M1 Carbine stopped firing

Got it allllll disassembled. With some help from the wife (USAF Security Forces), who has disassembled many-a-weapons! I'm happy to report no broken parts. The small parts of the bolt were filthy, but the firing pin looked quite clean when removed from the bolt. Wish us luck putting it back together.

As far as the ammo, amd, it was given to us along with the gun, so I'm sure it's pretty old. UGH - I hope that wasn't the problem because I will feel DUMB. It's JHPs and on the back it has "L C 54" on most and some others have "WCC 53". What's that mean anyway?
 
The markings on the brass indicate it is military brass,which would never be loaded originally with hollow points.

That says these are reloads of unknown origin.I do not shoot those.

It is an indication it is possible your problem could be ammo related.Something else to check,

Military brass comes with a crimped in primer.This crimp must be removed before reloading.If everything is not just right,the crimp makes it more likely a primer would not be fully seated.Look at your primers,feel with a thumbnail.Are any of them high?
This can keep the bolt from fully closing.

My suggestion,maybe if someday you take up reloading you can pull bullets,and use some components,but just put that ammo in a coffee can,label it "unknown reloads" and set it aside.

Buy some new ammo.PMC,Fiocchi,or some USA brand and try it.
 
I'm sorry, I don't know what I was thinking... they are not JHPs, I meant FMJ. That said, if the markings indicate Military brass, then it's definitely quite old.

That aside, it's all reassembled now and I think the problem was that the ejector mechanism was so fouled that it wasn't lifting and allowing the round to seat down against the bolt, thus not allowing the firing pin to ever reach the back of the round. This explains why the "misfired" rounds didn't have any dings. I'm sure that everything's fine now that it's been properly cleaned and oiled - but unfortunately I cannot simply step out into my backyard and fire off a few as I live in the city.

Back to the ammo... is age a factor? Grandpa got this gun in 1967 and said he only fired a few rounds from it, which tells me the ammo could be nearly 40 years old!
 
Just out of curiosity, have you taken the bolt out and pushed the firing pin as far forward as possible with your finger? If you see a nice- rounded end of the pin protrube from the bolt face then you were correct in it (and possibly the chamber) being dirty or otherwise excessively funky.
 
Military 30 carbine ammo is great...I just wish some importer would discover a warehouse full of spam cans in Korea and bring it in cheap. As it stands, the best choices in 30 carbine ammo right now are S&B, PRVI, and Remington. Aguila is available, but a bit underpowered. Wolf makes steel case carbine ammo, but I have never tried it.
I mainly shoot PRVI and S&B, and keep Remington soft points for home defense use. Remington is too expensive for range blasting.
 
I did a little more research and it seems that the LC 54 means that the ammo was indeed Military grade, manufactured in the Lake City Ordinance Plant, 1954.

Despoiler, gunandgame.com Senior Member
FC = Federal Cartridge Co
LC = Lake City Ordnance Plant + year
SL = St Louis Ordnance Plant + year
Click to expand...

And... WCC = Western Cartridge Company

There seems to be some inconsistency on the corrosive aspect. However, it makes sense to me that the Military would not have ever made corrosive .30 ammo for any gas operated firearm.
 
You got it right on the headstamps. WCC is also military ammo, 1953 by the stamp. Also non-corrosive. Since it's FMJ and has been with the rifle for years, it's probably actual milsurp. But better than 50 years old, not 40! Not a problem though, it will shoot fine. I'd use it it mine.
 
The military made plenty of corrosive ammo for the Garand. Didn't stop until about the time your ammo was made. For some reason they never found the non-corrosive primers reliable enough for the .30-06 ammo? Probably because it was also used in machineguns. Carbine ammo, however, started out non-corrosive and stayed that way. The old brown military bore cleaner removes or neutralizes corrosion.

The only thing you have to worry about is that old non-corrosive ammo was mercuric. That makes the cases unreliable to load, as mercury residue weakens brass. I don't know if yours have mercuric primers? I'm thinking non-mercuric non-corrosive primers started trials between WWII and Korea, like around 1947, but I'm not sure on that score? Perhaps someone who knows will chime in?

Somewhere around 1953 all U.S. military primers went non-corrosive with the exception of one run of early .308 match ammo from Frankford Arsenal in the late 50's, which were corrosive. But that's all that I am aware of? I don't know what carbine primer formulations were in effect when?
 
The military went with non corrosive for the carbine because the gas piston is not meant to be cleaned routinely.
Some LC marked brass is chinese and is corrosive, berdan primed. I have never seen any, but I have read about it.
 
Do you know about the mercuric / non-mercuric switchover? I wish I had dates for that. I heard the mercuric primers didn't store well, but that's all. It'd only be an issue for reloading the cases and for not exposing youngsters to the smoke or the cases, I suppose?

It makes sense about the gas system. The Garand was designed to handle M1 ball from reserves accumulated between the wars, so that was corrosive, of course.
 
All US made M1 Carbine ammunition is non-mercuric and non-corrosive. It was that way when they used the small rifle primers from a private company, the larger primers were still mercuric at the time, as up to the development of the M1 Carbine all military rifle primers were large. As AMD said be careful though because some LC52 and LC53 can be Chinese crap, and it is corrosive. The Chinese junk never came on stripper clips and was in cardboard boxes, who knows if it is loose though.
 
Found an excellent little piece of history to go along with my Carbine...
Elmer Bjerke was promoted on January 6th, 1947 to Forman of small arms inspection at Rock Island Arsenal. He was responsible for the final inspection of new and overhauled small arms. He served in that capacity until 1958. All small arms inspected under his supervision bear the markings "RIA" for Rock Island Arsenal and "EB" for Elmer Bjerke.
Click to expand...

And if you happen to have FK on yours...
Frank Krack was Assistant Foreman of the Inspection Division at Rock Island Arsenal from September 17, 1941 until he retired on July 19th, 1946. During that period all small arms inspected under his supervision would be stamped with his initials "FK" as well as those of the Rock Island Arsenal "RIA".
Click to expand...
 
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