Inland carbine, worth

[painter777]

Johnboy,
The Inlands in this range were what are often called Pre-Transitional.
Your's having the still early Type IA barrel band, when just soon after yours was made Inland started using the Type II barrel band.
I have Inland 5,061,238, has a Type I flip rear sight that came from Underwood with a .U. on the sights leaf. Thought to be a all original carbine. Barrel dated 3-44... etc.
Point being I wouldn't consider selling for any prices you've been quoted so far here.
Your's if original I'd think would be more valuable than mine, because of just being pre-transitional.
Seems like at times 5 mil Inlands are everywhere.

Wanted you to see a recent sale on GB of a CMP sold rebuilt IBM, seen no mention in the description if the CMP paperwork came with it. But will say the seller was very upfront about the carbine.
This sold for nearly 3x what the CMP would have sold it for.
This carbine sold for $1800 plus shipping:
WWII IBM M1 Carbine, M-1, Exc : Semi Auto Rifles at GunBroker.com

I was really surprised at the selling price!

Now here on GB I'd been watching a nice 18x,xxx Inland that was offered up for a opening bid of $1200. His pictures with flash (to Me) made the finish look re-parked. But upon a closer look you could see the pictures without flash showed otherwise. With the I cut Hi-wood stock and proper looking early features, I was sure this one would sell for higher dollars. I didn't take the time to research extensively, because as of right now I'm not buying as we are getting ready for some hefty funeral costs, but IMHO the carbine looked pretty legit. A 10 day auction ended without a single bid. Just parting this carbine out would have pulled a good profit at or near the $1200 opening bid. It hasn't been re-listed, here's the link to the now closed listing;
M1 carbine early Inland serial 18x,xxx excellent : Semi Auto Rifles at GunBroker.com


Sometimes I use completed auctions on GB to see what comps are selling for.
As of late to me..... they seem to be fetching more than less than 6 months ago, but as my 2 examples above (may) show, not always the case.

I understand your's was a estate purchase and very possible the guy did work at Inland. May have just wanted a carbine from where he had worked.
Many possibilities, could be a old NRA or DCM carbine he grabbed, or bought privately.

But to put a good ballpark value on it, good pictures are a must.

Your more than welcome to E-mail them to me and I'll post them here for you.
You can find my E-mail by clicking on my username (painter777) in the box on the left of any thread or posting I've left.
If by chance I'm called out of town for a pending funeral of my Fathers, I could always pass the pics along to another member to post for you.

About pics,
Early on, I really couldn't take decent pictures, let alone get them on a PC and post them on a forum. It was pricey at the time (because they were tired of me asking for their help) but had my kids get me going.

Best advice I can give you is find someone near that can take the pictures for you and open/load them in a PhotoBucket account. The account is free.
Getting a true ball park value on your carbine will be deeply dependant on good photos.
Many of us have been fooled by top notch restorations and Repro parts.
We don't wish this on you, but quite the opposite are pulling for you in hopes of seeing a nice original as issued 4,9 mil Inland.
That's why we are here.
Don't know where you live........ Might be a member closer to you than you think that can help, it's happened before.

At the least... Hire some local teenager to take a ton of pictures for you. Worked for me ;-)

Here is a link to a Photobucket album I have on my WRA 1,030,621
Way more pics than you'd need to start, but will give you a idea on what to look for.

WRA 1,030,621 Starting at the back of this file working towards the first page will show you from the time it was being torn down to final cleaned assembly:
Image hosting, free photo sharing video sharing at Photobucket

And for the heck of it a couple pictures of my 5,0 mil Inland
It's been packed with a coat of grease since 06 or 07.
I remember taking these pictures with our old Video camera. Next cleaning..... better pictures.
Don't under estimate that little flower (Macro) feature on Digital cameras. They'll bring out markings, color... etc that your eye ( Or at least mine) can't see without.

HTH
Charlie-Painter777