value of Underwood M1

Hello, I am new to the forum and joined because I just picked up an underwood M1. If anyone would help me to get a value and identify how original it is? To my untrained eye it looks to be GI rifle that was rearsonaled at some point. Thanks for any help. I paid 730 shipped with two 15 and two 30 round mags sling and oiler. From what I have seen this is at the bottom of the scale for a working M1.
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well you have an Underwood M1 carbine that has mixmaster parts, most do due to the rebuild they went through after the war. Serial number puts manufacture date range of July 1943-March 1944 but closer to early 1944 I would imagine. Barrel date of 11-42 indicates barrel was probably replaced at one time. It s always possible that the 11-42 barrel sat in a bin at the bottom and was pulled out for your later 1943-early 1944 build. It is possible that someone changed the barrel recently as they as well, quite a few try to re barrel a BLUE SKY import marked carbine to increase value and perhaps put the old barrel on the other one they swapped it from. As it is import marked BLUE SKY it is the least desirable of the imports due to it's large printing and sometimes heavy stamping that caused damage to a few barrels but we will never know when this barrel was placed on the receiver, we can just speculate. Inland slide, Inland bolt, Inland hammer. We would need more pictures of other parts for ID. $730 with 4 mags is not too bad, probably high on the BLUE SKY import totem pole but still ok if it shoots well, that, after all, is why you bought it.

http://m1family.com/topic14.html

U.S. Carbine Imports & Exports

well you have an Underwood M1 carbine that has mixmaster parts, most do due to the rebuild they went through after the war. Serial number puts manufactre date in the summer of 1943. Barrel date of 11-42 indicates barrel was probably replaced at one time. It s always possible that the 11-42 barrel sat in a bin at the bottom and was pulled out for your later 1943-early 1944 build. It is possible that someone changed the barrel recently as they as well, quite a few try to re barrel a BLUE SKY import marked carbine to increase value and perhaps put the old barrel on the other one they swapped it from. As it is import marked BLUE SKY it is the least desirable of the imports due to it's large printing and sometimes heavy stamping that caused damage to a few barrels but we will never know when this barrel was placed on the receiver, we can just speculate. Inland slide, Inland bolt, Inland hammer. We would need more pictures of other parts for ID. $730 with 4 mags is not too bad, probably high on the BLUE SKY import totem pole but still ok if it shoots well, that, after all, is why you bought it.

http://m1family.com/topic14.html

U.S. Carbine Imports & Exports

Summed up very well. It will never be a sought-after collectible. So, as long as it performs as you desire, then the investment is worth it. Hard to find a large selection of decent shooting carbines for under $700 these days, import marked or not.

Enjoy!

Well I knew it was not a top end M1 and never will be. I know it wont be the collectible that is sought after. I was more interested in getting a good deal on a shooter grade that will go up in value. I don't expect to sell it tomorrow for 900 but like the inland I bought back in 93 for 199 I would hope it goes up to 900 in a couple of years. Not that I want to sell but I am buying some guns back I sold in the great recession and don't want to pay more than I had to sell for. I had a Quality hardware in about the same condition I sold for 850. So I am ahead I think, unless QH is of more value than Underwood. My QH was a mixmaster also. About the same over all condition. Thanks for the input.

That appears to be a pretty nice Inland (?) Type II highwood sock which has seen some use but does not appear to have been sanded or abused. This is a valuable stock and a LOT better than most stocks found on $700 mixmaster carbines. You might want to replace it with a good (and cheap) Type III (low-wood) or Type IV or V (M2) replacement stock if you plan to shoot it, and save or sell the valuable early highwood stock. JMHO

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Originally Posted by ChipS

That appears to be a pretty nice Inland (?) Type II highwood sock which has seen some use but does not appear to have been sanded or abused. This is a valuable stock and a LOT better than most stocks found on $700 mixmaster carbines. You might want to replace it with a good (and cheap) Type III (low-wood) or Type IV or V (M2) replacement stock if you plan to shoot it, and save or sell the valuable early highwood stock. JMHO

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Thanks. Can you explain or link to a site that shows what your talking about? I have no idea, not that educated on these. When I say shoot I mean shoot it once in a great while. I collect WW2 guns just not the high end ones.

Here is a good site to browse.

http://www.uscarbinecal30.com/

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Originally Posted by edteach

Thanks. Can you explain or link to a site that shows what your talking about? I have no idea, not that educated on these. When I say shoot I mean shoot it once in a great while. I collect WW2 guns just not the high end ones.

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You have a $200-$250 collectable stock, maybe $300 cleaned up on a good auction day. If you shoot your carbine ONE time and the stock cracks you would have about a $75-$125 stock, maybe less, depending on the crack. You can buy a solid, non-collectable USGI replacement stock anywhere (Fleabay, GunBroker, WTS forums, gunshows, etc.) for about $30-$50 and blast away all you want without risking serious loss of value. Others here may adjust the market values I estimated above as they see fit, but your stock has real value. For the benefit of some reading this, I do not sell stocks.

Your stock is not museum quality but it is clean, honest and original and I would not use it to shoot if it were mine. ChipS

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Originally Posted by ChipS

You have a $200-$250 collectable stock, maybe $300 cleaned up on a good auction day. If you shoot your carbine ONE time and the stock cracks you would have about a $75-$125 stock, maybe less, depending on the crack. You can buy a solid, non-collectable USGI replacement stock anywhere (Fleabay, GunBroker, WTS forums, gunshows, etc.) for about $30-$50 and blast away all you want without risking serious loss of value. Others here may adjust the market values I estimated above as they see fit, but your stock has real value. For the benefit of some reading this, I do not sell stocks.

Your stock is not museum quality but it is clean, honest and original and I would not use it to shoot if it were mine. ChipS

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Thanks. Do the thin part that makes it a high wood have a tendency to crack there? Or were you saying that if it cracks anywhere?

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Originally Posted by edteach

Thanks. Do the thin part that makes it a high wood have a tendency to crack there? Or were you saying that if it cracks anywhere?

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Yes, the highwood stocks tended to crack where the wood partially covered the slide. As far as your stock being collectible, it is to some degree, but because your carbine has the type three barrel band on it, impressions will be left in the nose of your stock that will turn true collectors off to one degree or another. True collectors want to see only type one barrel band marks on the nose of stock like this. Still, it's a very nice looking stock with only a few issues. I think 150 to maybe 200 is more like it, but crazy things happen in today's carbine world on a daily basis.

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Originally Posted by ChipS

You can buy a solid, non-collectable USGI replacement stock anywhere (Fleabay, GunBroker, WTS forums, gunshows, etc.) for about $30-$50

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That sounds a bit low for a solid USGI replacement. I got a good walnut SA at What-a-Country for $55 about 5 years ago, but they had "c" tip slings for $45 then, too. - Bob

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Originally Posted by USGI

That sounds a bit low for a solid USGI replacement. I got a good walnut SA at What-a-Country for $55 about 5 years ago, but they had "c" tip slings for $45 then, too. - Bob

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Yes, I think you're right. I didn't consider shipping and I tend to live a few years in the past. Many $20 stocks on eBay but hardly good, sound stocks. $60-$80 is probably closer but you can score a real deal every now and then because there are so many average M2 stocks out there in the market. ChipS

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Originally Posted by ChipS

you can score a real deal every now and then because there are so many average M2 stocks out there in the market.

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Yep, I agree - always on the lookout for those! - Bob

I knew this nicer M2 'SA' stock would go pretty high, but this surprised me a bit. - Bob
http://www.ebay.com/itm/M1-Carbine-s...-/281906994938

If those are going for that kind of money what are the high wood worth?

Nice well used Import Carbine and you can still see the Flaming Bomb Ordnance stamp on the Rear Bevel. I would get a Shooter Stock for it and save that High Wood from Cracking or Splitting. Check out this website and look at some of there New and Used M1 Carbine Stocks with Handguards. They have some without breaking the Bank.

Search | Numrich Gun Parts

Some people view a carbine as a bunch of parts, others look at it as a living unit that had a history and a story. The price is fine and as a shooter example it is what 90% of carbines look like (except for the blue sky stamp). As I said, some people look at these things as a pile of parts and immediately want to break them up. I have a NPM that I bought as a shooter from CMP. It has some parts that are valuable like a Rockola hammer. I just shoot it and enjoy it. I have no interest in solving some mysterious puzzle that I don't really have an answer for. It is what it is and did what it did, I wouldn't want to destroy that karma to solve a puzzle.

[QUOTE=DaveHH;353025]Some people view a carbine as a bunch of parts, others look at it as a living unit that had a history and a story. The price is fine and as a shooter example it is what 90% of carbines look like (except for the blue sky stamp). As I said, some people look at these things as a pile of parts and immediately want to break them up. I have a NPM that I bought as a shooter from CMP. It has some parts that are valuable like a Rockola hammer. I just shoot it and enjoy it. I have no interest in solving some mysterious puzzle that I don't really have an answer for. It is what it is and did what it did, I wouldn't want to destroy that karma to solve a puzzle.[QUOTE]
I am right there with you. I have always felt that having a gun that was used for war as it came from the factory was missing the point. I used this as an example and the purists missed the point and it went over their head. A Luger has every part numbered. One part say a hold open lever does not have the last two numbers that match and its not matching and the price drops. A Colt that has one serial no could have had several different firing pins screws hammers ect and its considered all original because there is no way to track if that particular piece came with that particular gun from the factory. Even a Carbine or Garand that has the correct maker for a part but is not the part that it was manufactured with is considered original. So its a bit of a BS game for me. If that is how you want to play that is your business. I don't tell someone how to collect or what to collect. But for me a gun that was used and was there and had parts swapped out in battle is more original than a gun that was pulled off the line and stored for a museum and is untouched. I would rather have a K98 that was worn and known to be at Stalingrad then one that was captured at the factory unshot.

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Originally Posted by edteach

If those are going for that kind of money what are the high wood worth?

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Here's one that's going for more than I expected - compare it to yours. - Bob
http://www.ebay.com/itm/221993326018

Well I took the chance and reloaded 10 rounds using IMR 4198 14 gr with a 110 FMJ bullet. Took the gun to the range and shot it. No problems and I could cover the hole yes it was one hole grouping with a half dollar at 25 yards, I had not rest just held the rifle. At first I thought I was missing after the first shot because I could not see any new holes until it started to get a bit larger. Good shooter. I will not shoot it again using these stocks. I will just put it up and if I want to shoot it I will get something that is not valuable.