Qhmc

[GPlourde]

Last weekend I was showing my collection of M1 Garands and Carbines for the first time in Redding CA. This gentlemen comes up and says he brought a carbine back from Okinawa in 1946. Well, we talked about it for awhile and then he says "l'll bring it in tomorrow". So the next day he brings it in with a letter he wrote to his mom stating he picked up a "US Carbine and some ammo". The rifle looks original to me and although I couldn't break it down. I did snap some photos and thought I'd share.
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v6...t=d342b419.pbw

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[Jim Nasium]

GP,
Your posting and photos are most interesting to me. One of the few carbines I own that I believe to be totally original, as mfg, is a QHMC s/n 47849xx. It is in almost mint, as issued condition, much like the one you had the chance to photograph.
Of course, it is of a much later series, but it's history is very similiar to the one you saw. My QHMC (and maybe you'll get lucky too) came to me as a result of setting up at one of the local shows. A fellow about 45 or 50 came up to me and told me that he had a carbine that belonged to his father in law, and did I think I could help him identify it and value it. Of course, I replied that I probably could. The man lived fairly close, and promised he'd go home and bring it back. Sure enough he did.
Well not only did he bring the carbine, but his whole family, including the Father in law who brought the rifle back!!! The first thing I looked closely at was the stock cartouche, which had been so well struck that my partner and I thought it was a fake. But the entire piece was covered in a layer of dust and fuzz that only decades of sitting in the closet could build. There had not been a magazine in that rifle in a looonnngg time. If ever, since the current owner brought it home. He said, and his daughter verified that he had never fired it.
The vet, a nice old guy, had been in the Navy in the Pacific. (this is where our stories kinda have a similiar thread). He claimed that on their way back to the states that "someone stuffed the rifle in his sea-bag".
I took the action out of the stock, and every thing that I could see without completely disassembling was correct for QHMC. It was dry, dry, dry. The vet told me he'd never had it apart, and I surely believe it.
Well, I told them that it looked to be an original gun, and correct for the mfgr. I valued it at about retail, and told them that I was a collector, not a dealer, and would be interested in buying it should they so desire. They politely declined my offer and left. I figuered I'd never see that pretty little rifle again. But I had an ace up my sleeve. I knew their name, and the little town they were from.
5 or 6 months later, I called a friend from that town and found he knew the owner of the gun. To make a long story not so long, I met the son in law and his wife in a local parking lot and exchanged $$ for the rifle.
It took me a couple of weeks to clean the petrified crud off it, and still there remains some residue. Just enough to verify it's originality, I believe. The stock was peppered with a spotting of fine spray droplets of white paint. No doubt when someone painted the room and the damn gun kept getting in the way. Some judicious use of 0000 steel wool and a dental pick got rid of most of that.
That QHMC is now one of my favorite carbines. It's nothing special, and certainly not a rare one. But methinks it is rare in the condition it's in.

Thanks for listening to this tall tale!!

jim

[frankderrico]

Jim and GP, Here is my story I hope I don't bore you guys. My father and three uncles all served in WW2. the twins on the same Destroyer both in the Atlantic and the Pacific, my dad in the Army and my other uncle on an LST also in the Pacific. The uncle on the LST was only 16 when he joined the navy. The three uncles joined the Navy out of honor for my grandfather who was in the Navy in WW1 and survived when his ship was torpedoed and sunk by a German Sub. in the Atlantic. The three uncles paths crossed in the invasion of the Philipines twice. Once when the uncle on the LST was going ashore under fire and got stuck on a sandbar, the twins Destroyer laid down a smoke screen to protect the LST witch was under a Komikazee attack. They new this later by the ships I.D. numbers. They had many other hairy and interesting stories of there service, my brother and cousinswould sit and listen for hours and still do. At a later supply landing the uncle on the LST had the oppertunity to trade a supply Sarg. for an M1 Carbine, he also stuck it in his sea bag when he returned to the states in '46. As a young boy I only saw the rifle a couple of times. When I was older I ask my uncle about the rifle but by then he had sold it to a friend, around the 1970's. I have been trying to find that Carbine ever since. When I do it will be my favorite also....Frank

[Rob W.]

Great stories! One of the very first carbines I bought when I started collecting was an all original Quality from a WWII vet. As I remember, I bought the carbine and mags and spam can of ammo for something like $400!!

[604flyer]

Hey GP, thanks for sharing the pics. That gun is a nice example of an early QHMC...check out the big cartouche! Only seen in early QHMC production. Did you happen to notice what the barrel date was?

And while we are on the stories regarding duffel bag guns; I don't have one! HA! Really, at one time my dad told me his story about returning stateside in Jan '46 from Okinawa. He was out on the west coast getting processed for his discharge papers, he and other GIs were standing in a really slow line to turn in some of their gear. Dad said there was this MSGT standing there making everyone dump the contents of their bags on the floor for inspection. After being away from US soil for 2 years he was in no mood for the interrogation and just told them to keep it all and give him his train ticket back to Texas. He spent the next few days in transit home, but on the bright side he didn't have to carry anything! I don't think anyone could have gotten a duffel gun through the depot where he was processed.

[frankderrico]

604flyer, my uncles sea bag was sent to Great Lakes Naval Air Station. He did not pick it up for several months. They sent him notice that it had arrived. He drove my grandfathers caddilac up there to pick it up. He said the Shore Patroll were checking bags at the gate as the Sailors were leaving. When it was his turn he said he was scared they would find the Carbine. He faked not rembering the combination on his lock. They tired of him playing with the lock and told him to get out of here. True story....Frank

[kikokat]

Nice find! Thanks or sharing. That's a nice looking "been there, done that" carbine.
Enjoy!

[GPlourde]

First of all, thanks for your kind comments, no did not find a barrel date, looked, might be under all that wonderful patina though.
Here is me reading the letter that tells the story of this QHMC carbine. And part of my display.

[604flyer]

604flyer, my uncles sea bag was sent to Great Lakes Naval Air Station. He did not pick it up for several months. They sent him notice that it had arrived. He drove my grandfathers caddilac up there to pick it up. He said the Shore Patroll were checking bags at the gate as the Sailors were leaving. When it was his turn he said he was scared they would find the Carbine. He faked not rembering the combination on his lock. They tired of him playing with the lock and told him to get out of here. True story....Frank

No doubt about it, these things certainly took place! Another collector I know bought a duffel gun from a WW2 vet some 20 yrs ago. The seller told the story of being discharged through a depot in his hometown, where ever that was. He managed to get through the process and get home with his trophy only to have second thoughts about the chance of getting caught with stolen govt property in the future. He decided to go back to the depot to confess his sins and return the weapon. He was stopped by MPs at the gate and he explained all to them when they asked his reason for visiting the facility. The nice MP apparently told him they had their hands full processing returning GIs, go home and come back some other time. He never went back. Mike got to know the old fella well after that, said he wasn't the type to make up such stories. Makes you wonder how many firearms found their way home with discharged soldiers.

[Jim Long]

I have a Saginaw vet bring back that recently came out from under the bed..Has some dust bunnies too!..but it is hardly an as issued carbine.. more like one that was victim of a of cleaning party where the stocks & TH are removed from a dozen rifles..vet made mixmasters! It sits in a Winchester I cut Highwood stock.. Vet said he got it from a Marine he was ferrying to shore at San Diego.. The Marine got caught with it in his dufflel and was told to deep six the carbine.. rather than that he gave it to the vet..