Early Winchester with IBM Barrel????

[jbrid]

Any thoughts or ideas on how an IBM barrel (dated 10-43) ends up on an early Winchester
(1167xxx)? Ruth's book doesn't show any transfer of IBM barrels to Winchester and there are no re-arsenaling marks or stamps on the stock.

Jim

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[cali201]

well there could have been a Winny with a damaged barrel, an IBM with a damaged receiver..........

lots of possibilities on how the two were mated. Stocks are stocks, any action could be in them. Does the receiver have it's original flip sight?

[Johnny Peppers]

A Winny?

[shadycon]

Winchester!

[jbrid]

well there could have been a Winny with a damaged barrel, an IBM with a damaged receiver..........

lots of possibilities on how the two were mated. Stocks are stocks, any action could be in them. Does the receiver have it's original flip sight?

Cali201: Receiver has an adjustable sight, marked SA. I'm assuming this is a post-war replacement -- is that assumption correct?. Also has a barrel band with bayonet lug, but a push button safety, marked EW. I haven't had time to disassemble it yet, but all in all, seems to be a confusing mix of parts/features.

Any thoughts on when the barrel would have been replaced? Muzzle wear on the barrel is about a 3, so it seen considerable use.

Thanks,
Jim

[604flyer]

Hey Johnny....in addition to being called "Winnys" a collector friend of mine used to call them "Chinwesters". Anyone heard that one?

[Bruce McAskill]

After WW2 ended, Winchester had a lot of carbine production machinery stored on it's property by the government. This was in case the need for more carbines should happen, Winchester could get production up and running very quickly. It reality this didn't happen but Winchester did get a contract later to made replacement barrels for carbines. They pulled out the barrel making equipment which turned out to be IBM equipment and started to made the barrels and as a result the barrels all appear to have the IBM cuts for the front sight but are stamped with the Winchester proofs and such. These are post war replacement barrels nothing more.

[cali201]

Needless to say a barrel could have been replaced at a weapons repair station in country or it could have been replaced last week. It is also very possible during the rebuild that the carbine went through (as just about all did) that it was replaced then, again maybe the IBM had a bad receiver and the Winchester a bad barrel. On the stock in on the barrel channel edge there could be the letters SA. Springfield only marked their stocks there. Springfield sight is a replacement, again probably done during the rebuild/upgrade. Stocks can be changed as easliy as you change shirts, so who knows how long it has been on the weapon.

[jbrid]

First and foremost, thanks to everyone for their comments. Second, I'll apologize for not checking back as often as I probably should --- working 10+ hours per day and 2+ hours of commuting on top of that doesn't leave much time for the fun stuff like playing with M1 carbines. I was mainly curious how many thought the barrel change happened at a unit level repair station during the war rather than during a post-war rebuild. Next weekend I plan on breaking the gun down completely and do a complete inventory of parts. I'll check the stock more thoroughly then, but from what I can see right now, it appears to be a Winchester stock - marked with a W in the sling well. It's an oval cut, so I'm thinking the stock is a replacement.

Thanks again for everyone's help.

Jim