New Inland M1A1 stock set. Review with pics.

[HDSledge]

Received my Inland M1A1 stock assembly with handguard set for range use. The stock looked great out of the box with no visible problems. Dropped my receiver into the stock and the fit was very snug, a tighter fit than the original.

I had to tweak it a bit in 2 areas: The handguard forward lip and buttplate edge but only very minor tweaks.

It cost a little over 2 bills. That is more than some I have seen on the net but the quality seems worth a few extra bucks. Have nothing to compare it to though.






The glue on the back of the leather rubbed off easily with a fingertip. Very neat job on the leather.


The hand guard is a 4 rivet type but the 2 forward rivets are just holes. The support plate only has 2 rivets in it. Also I noticed that the sight channel is very high, almost too high. You can still see through the peep rear to the front sight but any higher and it would have to be modded.


A bit of extra room in front of the magazine well. Hopefully that won't be a problem. No fore and aft movement though.


The recoil plate cap fit was almost perfect. Right side was a bit off in the back but acceptable. No big gaps.


The wire stock looks well made and very close to the originals. The buttplate had a very rough cast edge which I filed down a bit since it was gouging the wood when folded. Now it just rubs.




Metal on the back of the leather side shows in the flash but not in the other pic. It is parked color not white.




The barrel band was too tight and wouldn't close enough to get the screw in.


I used a file to removed a small bit of wood from the circumference of the hand guard front lip and then it fit better. Had to take a bit off and test, then a bit more and repeat a couple times until I could get it closed. Not much had to be removed, less than a half mm.


Still not perfect but ok. Have to wiggle and work the barrel band into position. I could take a bit more off but I will wait to see if the wood compresses or shrinks a bit. Tight is better than loose here I'm guessing.

I would recommend this stock set. Very happy.

I'll post an update after a range test.

Information

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[shadycon]

One of the nicest repro stocks I've seen in a while. Does it have the M2 cut? ENJOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[HDSledge]

One of the nicest repro stocks I've seen in a while. Does it have the M2 cut? ENJOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It doesn't have the cutout as shown in the pics on this page:
The U.S. Caliber .30 Carbine Stocks & Handguards

[cali201]

Looks good. What you can do if you would like a little more "original" look to it is sand down the area the cheek rest goes. Also blacken up the leather ( I used black shoe polish but leather dye might be better). I did this on my repro stock (a high wood!!) which (don't hate me) was an ebay snag for $79!!.


[IMG][/IMG]

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[HDSledge]

Great score for that price. I may antique mine up a bit, good suggestions. I'm going to keep the original stock on the gun except when at the range though. Feels strange to have the spare on and the original sitting right next to it.

[Sleeplessnashadow]

The wood stock and handguard are made by Altamont Company in Illinois for both Inland and Auto Ordnance. They use someone else to manufacture the folding part of the stock.

The thickness of the rivet heads are unique to these stocks.

Attachment 74826

Initially Inland's M1A1 stocks were the same as Auto Ordnance. Those stocks, and those still used by Auto Ordnance, the handguard often doesn't align with the stock properly with parts of the handguard sticking out over the edge of the stock. Inland has been correcting this with theirs. Inland also stains the wood with the darker walnut stain where Auto Ordnance uses a much lighter stain.

Inland is now taking it a few steps further by having the metal finish darker than before and with those still used by Auto Ordnance. The buttplate had a copper color color to it, likely due to the make up of the metal used for the buttplate. Metal with a higher quantity of nickel requires a different temperature to get the dark gray/black color. Inland's newer finish appears to cover the copper color.

Below is what they look like disassembled. This example was purchased from Auto Ordnance as a replacement stock. The leather is glued onto the side plates and the exposed area around the oiler opening is sticky. The example below the leather had cosmetic flaws.

Two notes. First, the overall length of the wood of the forend and handguard have been slightly shorter than GI. This only becomes apparent if you switch out the handguard with one from another manufacturer and try to mount the barrel band to it. Second, if you are considering buying an M1A1 stock you might want to also have a look at those being sold by Fulton Armory. They use the correct brake line rivets. The finish isn't as dark. They are GI dimensions. Most commercial M1A1 stocks require a small amount of handfitting to the carbine.

Attachment 74827

Attachment 74828

Jim

[HDSledge]

Jim I'm glad to hear about most needing a bit of hand fitting. I didn't know some may be required. The extra glue on the backside of the leather rubbed off easily thankfully since it looked like it would be a mess. My handguard was slightly off at the back but otherwise fit fine. Looks like the Fulton armory is a quality alternative. If I had one I would try it out to compare fit.

[cali201]

Just looked and the pic with the sanded area is gone so here it is again...

[HDSledge]

I was checking out the stock again last night and noticed that the stain was coming off on my hands. I think someone else mentioned this happening to them with one of these.

I took a bit of boiled linseed oil and rubbed the stock down, then wiped it off with a paper towel. A lot of stain came off and the paper towel came away brown. However the color of the finish was only lightened a bit. This morning the oil is dry and when I rubbed it with a paper towel again no more stain came off.

I'm still happy with the stock but buyers be aware that it will need to have the excess stain wiped off. The oil treatment seems to have drawn it into the wood more effectively overnight.

I have no experience with refinishing or staining of wood so I don't know if too much stain was applied, it was applied incorrectly, or they didn't give it enough time to dry. Perhaps someone else here can shed some light on why it so readily came off at first.

[cali201]

ok, 3rd time I am posting this picture that I mentioned in post #4. If mods are deleting it please let me know and if not I am becoming really senile!!