"Inland" Manufacturing M1 Carbines - 1st hand experience

[cipherk98]

It does seem like they are at least trying to correct it. I just hope everything is finally smoothed out and those with issues get a fix; a photo is making the rounds of a Century C39V2's bolt carrier snapped in half due to crappy quality, I'd hate to have a bolt failure in something like a Carbine. It's good if they improve their product and new buyers get a safe reliable gun but if they don't take care of old buyers it is a moot point.

If it's cycling with Armscor and Aguila it should be fine. I find Armscor and Aguila to be comparable to my "light" .30 Carbine load and 97% of the time it works flawlessly.

[sieggie]

Pick up the spent casing and look for any bulging on the sides at the rear. If there's a bulge, don't fire it again. If there's no bulge I'd fire some more and check those casings for bulges. No bulges means it's okay.

Jim

I have found with mine that from the beginning all the Aguila rounds ever fired have a slight bulge at the rear. Armscor do not show a bulge but are so dirty I prefer to use the Aquila. I am guessing the Aquila are just garbage casing and I will most likely not use any of them if I reload in the future because of the bulge at the base, but they seem to function perfectly.

Dave

[pcaine]

Ok, Inland returned my M1 Carbine Monday having been returned for soft bolt and gas port nut looseness (maybe).

An examination of the bolt confirms they replaced it, but the twenty rounds of test firing shows significant wear spots on the "new" bolt at the rear and on the front lug. The hammer shows shininess where it contacts the rear of the bolt. I am unable to tell if the shininess is normal wear. It seems to me that twenty rounds should not produce this much wear. The bolt moves smoothly and gives a good feel. That is encouraging.

Inland's notation of correcting timing and polishing the ramp are things I either cannot evaluate or observe, but I thank them if the effort has value.

The position of the gas port nut had not changed from when I sent the Carbine back. The nut was loose. it was three threads out from being flush with the receiver. I took it apart with the special nut wrench and cleaned it, reinstalling it firmly. The piston moves freely. No solvents or oils were used inside the port. I found it disappointing that Inland had ignored the gas port nut looseness reported in my letter of accompaniment on return.

Again I remind the reader that I am a older man with only developing serious interest in guns and their components over the last ten months. I consider myself a student and appreciate all comments.

I will test fire it Friday morning.

[imarangemaster]

I have found with mine that from the beginning all the Aguila rounds ever fired have a slight bulge at the rear. Armscor do not show a bulge but are so dirty I prefer to use the Aquila. I am guessing the Aquila are just garbage casing and I will most likely not use any of them if I reload in the future because of the bulge at the base, but they seem to function perfectly.

Dave

Your cases should not be bulging, especially if headspace is correct. The brass in the base is very thick, but will bulge if there is too much headspace. I would borrow a set of headspace gauges and check it.

[Sleeplessnashadow]

sieggie,

What causes the bulging of the case is the expansion of the gases when the cartridge is fired, into the form of the chamber. That there is a bulge indicates there is an out of spec area where that bulge occurred. It could be improper headspace, it could be they polished the ramp too much, but it could be one of a number of things. None of them good and most of them unsafe.

Fired cartridge casings are something to get to know what normal looks like. They're a good clue as to what's happening in the chamber, with the firing pin and/or primer and a few other important things.

You may or may not get by without an accident when you fire more rounds. But eventually the right casing or imperfection will come along and someone could be injured.

I'd check the headspace as imarangemaster indicated. If it checked okay I'd take it to a gunsmith to have him get a first hand look at the cause for the bulging. also take some of the spent casings with you. It's hard to troubleshoot this kind of issue on a forum. Other than to tell you it is a safety issue that needs to be addressed before firing the carbine again.

Jim

[CrossedCannons]

The fact that Armscor fired in the same chamber doesn't have the bulge suggests, to me, that the cause is related to the Aguila ammo.

sieggie, I wouldn't freak out yet, are you SURE the Aguila is NEW FACTORY ammo and not reloaded? That "bulge" you see near the head can arise if fired cases are resized using a full length resizing die which has not been set up to correctly resize the FULL LENGTH of the case. If that's the case, no pun intended, it's not really a problem

[imarangemaster]

You can get some Cerrocast alloy, and make a chamber casting. Roll the casting on the table and it will skip if there is a defect in the chamber.

[sieggie]

Here is a pic of 3 different cases. Far left is Aquila, center is Federal and the Right is Armscor. The Aquila and Federal are slightly blown out at the base, the armscor is flat from the top to the bottom.

Am I being paranoid?

Dropbox - 30 Carbine Shells.jpg

Dave

[imarangemaster]

Definitely a chamber or headspace issue. None of my cases ever looked like that. Middle one looks like it was close to blowing out.

[Sleeplessnashadow]

I'm wondering if you've fired a bunch of the Armscor, Federal and Aguila with the same results as these three casings on all casings by each manufacturer. If not, I'd suggest firing more of the Armscor and Federal to see if there is any variation. Fire them one at a time and check each casing before proceeding onto the next round. If you experience expansion similar to the Aguila casing, stop and don't fire anymore. Fire maybe 20-30 of each unless you see the bulging.

I would recommend against firing anymore Aguila until this is sorted out. I've fired a lot of Aguila and not had the bulging you experienced.

Ron Norton, President of Inland, told me several months ago the only ammo they use in the demonstrations and during the Shot Show range time is Aguila.

Jim