Thanks from the Carbine Club

I just received a thank you card from The Carbine Club for a data sheet I sent in last year. At first I was confused with the tardiness of the card when I started noticing how dog-eared and beat-up the card is. Neither rain, sleet or snow can stop our dedicated USPS employees. Your government at work.

I hope my comment wasn’t miscued as something negative towards the Carbine Club. It was not intended that way. I just figured the card was hung up in some mail bin somewhere and finally dislodged itself and reentered the mail system again.
BB

The same thing must have been what happened to the check Ed MacMahon promised me 10 years ago....

(Sorry, could not resist)

Seriously, I keep meaning to join, but I never seem to get around to it.

What was the postmark date?

No postmark date on the card, just a 28 cent postage pre-stamped card.

I think the 28 cent postcard came into play in May of this year.

Loren

Ah yes, the "Carbine Club" Invitation only, thank you very much. In 40 years of warmth and welcome in the firearm, shooting, collecting and Martial Arms community, I walked away feeling insulted with simply trying to "join" their illustrious and so very special fraternity.

I suppose I didnt know the "secret" handshake, or perhaps wore the wrong hat when I sent them a check? One really does have to be careful these days you know.

A bunch of pompous old shankopotomuses if you ask me. "Fill out yer will boys, some new guys want to learn about Carbines".

Quote:

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Originally Posted by zertouche

Ah yes, the "Carbine Club" Invitation only, thank you very much. In 40 years of warmth and welcome in the firearm, shooting, collecting and Martial Arms community, I walked away feeling insulted with simply trying to "join" their illustrious and so very special fraternity.

I suppose I didnt know the "secret" handshake, or perhaps wore the wrong hat when I sent them a check? One really does have to be careful these days you know.

A bunch of pompous old shankopotomuses if you ask me. "Fill out yer will boys, some new guys want to learn about Carbines".

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I am curious, did they refuse your check? What kind of problem did you have with them??

j

i just joined last month, i had no problem,they sent me the years newesletters before my check was cashed. worth every penny and then some .

Zertouche, I'd love to hear more about your bad experience. I'm another guy who was welcomed with open arms and you are the only one I've heard of that had a problem.

Joined the Carbine Club earlier this year with no problems at all. Great info. Well worth the cost.

I also left the Carbine Club, several years ago. They held(and maybe still do) the opinion that I was REQUIRED(not asked) to seek out & report carbine info to them. I had & still have no way to do that. I don't need that kind of grief from an organization that I am paying $$$ to, so I decided that there are better uses for my limited resources. I've never regretted that decision.
Donzi

only reason anyone has to defame the club is maybe their goods were exposed, sounds like could be one of the purveyors of repro and fake parts who got his ego bruised-again I said could be-every organization has always had their share of bad apples, the club was set up for purpose of gathering information and sharing of that info not for the purpose of enriching themselves at the expense of newbies-again just my opinion of what I understand about its purpose and function.

Ditto on the recently joined with no problem.

All,
I have been a member of the Carbine Club for many years. 10+, anyway. And yes, I know they ASK for any data input on carbines. That is where the information that we discourse about on this forum derives. They have a massive and detailed data base. They got this from input from their members. If you join, and order a complete list of their Newsletters, you will have the most complete M 1 Carbine reference that exists.
Now remember that this project was started many, many years ago. Long before the computer and all the fancy printing and filing. The first Carbine Club newsletter that I have (from ordering all the back issues) is November of 1976. Thats over 30 years of compiling information.
And, yes, many of the members (like me) are getting a little geezerly. Some of us don't take to new ideas and ways of doing things too easily.... You will all find that out yourslef soon enough.
So I respectfully ask each of you, members or not, to be patient with us "elder flatus emeritus'es" and cut us some slack. In our own antiquated way, we are peddling as fast as we can. We WELCOME new members, and are anxious for their input and new ideas.

Ronnie Fry (aka Jim Nasium)
Prarie Dog Town, West Texas

I have NEVER tried to sell carbine (or any other firearm) parts. Your post is insulting,WTMR.
Donzi

I'm sorry if I was a little strident, Jim Nasium, but the letter(s) I received from the Carbine Club didn't "ask" me to contribute new carbine info, they said that I was expected to do so in order to renew my membership. Frankly, I really don't need that sort of grief for something I consider a "fun" hobby thing. And let's ease off on the age thing; I'm pushing 70, myself.
I don't want this to develop into a full-scale online fight, so I'll not comment further.
Donzi

hmmmm, air's kinda thick in here..... maybe a change of subject is actually in order....

how about those Brooklyn Dodgers... do those "bums" have a chance at the pennant this year?????

(yea, I know, only the old guys will get that one)....

Actually, this is a subject that has needed airing out. For non-members such as myself contemplating joining, the requirement/request thing has always been an issue. I can't see buying a carbine every year, or tearing down someone else's to fill out a data sheet.
It's probably time for the CC guys to revisit their requirements for renewal to define their requirements. There's a big difference between "require" and "request".
If they wish to keep their group a tight "closed" group, I can deal with that.
But it will limit their information gathering by casual collectors. It's their call.

And age is probably of little importance here since as near as I can tell, a lot of us are in the +/- 70 range.

Regards,
Phil

Perhaps being "70+" myself, I'm having trouble understanding all the hoopla about filling out the occasional data sheet. Personally, I do one for every one of my carbines, and find the task intersting and educational. It's FUN guys.

Why the big deal over simply sharing that info, and your good fortune with the other CC members. It makes for a hell of a good data base, and is responsible for many of us learning more about carbines in general, and perhaps ours in particular.

To my knowledge, there is no requirement for members to buy carbines (most of us love to do that anyway), or to dissassemble their friends and neighbor's rifles for the sake of the Carbine Club. I suppose if you're buying 5 - 6 carbines a week ("throw me in that briar patch, Brer Bear"), the effort to take apart and catalog them might prove burdensome. If so, send them to me and I'll do it!

Relax, and take things for what they are. The Carbine Club is a wonderful source of information, and in my experience, has a lot of people who are well informed and quite helpful. If that sounds interesting to you, join. If not don't. It's that simple.

Again,

From Donzi:
I also left the Carbine Club, several years ago. They held(and maybe still do) the opinion that I was REQUIRED(not asked) to seek out & report carbine info to them. I had & still have no way to do that. I don't need that kind of grief from an organization that I am paying $$$ to, so I decided that there are better uses for my limited resources. I've never regretted that decision.
Donzi

My post:
"It's probably time for the CC guys to revisit their requirements for renewal to define their requirements. There's a big difference between "require" and "request"."


Having never joined due to the above mentioned requirements, I'm just wondering if Donzi just got a note from someone in a bad mood or if it's the general rule there.
They need to clear the air here.

Regards to all,
Phil

I'm tired of hearing how bad the CC is from non members. :runaway: If it was so bad we would all leave. :wave:

The CC doesn't say buy a gun to give us information. They ask if you have some or can get information from some you see, they would like to have it to add to the data bank.

I'm a long time member. I haven't bought a Carbine in a couple of years, or seen any new guns in a while. But information is not only guns. Parts, web gear, bayonets, tools, old articles you find. Anything related to the Carbine. I'm sure there a folks who haven't submitted anything for a while.

This information comes back to all of us in some form or another in the newsletter articles. Personally I think the newsletters are priceless. I learn something from almost every newsletter. The last one on late Winchester's was great. I wish they would go back to monthly newsletters so I would get more.

Also, there is NO age discrimination, holy smokes. 80 year olds used them in the WW2, 70 year olds used them in Korea, I (60 years old) used one in Viet Nam. It's just that us older guys have memories and are more interested because of first hand use. Maybe we are trying to relive our younger years, who knows.

If you choose not to join fine. Your loss of valuable information.

If you choose to join, I feel you will be very pleased.

What I got wasn't a note, but a statement on the renewal form I rec'd from the CC. I'd alrady told them that I only owned one "real" carbine, plus one I built from mostly new parts & had neither the inclination nor resources to purchase more, especially @ current prices. I did feel that I was being presured to seek out more carbines to report on & just didn't feel that this was a valid requirement, as far as I was concerned. Actually, my leaving the CC was kind of a blessing in disguise, as it made me see that there were many other US & foreign milsurp weapons that I'd like to have, & now do. I don't hold a grudge against the CC, we're just not on the same wavelength.
Donzi

Not to pick a fight....but 2-3 years ago I tried to join. I was told that I HAD to send in at least one form a year , minimum required. I have about 10 carbines , and I had already broke them down and ID'd the parts. I figure I would send in one a year for 10 years , then go from there. I then e-mailed for the registration packet. Requested it 3 or 4 times over about a 6 month period , never recieved anything. Finally just gave up.
If thier policy has changed , they need to make it known. If the info I was given by them is wrong , they need to make it known because it seems others were told the same thing. With the economy downturn , I'm not really set to spend the money right now ( I'd get the back issues) , but I 'm not mad or anything. These are just the facts. Chris

When you requested it may be the issue. One of the officers died and a lot of email got lost as a result. Its possible that that is what happened to your request. And I agree with Jim....they accept anything carbine related as fulfilling the "requirement". If you have a part that is still in the wrapper, a simple photocopied picture of the package fills the bill. Spot and unusual part at a show, send a spotters report. Something ammo related? good to go...And unusual configuration on a bayonet? report it! It is so easy to meet that requirement that it isn't funny.

My better judgement says not to reply, but I am going to stick my neck out. For no other logical reason except this Forum/Web Site is about as good as it gets. We are all anonymous here, but I am going to relay my experience.

I own, shoot and reload mostly US firearms. Years ago, I got a Rockola Carbine on a trade and sold it. I never shot it. M1911, O3, O3A2, Garands, Victory Specials, Bayonets, Civil War era sabers, field gear, CCR license holder etc, etc, yes I collected it all and still have some examples that I spent more than 30 years upgrading and condensing.

I still have a Garand that I bought via CMP when you had to have a score book in order to buy one. So perusing the CMP they mentioned a club affiliation. A reasonable requirement to be sure. Since I wanted to purchase a Winchester Carbine, I filled out an application for the CC. Makes sense right? Here is an affiliated group, who's charter is about Carbines. I want to own a Carbine, I want to learn about them.

Along with my application to CC I asked them to expide my application *if possible* as I had submitted my application to CMP to purchase a Carbine and listed my pending CC membership. Within a few days I got an email that said (approximately) " Well, you know, we dont really like new members who just want to buy a Carbine from CMP. We are a volunteer organization that puts all of our effort into our newsletter and that takes a lot of time. In fact, we talked to another CMP affiliate who farms out all of their membership applications to a third party because they have so many applications. We are simply not set up to do this. Perhaps you should find somewhere else to fulfill your affiliation requirement with the CMP. The CMP recently begged us to stay on their list, but its really a burden because we are really busy with our newsletter and we are a volunteer organization."

So there you have it. I joined another affiliate. They said they would email my membership to CMP right away. They welcomed me to their organization, and let me know they were glad I contacted them. I own three US M1 Carbines and have an order in for another. They are great little rifles and a huge piece of US Martial Arms history.

Chop away.

I'm not chopping, but I will explain. There were a large number of applications like your's that suddenly appeared when it was discovered that a limited number of "white bag carbines" were made available to Carbine Club members through the CMP. A lot of folks wanted to get in on this and due to the limited numbers available through CMP, the club wanted to restrict the carbines to long time members. I can't say that I blame them. Now before you go on the defensive, I want to tell you that I couldn't get one either; even though I had been a member for years! There weren't enough to go around. I ended up getting mine through another group that I was a member of. But at least I found out about the availability through the club. CMP only permitted a limited number to be sold through each affiliate. So new members were strongly discouraged. I for one appreciate their efforts on behalf of the folks who had been making contibutions to the organiztion for some time, even though I got left out in the cold myself. If there are 10 of something available and 20 who want them and its a question of who is more "deserving", then that's how it should be. Let those who have contributed have the first chance. I think Jim will agree with me on that. Remember, I didn't get mine through them either even though I was and still am a member.

Jim,what do you mean by "white bag"

The first carbine that CMP released were still in the packing bags fresh from storage at US military facilities. They weren't the ones brought back from over-seas. There were a limited number. You had to be a member of an affiliate and have a bit of "inside" info to even be aware of the release. These carbines were in beautiful condition. Most were shipped in the "white" storage bags that they were delivered to the CMP in. As a result, they are usually referred to as "white bag" carbines.

I had been a lone time member and wasn't able to get one either. Didn't sour me on the CC.

The newsletters are worth any hassle you think you might get.

We all have our "favorite" affilitiations. Especially when we write them a check. We are kind of locked in then arent we?

One of the affiliations that I belong to, interviewed a gentleman who served with the kind of rifle that they are centered around. He mentioned that he remembered the serial number of the rifle he served with. They found that rifle and gave it to him. No charge.

For the rest of my life, that simple act, is worth more than my annual dues payment for as long as I can write a check. Heck, I may sign up for internet banking just so they get paid each year as long as I have a few bucks in an account somewhere.

Parts is parts. They are only original once. No matter how many times you shuffle the deck, and rewrite history.

The Carbine Club gets a huge amount of respect from me for the work that they do , the ethics that they display , and the history that they gather.
I became a member a few years ago but dropped out after a year. There was just no way that I could do justice to the reporting requirement during that stage of my life. Time was too short and the learning curve was too steep.
I'm ready to go back and give it another go now.