My 'Big 5 Sports' IBM - The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

I don't know for sure why I had to have this IBM, but I just did. When Big 5 had them on sale around the holidays, I couldn't make it to their one-day sale with my "10% off" email coupon. JimF4M1s said that I should have tried the coupon anyway, so I went back and did just that. Here's the gun I ended up with - a typical "beater" as one of the guys called them on another thread. It "is what it is" but I'm still kind of proud of it. At least, it could be called an honest gun, and not just another "put together." I probably went overboard on the cleaning, and hurt the look of it a bit, but it's got some interesting features to it. I spent several hours with the cleaning and have pictures of all the internal parts. I've got a data sheet filled out, and have about 150 pictures. Here's some sample pictures just to see what you guys think. I've studied this thing inside and out and pretty much have all the pieces figured, but would welcome any questions or comments. Feel free to point out good or bad features - I may have missed a few in my inspection. From what I've read, the receiver and barrel are probably a match, and the date of manufacture could be from December '43 to the first month or two of '44. - Bob

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Nice weapon. Big 5s carbine are from Israel, I believe. The Israelis are noted for taking care of their weapons, as their existence depends on them.

Way to go!

Bob, that looks good. Is that the one that took alot of effort cleaning?
Looks like a great bore, should be a good shooter!!

Regards.....Frank

Thanks guys! Yes, it was pretty dirty inside but all parts were well oiled, and I didn't see much wear on anything. Even the tab on the slide is very good. The manager allowed me do a "bullet test" at the store and to check the headspace. I cleaned the chamber the best I could with a Q-tip, but it didn't want to close on the "Go" gauge. I hoped it would be OK after a good cleaning at home, and it was! It closes less on the 1.296" "No-Go" than any of my others, and seems to be in good shape overall. I think I can see a faint CC on the right side, but not sure. It has the S-HB (Std.-Pro) in the slingwell, but I don't know what the marking just in front of that means. It looks like D over OD over H. So many nice stocks have the "pry marks" where somebody tried to force out the oiler, but on this beat up one, that area looks pretty good - one reason might be that it had the remains of a nylon rope on it for a sling and it was just tied through the oiler slot. It has an AI bolt and an NPM trigger housing which could have been installed when it was new according to War Baby, but that's probably a long shot. - Bob

That unknown mark may be a rebuild mark. Std./Prod.

I like it !!!
:thup:

Looks good to me. Nice buy.:)

I would bet an iron with a wet rag would steam out a significant amount of the stock dings

Nice! I like it! If you do a search, I ended up with something similar (well, a bit more used)!
Welcome to the club!!