M1 Carbine

B

Bucksnort1

New member
Last summer, I had an opportunity to hold an M1 Carbine. So, what's so unusual about holding a carbine, you ask? Here's the deal. A female neighbor inherited several long guns from her deceased father. One was the carbine. Knowing there were several manufacturers of the carbine, during the war, I looked for the manufacturer. Not only could I not find a manufacturer, I could not find any indication of a U.S. manufacturer. The story is, her father removed the weapon from a deceased N. Vietnam soldier. That's right, I said from a N. Vietnamese soldier. My first thought was the soldier picked up the weapon on the battle field but to my best recollection, these were not used in Vietnam.

He was allowed to bring home the carbine. I don't recall all the details now but, it appears the weapon was made either in N. Vietnam, N. Korea or China. Her nephew was there to take possession of a 1911 45ACP and the carbine. He is in the Army stationed in northern Virginia. I instructed him to do nothing to the gun until he knows more about it and, I instructed him to take it to the NRA office in Fairfax for research. Any comments?
 
Many, many carbines were used by both sides during the Vietnam war.
We supplied many to the south Vietnamese, some of which were sold to or captured by the other side. China captured many in Korea and supplied some to north Vietnam. And, the French lost many when they were chased out of Vietnam.
If the carbine you looked at had the later adjustable sight, they often overhang the manufacturer's name on the rear of the receiver.
If it is true that this carbine was brought home from Vietnam, there may be paperwork regarding that...this paperwork would add to the value of the weapon.
My dad brought home a couple pistols from WWII, and after he passed away, I found his paperwork, hand typed in France.
 
M1

Again, I'm fuzzy about the details but there is paperwork in the form of authorization to bring it home and how the weapon was obtained. Thanks.
 
+1

The m1 carbine certainly did see use in that war, as aptly noted.

I have also seen photos of "cottage industry" copies of US firearms from the same era/locale.

But I would be more inclined to think its a heavily worn GI "war trophy" bring back. Some checks on the internals should yield some stampings of some type I'd think.
 
First, look under the rear sight...

as the adjustable sight over=hung the manufacturer's stamping. Side illuminate with flash-light.

Check the barrel top surface behind the front sight base, it will ID the barrel manufacturer and month / year made.

Check the style of the bolt, is it flat on the rear portion or full round profile, entire length. Flat is first issue, round is final issue.

Look at forward trigger guard / magazine well area, does the forward most "push" button have any markings of the flat visible surface? e.g.: "M" with or without and "_"? that is final version of magazine catch. Is there a "projection" extending forward from the left end of the catch? It is the final version for using 30 round magazines.

There should be a second "button" behind the first, does it rotate or push side-to-side? This is the "safety", the final version rotates for use, if pushes "Right -to left" its a first variant , and needs to be replaced.

Post photo's for better ID'ing.
 
Pretty tough to wear off the roll stamp mfg info with natural use. Was the serial still visable? I suspect this would be a clone M1 if not properly marked as standard for a usgi m1. A pic will settle this.....
 
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