First ever M1 carbine

[rcathey]

" ...had muzzle wear due to the use of steel cleaning rods. It restored accuracy to otherwise perfectly good barrels.

Teensy bit off topic, but I have an old gunsmithing book where the author talks about testing this with one of his rifles. This author claims that muzzle wear will cause the point of impact to shift but it won’t cause group size to suffer. Would be interested to see if anyone else has done any testing like this. I’ll post the name of the book once I’m back to “library.”

Information

Warning: This is a relatively older thread This discussion is older than 360 days. Some information contained in it may no longer be current.

[painter777]

" It eats a M2 round to the Brass!"
Most likely it has been counter-bored.

Hello Jimmy B !
Mine is not counter bored. I thought it probably was after trying my 'Poor Mans Muzzle Gage' on it the first time. But after a quick look... no such thing. Look over this post about mine:
https://www.milsurps.com/showthread.php?t=61219

Good to hear from you.... hope you, Terry and the boys down there are doing well.

Charlie-Painter777

[butlersrangers]

I have a National Postal Meter, M1 carbine, that is "Blue Sky" marked. That marking saved me a lot of money and did no damage to the 'Marlin' barrel and its 'excellent condition' bore.

A caliber .30 Carbine round will insert into the muzzle, with about the thickness of a Dime, between the barrel crown and case mouth. It is a fine 'shooter' and I feel no guilt using it.

I know the carbine came back to the U.S.A. from Korea and is all GI parts. I enjoy the late accuracy enhancing features like: adjustable rear sight, 'pot-bellied' M2 stock, and wide front barrel-band/bayonet-lug.

I replaced the 'push-button' Safety, that came on it, with a rotating one. (I was accidentally releasing magazines, on occasion).

I've grown to like the birch "SA" marked stock and hand-guard.

IMHO - You have to judge returned 'Imports' on their individual merits.

Attachment 88108Attachment 88109Attachment 88110

[painter777]

and I feel no guilt using it

Exactly, No Guilt

[imarangemaster]

" It eats a M2 round to the Brass!"
Most likely it has been counter-bored. This was done to many carbines that had muzzle wear due to the use of steel cleaning rods. It restored accuracy to otherwise perfectly good barrels.

I had a rebuilt Inland that was counter bored. Shot really well.

[DaveHH]

Carbines are strange in some ways: you could have a pristine bore and it shoots so-so and a worn barrel that shoots great. I have two that are like new, one really low mile and a rebuilt NPM with original IBM barrel with some wear. The NPM shoots the best, holding an SR-1 9 ring. If I try hard it will hold the 10 ring at 100 yds.
Looking down the barrels, the Inland is the newest and lowest round carbine but has rifling that is so shallow it looks like a 45 barrel. The Winchester has nice rifling but doesn't shoot as well as the NPM. I would say that the Inland has maybe 1K rounds through it, probably less. It should be a tack driver, but isn't. I've finally just decided that the fun in Carbines is just shooting them. They are so light, so handy so pleasant to shoot that I don't care of they can't shoot like a Garand or AR. The NPM is what I carry camping and it lays beside the bag in the tent. I can shoot hit and kill a bad guy or cat or bear if I had to. That is saying something considering that the gun is as old as I am. New owners would be entertained by buying War Baby and reading the history and story of these amazing guns. 6M in 3 years by 9 companies most of them NOT gun makers. All parts interchange and they never made another one after WW2. No country on the planet except the US could do this and I fear that we couldn't do it today.

[browningautorifle]

I had a Krag that had a ring within an inch of the muzzle...would group 24" to 11 O'clock at 100 yd. It still grouped 6" with average loads and care...consistent.

[browningautorifle]

I assembles a Blue Sky barrel to a carbine a few years ago and it came back this past week to be shot here, it worked fine and we had no guilt shooting it either.

[Snowman1510]

No guilt with mine. It's fun and doesn't hurt the history of it.

[JimF4M1s (Deceased)]

Guilt, we don't have no stinkin' guilt!