New Inland encounter...

[Bruce McAskill]

IJ in 1975 bought out Plainfield Machine Co. By 1976 the Plainfield name was discontinued and the carbines became IJ carbines. IJ was sold in 1982 and in 1983 it moved to a plant in Arkansas. IJ also bought Universal in 1983. In 1987 IJ was sold to A.M.A.C. and the Universal carbine was discontinued.

Universal started with the double recoil springs, aluminum trigger housing and the cut out side by about 1969. The Skeletonized Slide was supposed to be a stronger slide but it was anything else but that. Lots of breakage with the slide continues today. ( A new made replacement can be found on line.) The same cannot be said for the aluminum trigger housings. With time the pins holes become enlarged and out of round. Some housings have cracked and some broken off. USGI housings do not work on the Universal.

[imarangemaster]

As the days go by, I find myself getting angrier as I think about it. Here's a guy, who is an avid shooter, not wealthy, but wanted something nice. He buys the BS and hype that this new Inland puts outs, drinks the Kool Aid, and ends up with a $1200 POS. He is not knowledgable about real carbines, and figures the jamming was typical of all carbines. When I told him that I could count the malfunctions I have had in over 30 year of owning and shooting carbine on one hand, he was mortified. WHen I predicted and finally showed him the peening of the bolt, he was dumbfounded.

I will try to get the serial number so we can see where in the production his carbine is.

[floydthecat]

USGI housings do not work on the Universal.

I have to clarify this generalized statement just a tad. The very early guns (known as generation 1's) were practically 100% USGI compatible, single-spring actions and all. I totally agree that the generation 2's and 3's are not interchangeable, but the area is gray during the transition periods between gen-1 and gen-2 around SN 94XXX. One almost has to have the gun in hand to inspect it and determine what's inside. I completely agree that if you see a skeletonized slide, it's a dead giveaway to put it down and walk away from it if you want a GI compatible gun.

[floydthecat]

As the days go by, I find myself getting angrier as I think about it. Here's a guy, who is an avid shooter, not wealthy, but wanted something nice. He buys the BS and hype that this new Inland puts outs, drinks the Kool Aid, and ends up with a $1200 POS. He is not knowledgable about real carbines, and figures the jamming was typical of all carbines. When I told him that I could count the malfunctions I have had in over 30 year of owning and shooting carbine on one hand, he was mortified. WHen I predicted and finally showed him the peening of the bolt, he was dumbfounded.

I have known buyers to look over a GI carbine on the table marked at $800 and purchase the new AO or Inland for more money laying right beside it. They are buying a new gun and it has to be better...right! They simply don't know that old 75 year-old gun has been thru two or three wars and likely rebuilt at least once and it is yet more reliable than just about any commercial carbine made today and has more life in it than the commercial, with maybe 1 exception.

[painter777]

They simply don't know that old 75 year-old gun has been thru two or three wars and likely rebuilt at least once and it is yet more reliable

Fully Agree......
What they might not have considered is that ole 75+ year old Carbine with the old patina will most likely go up in value, along with having some History to it.

I have known buyers to look over a GI carbine on the table marked at $800 and purchase the new AO or Inland for more money laying right beside it. They are buying a new gun and it has to be better

Well...... Then they start thinking, Or not thinking You get what you pay for Looking over that nice early or mid war Replica Carbine, it's Pretty Stock and Crossed Cannons Cartouche. So by spending the extra cash, they are indeed thinking they've made the right move , thus getting more for their money. Plus it's new and has a Warranty !! But much like buying a new custom boat, they are losing value as the clock ticks.

Too much info out there about just about everything now days that you can research in a hour or two. No excuse to play ignorant or uninformed. Even if your not a computer type, this same info can be found in magazine reviews, by word of mouth....etc. I believe you also have to figure in the 'Pretty Factor'.......... "Man I'll look cool with this out at the range".
Cut to view of 2, 30 rders taped together with a few bandos slung over the shoulders and Repro US marked carry case.
I better stop...... ;-)

Jmo
Charlie-Painter777

[Barryeye]

I’m still annoyed at the flagrant positive spin that the firearm press put on the new Inlands when first released. I don’t remember them giving a single bad review back then. I guess only positive reviews get a share of the almighty advertising dollar. Thank heavens for the internet’s unbiased user reviews. Were it not for them, who could we trust?

[JimF4M1s (Deceased)]

After 75 years, all mine have been broken in and the bugs worked out.

[imarangemaster]

What is really sad is that the most expensive commercial M1 Carbine is actually the worst! Plainfield/Iver Johnson in all their incarnations were much better, even Auto Ordnance finally worked out the bugs, but cost a lot less. First generation Universals (with GI compatible parts) were good, and other assorted: Fulton, Federal Ordnance, Springfield Armory, and IAI were even better. How can everyone else do it better for less?

[Bruce McAskill]

There was a know firearms writer who was on another forum. He praised the "New Inlands" as a huge improvement over the worn out original USGI carbines. He claimed he examined then and fired them finding them very accurate. Well he kept talking about them on this forum he was on and then I started to note that there were some people who were having problems with the new carbines on other forums. So I asked him about this and could he help some of these people get the warranty work done on them as he seemed to be well involved with Inland. Well he jumped all over me about anyone having any problems with the New Inlands. If they did then it was caused by them and not the company. I then found out that Jim Mock had an on going problem with the new Inland he had bought. So after talking with Jim I went back to that other forum and laid out the facts. This writer came back claiming that it could not happen as to what was claimed. Then someone else on the forum came in and said that he also had a new Inland was having the same problems. The writer said he would check with Inland and that was the last heard from him. Then the President of the New Inland came on the forum and said yes they had a few teething problems but they were working hard to correct them and if someone had a problem then just contact customer service and they would fix the problem ASAP. Well guess what, oh go ahead and guess. Yup your right. Nothing happened and one gentlemen who sent his back had been smart enough to mark the carbine so he could tell if it had been apart. The carbine came back as fixed and was feeding fine. As soon as he could he went out and it did the exact same thing. He had checked the markings and they had not been removed by taking the carbine out of the stock so he knew they were full of a lot of BS. The President of Inland never ever came back to that forum. So if your thinking of buying a new Inland then think long and hard before you do. And know that the problems with AO and they still have them, also apply with Inland as they use a number of parts from AO.

[painter777]

I'd prefer a restored Pinto.......


Here is a 21 page review:

https://www.milsurps.com/showthread.php?t=53708