Stunt M1 Carbine from HBO's 'The Pacific'

About a month ago I picked up a rubber stunt prop of an M1 Carbine used in the filming of HBO's 'The Pacific'. I don't actually have HBO, so I haven't seen any eps. other than the first one they showed for free.

Anyway, I thought y'all might want to see a couple of photos.

It doesn't have a real carbine sling on it, but the one they used looks it has some age to it. This thing will fool you from a couple of feet away, although the rubber barrel warps a little to the right. Can't quite make out the serial number of the one they copied, it's under the rear sight.

I was going to slap a cartridge pouch onto the stock but it won't fit because the magazine is permanently molded into the rifle!

-Mike

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...ific1JPG-1.jpg

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...ific2JPG-1.jpg

If I was still collecting US military weapons that would be one I would have to have too!

What a find! It looks good to me. A real "wall hanger" if ever I saw one.
Mind if I ask what the price was?

I've heard about these rubber guns, anyone know who makes them? The guy who made the latest King Kong movie, a couple of years ago, has some rubber Thompsons which everyone thinks are real, until you pick them up.

Mike that is a nice looking prop. Thanks for sharing. I have two rubber AK47. They came from the Army back in the late 60's and were used as trainers. They are Chi Com and have Chinese script on them. My boy's used to play with them, I'll get some pics of them up later.....Frank

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Originally Posted by phil441

What a find! It looks good to me. A real "wall hanger" if ever I saw one.
Mind if I ask what the price was?

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I got it from the Prop Store of London. Apparently, they have an office in L.A., too.

http://www.propstore.com/

They are still for sale there, since they have multiple copies of each. The M1 Carbine with the sling cost me about $154, and the ones without the sling were cheaper (but I'm not seeing them listed anymore)

They also have stunt props for the M1 Garand, the Thompson SMG, the Japanese Ariska rifle

It came with a little hologram/signed C.O.A. saying it was used in the filming of the miniseries.

The link was too long to paste- so I just gave you the link to their main page. There's a banner halfway down the page that will take you to 'The Pacific' props and uniforms.

I have my grandfather's uniforms and photo albums from Hawaii in WWII, so I thought that this would be a cheap way to get a copy of his weapon until I buy myself a real 1943 era Carbine.

This is the only photo I have of my grandfather with his rifle, it doesn't seem detailed enough for me to pick out any specific features other than it doesn't have the bayonet front band.

https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...ediumJPG-1.jpg

Hope that helps,
-Mike

Mike, I nice looking pic of your grandad. 1943 in Hawaii. Could it be from somewere else and possibly a different time? The carbine has a type two or three rear sight. I think that would have been much later. I'm not sure but it might be a Winchester hand guard. Lets see what others have to add. Thanks again......Frank

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Originally Posted by frankderrico

Mike, I nice looking pic of your grandad. 1943 in Hawaii. Could it be from somewere else and possibly a different time? The carbine has a type two or three rear sight. I think that would have been much later. I'm not sure but it might be a Winchester hand guard. Lets see what others have to add. Thanks again......Frank

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Hi Frank- thanks for the info. Based on the other photos in his (5) photo albums (he had a photo finishers license and made pics on the side as a hobby)- I think it's in Hawaii. (I could certainly be wrong, though.)

From his papers, here are some of the places he might have been:

Inducted El Paso, TX 24 Jun. '43 (Marksman Rifle 5 Aug. '43)

Line Maintenance School NATTC - Memphis, TN (auto mech.)

AMM TBF school - Norman, OK (aircraft mech.)

Sent to 'Pacific Area' from 23 Mar. '45 through 23 May '46

Separated 5 Jun. '46 at MCB San Diego, CA.

I assume he was issued the M1 Carbine because he was a 'non-combatant', even though he was a Marine in the Pacific.

I'll be posting more photos later, not sure where they should go- since they don't have rifles in them.

-Mike

In the Canadian Army we also used rubber guns as procured from the U.S. system, I beleive. There were AKs, RPGs, early and later M16s, and later we started producing our own rubber C7. By the way for you guys looking at rubber guns in film, the Devils Brigade with William Holden was on recently. Check out the scene where they patrol down the stream with all patrol members carrying Thompsons. If you frame forward on it you will see that all but the members who actually fire during that part have rubber guns. Lots of them.

Mike, I think the Pacific '45 to '46 would probably be the time frame for the carbine pic. with the t-2 or t-3 rear sight. Also looks like pretty tough living conditions out there. I have three uncles and my father in law that were there about the same time. We all have to be very proud of that generation for their service and sacrifice. We also need to preserve all we can of their history, as you are doing. Thanks again for sharing.....Frank

My dad had an Inland on Iwo Jima at the beginning of 1945. It had an adjustable rear (type II or III) rear sight but no bayonet lug. He got it issued to him new before the invasion.

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Originally Posted by imarangemaster

My dad had an Inland on Iwo Jima at the beginning of 1945. It had an adjustable rear (type II or III) rear sight but no bayonet lug. He got it issued to him new before the invasion.

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That's great. I have no idea what the U.S. policy was on weaponry issued to troops after they were discharged. I don't know if they even had the opportunity to keep their service weapon, or if they were forced to turn it in. (or "liberate" it?)

With regards to my grandad's weapon- Frank posted the following to me via PM: "I'm thinking it's a Winchester, by the type of handgaurd. Type 1 barrel band, highwood oval cut stock, two rivet bullnose handgaurd."

That's helpful info, and will assist me in narrowing down what my search criteria is.

I wish my dad had brought his home!

DTC, Thanks for the link. A really fun and interesting site!
And no, they were not allowed to keep their rifles.

The rubber carbine also has many late features; Type 5 slide, flip safety, adjustable sight.

Inland44, you're right!
I was so enthralled with the rubber props that I kinda overlooked the basics.

Not really a real carbine, but interesting (to me) nonetheless.

I just got one I ordered a few weeks ago (before I found the latest Underwood I posted about), and it really is amazing for what it is. Some parts are mangled, but I can't imagine that these props were handled too gently.

The one I got appears to have been cast from a Standard Products with an Underwood barrel, and all early features. A surprising number of the markings are legible--will post some pics over the weekend.

The seam where the two halves of the molds would have been obscured some of the markings, but I can make out quite a few. Even though I might "know" what a letter might be, if I can't specifically tell, I'll give it a ?:

Weight:
4 pounds. My Underwoods weigh 5-3/4 pounds each on the same kitchen scale.

Receiver markings (got messed up around the slide projection):
US C??ARB???
CA???30??

S?D. PRO.
2?78252

Recoil Plate:
Standard Products

Stock:
Oval cut, high wood.

Sling Well:
S-HB

Left side stock under sight:
AAW

Handguard:
2- rivet, wide groove.

Barrel:
?ND?RWOOD
???44
Flaming bomb

Front sight:
Mangled, but with an R under the tang.

Rear sight:
Mangled, but a flipper in the 300-yard position when cast.

Safety:
Push type, in "safe" when cast.

Barrel band:
Type 1, mangled.

Bolt:
Flat.

Mag catch:
Type 1, a bit mangled.

The detail in the casting is amazing--you can see the proof punch marks on the receiver and bolt and detail around the extractor. There is definitely a metal/wire infrastructure--the sling loop is wire that feeds back into the mold, and part of the trigger guard is messed up and you can see the wire framework. Ditto down the somewhat mangled muzzle--something rusty lives there.

The colors are spot-on. I put my $10 repro sling and oiler in, and from a few feet away, it is possible to tell the difference between the prop and a real one if you know what to look for, but it would be virtually impossible to in a movie in the background. To a layperson, it is way too realistic. My wife glanced at it and asked "um, why no gunlock on that rifle Mr. Safety?"

Oh, speaking of the trigger assembly--it appears to have been the stamped/brazed type.

Like I said--pix to come assuming there is any interest. I know that it is a virtual carbine, and not a real one, but the sleuth in me is fascinated.............

It'd be really neat to know if anyone may have the carbine this mold was (or may have been) made from.

Nice work, Dave. Based on nearby serial numbers in the Carbine Club newsletters where they review apparent original carbines, I'd say yours is 2178252. Their 2174598 has a 1-44 Underwood barrel, but it also has a low wood stock. 2058xxx has the appropriate high wood stock, but it either has an error in the barrel date or a postwar replacement. The data sheet shows "10-49 Underwood." I would suspect a transcription error, the data sheet is from 1987 - a long time ago when it comes to understanding the carbine production history. This barrel is likely 10-43. Both of these reviewed carbines have S-HB made stocks like yours. So, if you can accept the low wood stock on 2174598 as transitional, replacement, or modified low wood then that leaves us with 2178252.

I don't think SP ever got to 2278252.

The 10-49 barrel date is what is stamped on the barrel. There is one at the cmp south store right now on a STD. PRO. Rack grade with a 10-49 barrel.
I understand that that was a date misstamp from the factory.

firstflabn--thank you.

Now, who has the carbine that was used to make the casting? THAT would make a neat collection............

I missed the most obvious attribute. The 'AAW' stamp on the stock is a rebuild mark - so whoever has the original has a restoration. This doesn't detract from your find though.

Maybe you've become the guy who went to set a mouse trap and found he was out of cheese. Thinking quick, he cut a picture of a piece of cheese out of a Velveeta ad in a magazine and baited the trap with it. He heard the trap spring and rushed to check on it - he had caught a picture of a mouse.

Probably couoldn't make it through an airport with it, huh?

DTC,
Thanks a bunch for the link... I went to it directly, and noticed that they still had a Thompson Sub-Machine Gun.... And bought it. It arrived last week, along with the "Certificate of Authenticity".. For what that's worth...
At first I was pretty dissapointed in the condition of the "gun". From the photos below, you can see that it has had pretty heavy use. Mostly, the muzzle part of the bbl is gone. But, as they advertised , "heavy use".
So here 'tis... My little THompson, to go along with the MP 40 "non-gun" I have. I can assure you that they both cause folks to stop and look when they wander by my table at the gun shows. Great conversation starters..
Thanks again for the link... It's a pretty cool toy!!

Ronnie aka Jim Nasium

In doing a side-by-side comparison of the rubber "carbine" next to two Underwoods, I realized that the stunt version is about 3/4" shorter. Each component doesn't quite line up by a hair, and the cumulative effect is about 1/2" to 3/4". So, it shrank in the curing.

The rubber gun in the OP also appears to have a type III band with the actual bayonet lug removed.

Huh, rubber guns in movies, whoulda thunk it? That kills my fantasy dream of a big prop warehouse in Hollywierd full of rare guns. But I bet there's still tons of cool stuff locked away on those movie sets. Real guns, cool cars, old motorcycles, airplanes, jeeps, etc. I'd love the chance to snoop through a few of 'em.

That's a very cool carbine! Wouldn't mind having one me own self.

In 1989 I bought a 1928 Thompson that was marked to the Bapty movie company, who supplied guns to movie sets. Serial 68038. Twin grips and Cutts compinsator. Remington anchor on the butt. Hill's book on Thompson states there WERE more Thompsons in the movie warehouses than anywhere else. In the movie Devils Brigade, the patrol in the stream scene has almost all members carrying rubber Thompsons. The only live ones were the ones who had to fire.

There is one on eBay right. Plus a Garand and Enfield.

The Garand is $25 less then the Carbine. As it should be on our forum :rofl:

items - Get great deals on USED PROPS, NEW PROPS items on eBay Stores!

Wow- I go away for a bit and my thread takes off! Glad you picked up the Thompson!