Clips

What's a good source for carbine clips? Do high capacity clips work good or should I stick to normal issue ? Thanks in advance. Regards, Rick.

Sakorick, not trying to be an a$$ over terminology, but I assume you are talking about magazines? Or are you talking about the stripper clips that have the spoon that you slide over the lip of the mag and then strip the rounds into the mag?

For the magazines, I personally have a bunch of 15 USGI mags, several of the new Korean 15 rd KCI mags and a large amount of the 30 rd new Korean UU mags. I also have a few of the post-war, commercial 30 rd mags with various markings.

Of course the USGI 15 round mags work and keep working. You will never beat the real thing. However, I do like to use both the 15 rd KCI and 30 rd Korean UU mags. I yet to have one of those misfeed or fail. I have one 30 rd UU mag that has been loaded for a year (at the end of October) for a spring durability test. The best place for the USGI 15 rd mags are CMP at $15. I have gotten the 15 rd KCI and the 30 rd Korean UU through Cheaper than dirt at $6 and $10 respectfully. You can beat those prices on if you look around for sales.

As far as the other 30 rd commercial mags, none of them seem to function reliably. I also do not like most of the commercial 15 rd mags for the same reason.

If you are talking about the stripper clips to load the mags, its usually cheaper to buy the entire bandoleer kits as a whole. Just be sure you get the "old style" which have the individual spoons on each stripper clip. Everything I see on the market is coming out of korean as either once used or never issued.

Of course, all this is just my opinion. Several others here may have a different viewpoint.

What Tired Retired said. I have both USGI magazines and Korean magazines.

The Korean magazines are new production and work fine, except all of mine came with the M2-style follower with the squared-off back edge that holds the bolt open on empty. Some folks like that, and others don't. I don't.

I just bought three more USGI mags from the CMP. They may be used, but they're the real deal.

Hi SAK,
First call them Mags or Magazines. Your carbine can use both 15 or 30rd mags.
30 rd mags will work best with the late style magcatch with the support arm on the left. Pretty sure these were called a Type IV. It just takes a minute to swap out the Magcatch.
They get pretty heavy fully loaded......
M1 Carbine, M2 magazine catch. USGI. : Other at GunBroker.com


Eddy has a good buy on some commercial 30rders that work very well. Hard to beat the price also....... and you'll save wear and tear on collectible magazines.
M1 Carbine, (4) NIW 30 Round magazine. M2 : Magazines / Clips at GunBroker.com


Here's a list of his auction items. TYPE IN M1 CARBINE MAGS IN THE SEARCH BOX BELOW WHERE IT SAYS ... SEARCH FOR OTHER ITEMS FOR SALE BY 81MM.
I can't get just his MAG PAGE to show up.
GunBroker.com - Auctions by 81MM


Here's a really nice one for the $$.......
M1 Carbine WWII 30Rd. MAGAZINE : Magazines / Clips at GunBroker.com


For other GunBroker sellers, type in the search box.... M1 carbine magazines.

HTH,
Charlie-painter777

You have a real G.I. rifle, buy real G.I. magazines. Same for the sling, pouches, and zipper case.

I just can't see putting something from Korea or China on my U.S. military rifles.

Maybe because I fought for our country, pride, patriotism, call it what you want. But that's just me.

Moving right along.
The new South Korean commercial 15 and 30 rd mag's are a great deal for the money and seem to be very reliable . Northridge and What a Country have sold the excellent FN contract ( Belgium and the Netherlands , IIRC ) 30 rd mag's. The FN's are praised in the CMP Carbine write-ups. The CMP 15 rounders are real WW2 USGI rather than 1950's and later allied and worth the extra money & possible cleaning hassle , IMO .
ETA:
The Gunbroker deals sound very good , as well.

That AYP is not WWII and is not US production. Without seeing all the details, it may be a foreign production or a repro of the AYP magazines.

I ordered two from the CMP. Thanks for the input. Regards, Rick.

I think Bill is right. AYP was european (FN I think) contract. That particular one does not look quite right. The back corners are not as sharp as my AYP (which I have had for 20 years) and the rear flat has a slight bow to it. Cheaper Than Dirt was selling fake AYPs about a year ago. All reports are that the Korean ones are pretty good. At $10 or so, you can't go wrong. BTW US Armory has NOS USGI 30 magazine springs for $3 each. I have found two problems with non-GI 30 rounders: first, often the springs are in backwards, and second, the springs in them suck! In the early 90s, I got one at a gun show that had a stretched out 15 round spring in it, and it was new in the bag! The body was good, though, so I put a GI spring in it and it works fine.

I took your advice and ordered 2 magazines from the CMP. They are sensational. One is marked KSG and looks new. The other is marked with a U and has minor surface rust and shows minimal wear. Thanks again for the recommendation and as always the shipping from the CMP was fast. Regards, Rick.

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...0/10/c12-1.jpg

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...0/10/c22-1.jpg