Do I have a clossetted M2 carbine?

[Calif-Steve]

You guys don't know the Bud Evers Story. Bud sold carbines in Northern California. He did all of the shows, and was quite decent. Older guy, flew B17's in WWII. The State of Calif. went after him. ATF declined to enter this one. State confiscated some 25 carbines. All had M2 BOLTS. State claimed they were de facto machine guns. Never claimed they fired full-auto. Judge refused to hear the case. Both sides settled, he pled "Nolo". Everything returned to him except all of the machine gun M2 BOLTS. The legal case cost over $50,000. The 700,000 carbine is far more trouble then it is worth.

[Tired Retired]

Ammodave,

I think its safe to say that the entire group has breathed a collective sigh of relief that yours is a 6-digit serial. That makes it easy to prove that it was not manufactured as an M-2 receiver.

Now, as far as me (and others) going down the wrong road and assuming it was a 7-digit serial, its hard to sometimes stick to the facts as presented when there are so many possibilties to chase. But you will find that the guys that chat in this forum are some of the most helpful and non-critical guys in the gun world.

As far as regreting asking the question, that is why this forum exists. No one know everything completely (ok, Bill Ricca does, but he's just never wrong) and we all work together to contribute what we know. I have learned a great deal hanging out in this forum.

In following through with your original question, I woud be interested in seeing pics of the area in question if you have any thing you can post. I am sure that someone here will see something new and will all will learn something.

Ed

[DaveHH]

If it is, he was a great old fella. Nice as could be, always had a dozen or so carbines and lots of cool old stuff. The place he used to have in the show is now some Rambo wanna be selling knives and camo stuff. The California folks are just terrible. I know a guy in Santa Rosa who sold a handgun out of the trunk of his car. They went after him, sent a swat team to his house, made his son (who was recuperating from surgery) lay out on the driveway in his underwear for an hour or so while they ransacked his house. They took everything the guy had including a coin collection. He lost every gun he owned which was an extensive collection. They even went through his wife's underwear. In this state they pride themselves on making felons out of law abiding citizens. Tracers: one round- one felony count, and nobody knows about this law. We are absolutely overrun with illegals who commit most of the crime and drive without insurance or license and these guys waste their time busting people who either don't know or don't know.

[JimF4M1s (Deceased)]

You guys don't know the Bud Evers Story. Bud sold carbines in Northern California. He did all of the shows, and was quite decent. Older guy, flew B17's in WWII.

Steve,

I thought he trained as a fighter pilot then trained pilots in Arizona. I think out of Williams. I don't remember him ever talking about B-17's. I have a picture he gave me somewhere, of him in a T-6 Texan.

Jim

[Calif-Steve]

DaveHH: Yes indeed that was Bud. A WWII B17 pilot. Exactly how many of the State guys were B17 pilots? Or Vets for that matter. The amount of time and money the State of California wasted on Bud was outrageous. Claiming in Court that he had machine guns when they knew full well they were semi-automatic legal weapons makes me very angry. The Judge would not allow the case to be tried in his Court. I guess at least some Judges are sharp is good news. But they cut a deal (in writing) to return ALL of his property and then KEPT the machine gun M2 bolts. What a laugh. Anybody heard the name "Inky"? Inky cooked up the deal.

[emmagee1917]

..back to the question. Because it is a 700,000 range reciever it can not have been made as a M2 because they did not exist at that time. It may raise some eyebrows , but the BATF guys would know this fact very easily if it ever came up. I don't know why it was ground on , you don't know , and they don't know. It is , by the serial number , a non-issue. Do with it as you will , but don't let this be a driving factor in your decision. Keep it and enjoy or sell it. No problem. And yes , I do care about other people's lives.
Chris

[ammodave]

Thanks, I'm relieved and I promise never to speak of this again.

[Harlan (Deceased)]

emmagee1917,

I always value you wealth of knowledge. We'll just have to agree to disagree on this one, OK?

Best regards,
~ Harlan

[Tired Retired]

...I promise never to speak of this again.

Why? Tell us about the carbine? Was it an import or a is it unmarked? Stock and barrel info? Got pics? You have one unique piece of history of a 6,000,000 chapter story... Tell us about them markings and post some pictures of your Inland....

Oh, and do you have pics?

[BrianQ]

A six digit Inland certainly would not have been originally assembled as an M2 and would have been machine stamped M1. Since the model number was ground off there is really only three logical reasons why it would have been done. Someone was bored and had nothing better to do. Someone wanted to remove all the markings on the receiver ring but stopped after removing the 1. Or the most likely, that it was done to remove the 2 stamped over the 1 when the arsenal converted the M1 carbine to an M2. Some arsenals did over stamp the 1 with a 2 when they assembled M2s out of carbines that were originally built as M1s. That's why you'll sometimes see or hear of carbines other than late Inlands or Winchesters with a 2 on the receiver.