Questions about Saginaw Carbine

[jbrid]

I recently purchased a Saginaw M1 Carbine at an auction. Just now starting to go through it, and I'm seeing some things that are different from the information in Craig Riesch's book, so I'm puzzled at this point. Serial number is 3253xxx, so the carbine is early in the first serial number block for Saginaw. Receiver is clearly marked "Saginaw S G" with no periods (.) after the S or the G, as shown in the receiver marking table in Riesch's book. The forward receiver lug has a "J" stamped on it, and there is a "C" stamped on the flat about an inch in front of the gas piston, markings that aren't mentioned in the book. The real puzzle is that the receiver has a narrow locking tang, not the wide locking tang that Riesch's book says it should have.

A lot of the other parts appear to be correct - trigger housing, bolt and op slide are all marked SG, and the barrel is marked Saginaw S.G. Div/General Motors in two lines.

Basic question I have -- has anyone seen similar receiver markings and the narrow locking tang on Saginaw carbines?

Information

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[bobg]

I have several Saginaw's with the narrow tang.

[Harlan (Deceased)]

jbrid,

Don't put everything in Craig Riesch's book..... He was accurate some of the time, but wrong in many occasions. Craig Riesch's book was an early M1 carbine book, but 'Ruth' later wrote books (WAR BABY series) that are much more accurate.

[kar66]

I think if you will check the copyright dates you will find Ruth's first book is older than Riesch's book. Ruth just had access to more and better information.

[JimF4M1s (Deceased)]

All books have errors in them, including the Ruth books. We extend our knowledge as new, or unknown before, information is found. That's my main reason for having a large M1 carbine library. I even have the Larsen book, because it shows so many repo parts. The Riesch book is a nice, quick, reference for the price. Extending your library can cost as much or more then the cost of purchasing a carbine.


My first Ruth book, is from 1979.

[browningautorifle]

Same here, the first thing you learn is the books are all specific. The second thing is they seldom agree. I too have several different authors. Wouldn't get rid of any of them.

[jbrid]

Thanks to everyone for their comments. As suggested, I've done some more research using Ruth's "War Baby" book. The receiver has the narrow tang as shown in fig 383 on page 433 but there are 2 key differences from this figure: There is no "SG" on the left side of the receiver and behind the rear sight the receiver is marked "Saginaw SG", without periods after the S or the G. I suspect that the differences between my receiver and the one illustrated are due to my receiver being earlier in Saginaw's carbine production effort than the one shown in this figure (mine 3253xxx vs. 3265004). It does look like that both SG and S. G. in marking parts at least --- the trigger housing in marked SG (without periods) while the slide is marked S. G. (with periods). Again, thanks to everyone for the help and advice.

Jim (jbrid).