"Inland" Manufacturing M1 Carbines - 1st hand experience

[pcaine]

I contacted Inland. I will RMA.

[Bubba-7]

I would remove the gas piston nut and file grooves in it for staking like the GI staking.

[DaveHH]

I wonder if using a good amount of grease in the slide cam area would help these carbines? I'm a big believer that grease in that area helps the life span of these old guns. Oiled with some LSA or light oil, the bolt lug is just in there banging around and the inside where the bolt sits is usually not particularly smooth. I have always used a lot of grease on both the Rifle and carbine. Grease is just heavy oil that stays where it is put, beyond attracting dust there is no bad side to using it in quantity at all wear points. Slide grooves, receiver channels for the slide, rails inside, on the top of the hammer. I see people on these forums with worn out slide tabs and receiver grooves, bolts that are not closing etc and some folks are adamant about "The manual says oil only". We are not at the Chosin or crawling around in the mud like we did in the war. There are also no Army depots for us either.

[pcaine]

Staking and grease. Both are ideas I plan to use. I admit to avoiding considering staking because, frankly, I'd like to stand right next to an experienced smith or equivalent in experience and learn the process, the proper, the shortcuts, if any, and the dangers.

Whereas oiling and greasing seem on its face to be a 'pay attention to the visual cues" kinda activity. I am learning by regular disassembly and examination with my jewelers glasses to see where wear occurs and to put a touch of oil or grease on same. I have a nice one (1) pound can of OD Military gun grease that I use that will be around for my great, great grandchildren, if they don't loose it or the law eliminates the need. Not funny!

[M94/14]

My rule of thumb with firearms lubrication for the M1 rifle, M1 Carbine, M1A rifle is generally; if the part slides or cams off another, grease it, if it rotates or turns on a pin or shaft oil it.

This regimen works very well, and keeps the wear to a minimum.

As for the piston nut, if you don't want to mess with the existing one, then replace it with a G.I. part that you can stake in place. It's very important for functioning that these are kept tight. Also, if you do remove the existing piston nut, check to see if they patterned it after the latest G.I. version which allowed the piston about .030" more travel than the earlier design. It's easy to spot, the latter one looks like it has a countersunk recess on the side that faces the piston's flange. If you replace with a G.I. Nut, make sure it's one of these.

[sieggie]

I have finally fired enough rounds after getting the rifle back from Inland and it appears that they have made the bolts harder. By 400 rounds the old bolt had visible deformation on the lug and the new bold has none.

I am not having any of the problems with cycling although I generally only stuff 10 rounds into a 30 round mag. I have not had a single jam in the last 150 rounds of Aguila ammo. I will say that I did need to grease it up and allow it to cycle about a 100 rounds after getting it back from Inland repair before it cycled smoothly again.

[browningautorifle]

Perhaps in time they'll work out the bugs and these will be as good as the military guns.

[pcaine]

Inland returned my M1 Carbine after five weeks with notation they "replaced the bolt, corrected the timing, and polished the feed ramp." They "tested with 20 rounds of low velocity Armscor--No malfunctions."

This is a most encouraging commentary.

My next move will be to take the carbine apart, look it over paying attention to the bolt and gas port nut, then take it to the range and shoot the hell out of it, examining it after each shoot.

I will report that progress.

It is good to have it back.

[browningautorifle]

My next move will be to take the carbine apart, look it over paying attention to the bolt and gas port nut,

I don't understand...then you've altered what they've done and perhaps changed their work...I'd shoot it as is to start and then strip complete and clean after shooting a few hundred. That would tell if they did everything correctly.

[Sleeplessnashadow]

...they "replaced the bolt, corrected the timing, and polished the feed ramp."

Time to get my hands on another current production new one and see if the production runs are now using the properly hardened bolt. I hope so.

The statement they made about polishing the feed ramp, doing this may or may not be an issue depending on what they mean and did with polishing the ramp. While this works to help feeding on direct blowback semi-auto firearms, firearms designed with a locked breech the ramp should not be altered (see See Kuhnhausen, The U.S. .30 Caliber Gas Operated Carbines. p. 80, 10. Receiver Cartridge Ramp). Obviously a gunsmith should know what they're doing and especially a factory gunsmith where the firearm is assembled. The only reason to polish a ramp on a .30 caliber carbine is to remove a burr or some small deformation in the metal and even then cautiously. I'm not a gunsmith and can be overly cautious sometimes. I don't assume with certain things.

I'd disassemble the carbine, leaving the assembled bolt in place and move it to the closed and locked position. Look close at the ramp area where it comes in contact with the bolt and see if there are any gaps or if the ramp is not shaped evenly. If all looks okay, I'd reassemble it and fire 1 round giving my face some distance from the carbine. 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