Looking for some information on a M1 carbine marked G.H.D. on receiver.

[lbelflowers]

Sal,
Step back and look at your carbine. Do you have any full pictures of the JLB carbine? It seems that yours is put together with scraps than assembled off the line.
1st is the T3 barrel band (came after the contract cancellation,mostly at rebuild)
2nd is the milled trigger housing(used up til about July/Aug `43)
3rd is the T3 hammer(looks to be a W stamp)
4th is the flip safety
5th although the finish seems uniform,it seems to be missing something,looks too much "parked"
6th if you want to impress someone with a presentation anything,you want it to be shiny and flashy,not dull and flat
7th Did the collector offer too buy based on the GHD stamp?

My vote goes to:no collectible value,worth the sum of parts

[Ed Johnson]

You just got an opinion from two of the most knowledgeable carbine experts I know. If they say it is a fake it is a fake. Sorry you didn't hear what you wanted to hear. Would not pay more than any average mix master is worth.
Better luck next time. Go shoot it and have fun.
Ed

[Piercesaw]

From looking at the pictures I agree it has been homemade. I also believe it to be in some sort of law violation because of the ground off serial number. I had a friend one time who bought a carbine with a ground off serial- felony offense. He surrendered the reciever and got the parts.

[BrianQ]

The rear of the J.L.B. carbine and the other known Underwood presentation carbines do have a reshaped receiver heel but not from grinding serial numbers off. The reshaping is a result of the buffing and polishing Underwood did to spruce up the guns. They didn’t need to grind off serial numbers because the receivers they used for presentation guns didn’t have serial numbers. You’ve said “but with any of the presentation guns i've seen thats usually the case as it was just a normal receiver ground and restamped before finishing.” What is your source for this info? Underwood sent thousands of unserialized receivers to Winchester at the end of their contract so there would be no need to grind off serial numbers to make a presentation gun.

Establishing whether or not the G.H.D carbine is a fake is really pretty easy. Just let the carbine speak for its self. Known Underwood presentation carbines are polished not a dull aftermarket parkerized finish, strike one for the G.H.D. carbine. Underwood presentation carbines have all Underwood parts. Your carbine has at least three components Underwood never used, strike two. Underwood presentation guns have Underwood coded stocks, nice looking ones as well, and yours isn’t, strike three. There are several other items the collectors you spoke to should have pointed out to you as well. The bolt is parkerized. WWII carbine bolts were all blued. The finish on the barrel is not typical of Underwood barrel finish and I’d be willing to bet the breech is completely parkerized as well. The value of the carbine would be considerably less than a typical rebuild in comparable condition considering the receiver modification. The most valuable part of the carbine is the 11-42 barrel.

If you were the Head of Underwood would you present that carbine to the Chief of the Springfield Ordnance District?

[Bruce McAskill]

If you compare your carbine to the other you can see the difference at a glance. Underwood never used the type 3 barrel band. Underwood never used type 4 magazine catch. Underwood never used a replacement marked hammer. The barrel date is far too early for any Underwood presentation carbine. Underwood would never grind off a serial number to make a presentation carbine. As Brian said they had plenty that were not serial numbered so why go ruin a production one. To compare it to the one marked JLB. That one has not been ground down but it was polished, yours isn't. The stamping of the letters is precise,yours isn't. The letters are centered on the JLB while yours isn't. There are other issues too but what the people here are trying to tell you is that it is NOT an Underwood presentation carbine. Sorry it's not what you wanted to hear but it is a fake.

[Sal]

Thanks, thats All I really wanted to hear, instead of people beating around the bush and going off on tangents. I did know the parts were wrong such as the band and mag catch etc. I know most carbines are mixmasters and this one is no exception.

One of the collectors was hot to buy the gun, so I figure I'll let him have it for what he wanted to pay.

[BrianQ]

People probably drifted off on tangents because this subject was covered nine months ago with the same results.

[Sal]

People probably drifted off on tangents because this subject was covered nine months ago with the same results.

Ah, that I did not know, I have owned the gun for over a year now and never really posted here about it. Only recently when speaking with a collector did i decide to dig it out and start looking further into it.

[phil441]

People probably drifted off on tangents because this subject was covered nine months ago with the same results.

And that is why you got so many flippant replies such as mine.
It looked like a post from a newbie who just copied some pictures and posted them as their own.
If that's your carbine, I would say that it's a true liability due to the S/N being ground off.
If you want to keep it, I understand that the BATFE will issue a number to be etched onto it.
Personally, I'd probably save the parts and put the receiver in the recycle bin.
Good luck with it and sorry you didn't get any better news.

[BrianQ]

Ah, that I did not know, I have owned the gun for over a year now and never really posted here about it. Only recently when speaking with a collector did i decide to dig it out and start looking further into it.

Just to refresh your memory here is the old thread from the CMP forum. CMP Discussion Forum - Underwood carbine marked as G.H.D. ?
Unfortunately the old threads from the former CSP forum are gone so can't provide a link to that thread. All three threads are of the same carbine with the same pictures, although this time there isn't a picture of the soldered on TH lug, and all the threads were started by someone with the same name.