It is a genuine T2 band. Recent research points to them being made by American Swiss and the symbol being an A over an S not a PI in a pennant. They are correct and original for your carbine.
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It is a genuine T2 band. Recent research points to them being made by American Swiss and the symbol being an A over an S not a PI in a pennant. They are correct and original for your carbine.
You guys definitely seem to know your stuff. it's amazing how different books have different answers.
I get the feeling this carbine had a pretty boring life.There's not much wear except for the bolt finish. For it to have avoided an arsenal rebuild I imagine it was stored in some little forgotten post somewhere.
Here's an interesting little bit I found about the American Swiss Company.
Holden Rightmyer/American Swiss Company Papers 1933-1946, MSS-148
Quote:
Despite being too old to serve in World War II, Rightmyer nonetheless served his country by using his engineering knowledge to improve weaponry. He redesigned a bomb rack to correct problems that kept the bombs from being deployed. He also modified the standard issue gun of the period to remove unnecessary weight and make it easier for soldiers to carry.
You definitely have a keeper there feets!
My Inland was a little later and 100% too. Though not common, the late original Inlands with late parts aren't extremely rare either. My thoughts are since they were late and saw little or no action, and already had most of the updated parts when they were built, they missed the mass rebuilds after WWII if they were in good condition. I figured mine never left the US.
Does this sound right to you guys?
Here are a few photos of mine
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...1024x768-1.jpg
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...1024x768-1.jpg
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...09/07/13-1.jpg
I like how you can see the original wavy milling in the sight groove because it was never sanded at rebuild, etc
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...1024x768-1.jpg
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...1024x768-1.jpg
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...1024x768-1.jpg
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...1024x768-1.jpg
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...1024x768-1.jpg
The part swappers see that type 2-3 sight, round bolt and 4 rivet handguard and it's just another mixmaster. They pass on an original and go looking for a flip sight, any flip sight, they don't care. Sadly, they can't help themselves.
Some of these Inlands were sold in the 60s, untouched off a rack since made. This thread shows this lack of interest, a $1500+ original carbine for $399? The stock just has character. I'll bet that the checkering can be sanded away if a person was so inclined.
Isn't this an Underwood slide?
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...212256_1-1.jpg
Look inside the slide 'box' on the bottom and you'll probably find 'P.I.'. Packard for Inland. The 'U' is an inspectors mark or some other production symbol. These slides all have one letter on the bottom in that big serif font. You find a '.U.' used on rebuilds that were done by Underwood. I have a Type V slide on my Inland with a 'V' on the bottom. I thought for a long time it was the Type V designation before I found out it was just one of those factory marks.
Once again, you guys are right. There is a faint PI stamped inside the slide. I had to take some heavy duty bore cleaner and an old bore brush to the inside of the slide to find the mark. I dried off the solvent and the mark faded away. It took more scrubbing to get it visible again. It's pretty hard to photograph with my old digital camera.
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...212256_1-1.jpg
This old forgotten mule has a date with the range on Sunday. We'll see how it runs with factory ammo as well as my loads. I'll try out the "bad" magazines too.
Do you think it'll hang with my Encore pistol barrels at 200 yards? I'll be trying out some silhouette loads in the 308 and 460 that day. The cutesy little 30 carbine will give me a bit of a break from the recoil.
Once you start shooting your Inland you'll probably forget you brought anything else with you! ;)
There's just something about handling and shooting a carbine and thinking of it's past that nothing else compares.
Best of luck and hope you have an exciting, fun trip to the range this time. You have it coming to you.
~ Harlan
Feets, you are one lucky dog! Dave is right, you have a real original Inland carbine for a whooping price of $399! Leave it to Cabelas to onder price the gold and over price the garbage! Now, I'll be glad to give you $500 for it and that gives you a $100 profit! Geez, what elseare friends for?
The fun thing is I bet it is going to run better than your welded commercial one.
As far as mags, I have had great luck with both the Koreans 15 rd and 30 rd mags down at Cheaper than Dirt. The 30 rds are $10 and the 15 rds are $8. They are at the intersection of 820 and 35W in North Fort Worth, go to the BACK counter in the rear of the store to get the items listed on the website (long story, two different stores/owners, etc). The koreans have worked 100% in every USGI carbine I have. If you are having a problem with your mag release, Inland stamped releases are very easy to come by (I have at lease 3 in my parts drawer).
But you still have to show us HOW she shoots!!! Where are the targets with the holes in them???????
Cabellas had this Inland and two Universals all tagged at $399. I'm sure they still have a Universal if you're interested. :D
I took the little guy out to the range today. It digested everything I threw at it. That included the Remington factory loads, 100 gr squishies over 14 gr H110, 110 Speer Bear Claw over 14.5 gr H110, and the Speer 110 gr semi jacketed hollow point Varminters over 14.5 gr H110.
Here's a shot of the 50 yard target where I sighted it in. All of those rounds are accounted for in this mess.
I also put a three rounds through my 308 pistol in the same target.
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...212256_1-1.jpg
It was a good thing I took that pic because I tore up that target with my 460 S&W. Those 335 gr wide flat nose boolits put some big holes in stuff.
I moved the target back to 100 yards and tried again with the carbine. Everything was 2 inches high and off to the right. A couple clicks left fixed the windage and putting the sight back down to 100 yards had the bullets hitting 2" low. I forgot that I had adjusted the sights to 200 yards when I started banging away at the clay pigeons someone put on the 200 yard backstop. It took 3 to 4 rounds each but I was able to hit them.
Being easily led into temptation, I picked up the scoped 15" Encore in 308 and spent some time breaking the rest of the 200 yard clays. I was having a much easier time of it that the guys who brought scoped rifles to hit the clays. They were impressed and I was having fun.
Too bad the 460 loads were too light to be accurate. Gotta work on that.
Anyway, the Inland ran like a top. There were no malfunctions with any of the ammo or any of the magazines.
The question now is Do I sell the Iver with the collapsible stock or the GI pot belly I bought for it?
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...212256_9-1.jpg