well worth it IMO.
 
I'm basically with Navy Joe on this...

but would go even further to discourage a friend from buying a clone of a US Rifle, be it Garand, 30 Carbine, or M16. Save your money a little longer and buy the real thing. The only one I would buy a clone of is the M14 (the Springfield M1A) cause there basically ain't any.
 
I'd have to partially disagree with Navy Joe and Big G.

I've used some that were as good as the M-1 Carbine design gets. Rugged, reliable, fairly accurate. I ain't gonna lie and say powerful.

I've also used some that were junk, though not as dangerous as Navy Joe's.

What it boils down to is that the good ones were really good. The average ones were fair, and many of them were junkers.

I'm afraid it is a "pays your money and takes your chances" deal. You'd probably be better off buying a Remington_Rand M-1 Carbine of WWII manufacture.

Doc Hudson

[Edited by Doc Hudson on 04-13-2001 at 11:50 PM]
 
NO! Buy a GI Carbine, you won't be sorry. While you might stumble across an Iver Johnson that works well, the odds are not with you! I've heard pretty good things about the IMI Carbines, but I've yet to actually see one. Springfield is supposed to be building a high quality M1 Carbine that will be available later this year, that sounds like another possibility.

FWIW, I have a pair of WW2 GI M1 Carbines, and I wouldn't trade either of them for three Iver Johnson's!
 
The real facts about the M1 Carbines.

As my Romanian girl friend used to tell me, "Please be Attentive." I have used various brands of M1 carbines for about 30 years now. Here are some of the facts about them. Iver johnson was an American company that produced a carbine that was indeed interchangable with G.I. parts. I installed several G.I. parts on my Iver Johnson. Universal if memory serves me right was produced in Japan and the parts were difinitely not interchangable with G.I. parts. The Iver johnsons I have owned have usually been much more accurate than the average G.I. carbines I have owned. As an added bonus the Iver Johsons usually shoot cast rifle bullets very accurately. Just be sure to gas check your bullets and us a good alox lube. The only problem I have ever had with them is that the op rod hsg. is a casting and after many thousands of rounds they sometimes crack but you can just replace them with a forged G.I. op rod.
This type of weapon is noted for blowing up no matter what brand of carbine you buy. I have seen plenty of people get themselves into trouble when reloading for them or when shooting many thousands of factory loads through them. It is a good Idea to constantly check the headspace on these guns because they operate under very high pressure and they can and usually will develope excess headspace. Also when reloading for them make sure you measure the overall length of every empty case before you reload it. Carbines can indeed fire out of battery and a case that is to long only increases the chance of this happening. Try an experiment. Take an empty case put only a live primer in it. Put the case in the chamber and then let the bolt fly forward and closed. Then inspect the primer. You will find a small dent in it. These guns were designed to use hard military primers and some brands and even lots of commercial primers may fire as the bolt starts to close. If you have an overly long case that has not been trimed you are living on the edge of disaster. In all farness other famous military rifles will also put a light dent in the primer as the bolt closes, Ak's, M1's, M14's, Sks, I could go on and on.
I would not hesitate to buy the Iver Johnson if you are looking for an economical plinker. It will not appreciate in value like the G.I. model but lets face it the G.I. models are expensive and if you own a G.I. model I would not recommend shooting it because of its rapidly increasing collector value. Why wear out and destroy a valuable and historical weapon. If you want to have fun buy the Iver johnson and shoot it as much as you want. Just watch the headspace and be carefull if you reload for it or any other M1 carbine. Hope this helps you decide what you want to do. W.R.
 
IMHO the Iver Johnson "sucks". What I wanted, and bought, is an IAI M888. It's not a collectable, but a great "shooter"; which is what I wanted.

NIB $399.00.
 
Paid a bit more for my IAI, but thought it well worth the price. I now have the "urban carbine" I wanted, and was free to put the AR-15 on the auction block.

...oh, I did take half an hour to remove the stock, and smooth it down an bit, then apply Tung oil. Smoooooooth.
 
45automan,

How much does a USGI carbine cost in your area? Usually, the Iver Johnsons were not bad, although I never owned one. I do own a Universal, which does not accept many USGI parts, and it has worked fine for over 20 years. I also own a USGI (Saginaw) carbine. In any case you will be buying a used gun. Even the IAI guns use surplus parts on a newly manufactured receiver. So, for authenticity, go USGI. If you can get an Iver Johnson for half the cost of USGI, and saving those funds is important, then going IJ will work, too.

As for a Springfield replica, they have been advertising them for years. Has anyone seen one? Last ad I recall listed barreled receivers.

Lee
 
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