Should I Have Passed On This Inland?

[USGI]

As serious as I am about sticking a Fuel Injected Crate motor and up graded transmission in that old Ford of yours.
And using that Leather Sling for a tie down in the bed !!

Take $15,000 and 1 USGI C Tip Sling for it?
I'll have it picked up at the end of your drive way.

Charlie: That was intended to be a compliment, not a dig. Nope, you can't have my pickup and ruin it - you might take that as as dig, though! The Ford has changed a bit since you saw it last. I apologize for the Chevy air cleaner (been on there for 45 years) but the old one (oil bath) sprung a leak! See pics below and better ones of the front sight, too.

I think you've got that sight pegged - looks like they tried to get an SI stamp on there (read from the muzzle end ) but it didn't quite fit. - Bob

[USGI]

It would be nice to have the receiver/barrel out of the stock so we could see the shadow at the point of assembly barrel/receiver and the side of the receiver where they stopped sandblasting and the area there.

Dave: I'm attaching the best pics I could get of the areas you asked to see. I posted some like these before on a different Inland and was told by someone they weren't correct - wrong s/n block or some such thing. The area on the barrel isn't very distinct, but you should be able to see it. If I have room, will also show the original piston nut staking and (2) pics of the receiver from the top. - Bob

[USGI]

Remove the varnish, and cut that leather sling at the back, and put on the correct one, [as BAR said].

Louis, I understand what you and Jim (BAR) are saying, but I'm likely going to keep it much the way it looks right now. It's hard to explain, but Jon D pretty much "summed it up" in the post just below yours. I had (4) uncles that served in the US Navy during WWII. My Dad's (3) youngest brothers pictured below, served in the Pacific Theater and (2) were barely out of HS at the time.

Also, I was a friend of Jim Flavin's and was fortunate enough to meet him in person and to thank him for his service. He served in the Navy with "Assault Craft Unit 1" during the Vietnam War and faithfully attended the annual meetings with his group for as long as his health allowed.

I don't think the sling on this Carbine is just the "run of the mill" variety - but instead think it's likely been with the gun for possibly 50-60 years. I'll attach some pictures of the sling, too. If I remove it, I'll probably drill out a rivet rather than taking a knife to it. - Bob

[jimb16]

You could always drill the center out of the rivet and pop it out. Then you could work the leather sling end around the oiler and remove it. A brass rivet isn't that hard to replace.

[USGI]

A brass rivet isn't that hard to replace.

I learned how to do those from my Dad repairing picking bags on the farm where he worked when I was growing up. Probably have to buy a box of 100! One idea I have too, is to use one of those short screws with a large flat head and similar nut, like were used to hold 3 hole notebook folders together years ago. Most had brads that you bent over, but some had those screws that you assembled by turning with your thumb nail. I probably have one somewhere if I would just go look! - Bob

[DaveHH]

Thanks for the photos. The finish appears to be original and very well preserved. The sand blast mark on the receiver is strong and the shadow at the point of barrel/receiver joint is also there . I have a 5.4 (8/44) that is almost sure to be original that the finish isn't as good as that one. I think that Inland started to speed up and allow the quality to slip toward the end. They did request and were allowed to use barrels that were formerly rejects but would work fine according to the rules. My barrel looks like a 45 barrel, shallow rifling and not from being shot. That is a really nice unit you have there. Thanks
D

[DaveHH]

Charlie: I've had my share of flatheads many of them and Henry built a fine car, but the Chevrolet was a lot better in my book. The Ford would bust axles like popcorn always the same thing, $hitty crystalized steel. If I had a thousand bucks for every cluster gear I replaced on a Ford, I'd be a rich man. The Ford transmission was way too long and the gearshafts would flex because of it, once they spread enough, pow another cluster gear. The Chevy was the size of a Harley 74 but bullet proof. Better steel, shorter length. I had a 36 Ford flatbed truck. It had one of those cool Stewart Warmer "South Wind" heaters in the cab, the one that took a bit of gas from the Stromberg 97 and ran hot as hell. It was from Montana and had a strip of leather replacing one of the inserts on the crankshaft. Was in there working fine for decades. Ford did use inserts instead of Babbited bearings probably because they were cheaper.

[USGI]

I can tell that Dave has "been there & done that" with the Fords! Changing axles and transmissions on pre-49's isn't much fun - I think I broke and repaired 6-7 transmissions and a couple of axles. I do remember beating a couple of Chevy V8's, though.

Here's the pics of the receiver and barrel from the 5.4 Inland I had. I was told here on the forum that the s/n was too high to have that type of finish. - Bob



EDIT WITH CORRECT PICTURES STARTS HERE:

I was looking at this reply the other day and noticed the Type 1 rear sight in the above pictures. My 5.4 Inland had an original Type 3 rear sight on it, so realized I had posted pics of my 476K Inland by mistake. Below are the pictures from the 5.4M Inland. There might be a slight "two-tone" look to the receiver and a light area on the barrel near the gas cylinder, but not definite like the early guns. - Bob

[USGI]

I've got a few more pictures of this "current" 408K Inland, so will post below. Somewhere, I've read that Inland may have used some unmarked Type 1 "bull-nose" hand guards in the Spring of '43 and I believe the milling pattern on this one is the same as one Charlie helped me with before. He figured it was made by Winchester, but neither one of us could see a "w" on it anywhere. What do you guys think? I attached one of the code in the stock channel, too - hard to make out but I think it reads: 126 1

I also wanted to show the trigger housing and the "hammer strikes" - even though they're hard to see, I think both are there. - Bob

[jond41403]

I see a 125 9. It's definitely a five instead of a six, I can see the straight back of the five. The last letter is fuzzy it could either be a one a three or a nine in my opinion.hth