22,000 Carbines coming back to you guys

[LimeyCarbineLover]

These carbine will obviously be armoury rebuilds right ?......also many will have been converted to M2 spec ?..or not

Regards

LLoyd

[imarangemaster]

When all the "Blue Sky" Koreans came in in the early 90s, they had been reverted to M1s. Some still had some M2 parts: Potbelly m2 stocks and Type VI slides were common, as were M2 trigger guards and even disconnectors. I saw a few that had M2 hammers with a washer to fill the gap. Only had one that had an M2 hammer and "the part that it shouldn't (block with no spring or detent)," but I replaced that with an M1 hammer.

Some were really nice weapons. A lot of the stocks were junk, but most had good metal. Most I saw were re-parkerized at some point.

[LimeyCarbineLover]

Rangemaster...what exactly were Blue Sky imports.....were they as bad as everyone on the CSP made them out to be ?

Regards

Lloyd

[imarangemaster]

Blue Sky Imports of Arlington VA brought back in thousands of M1 Carbines (and a few Garands, if I remember right) around 1989 to 1992ish. The worst thing was the stocks. Most were god-awful punky unknown origin wood that looked like it was boiled, usually with Korean characters painted on in white paint. They were "mix masters" many having been un-M2ed. They occasionally had some non-GI parts. Often the recoil springs were sagged and compressed to about 9 to 9 1/2" (instead of 10 1/4"). Sarco sold lots of their "high speed" recoil springs because of them. Some had bent barrels, so the sights would be drifted to the left a ridiculous amount. Excessive muzzle wear was not uncommon, so they did not group the best.

Most, however, had good metal, and were a good buy for the buck. Some were better than others. I handled about 100 or so (mine and other dealers) through those years. Best one I had was a non-refinished Underwood with a flat bolt. It was not as nice as the one I have now, and it did not group as well.

There were several other importers at the time, but I think Blue sky did the most.

[LimeyCarbineLover]

Explains all Rangemaster thanks.......so i wonder if this latest batch to come back will be as bad ?

Regards

Lloyd

[imarangemaster]

Except for the stocks, most were not that bad. I made reference to the worst case scenarios (as one is want to do)! Most were better than the rack grade CMPs I have handled (only a few, so not a fair judge). The better ones were re-stocked by dealers here with surplus GI stocks prior to selling here, and were a decent deal for the most part.

[colreed]

Concerning Blue Sky imports, I picked up one 5-6 years ago that was an almost flawless reparked Inland 744,XXX. Had been restocked and is now one of my prized pieces.
P.S. the barrel is marked B.L.C., and is one of only two known and reported to the Carbine Club.

[wtmr]

bloody shame they can't stamp half of them on the barrel and other half on the receiver

[Calif-Steve]

The Blue Sky Carbines were very nice. Much better condition then the Blue Sky Garands. The Carbines were worth the money.

[geeded]

The one thing I remember about the Blue Sky imports was the ridiculous depth of the import stamps. I swear you could see see the imprint on the inside of the barrels.

That's the main thing we disliked them. At the time, stocks were fairly easy to get and the rest of the parts were mostly ok. But the Imports stamps...eeek