Commercial M1 Carbines

[Dr.Carbine]

We've all seen and are familiar with the commercial M1 clones made by Iver Johnson, Plainfield, and Universal, as well as the Israeli M888 version. Some are decent and some not so much. I've recently seen commercial M1 carbines made by National Ordinance and Alpine, which I have never heard of before. Are these decent and reliable?

 

[bhk]

I don't know, but those that are made by Auto Ordinance seem to have a good reputation and they are completely military spec.

 

[Hoppy590]

by Auto Ordinance seem to have a good reputation and they are completely military spec.

they ARE milspec?

 

[Sunray]

National Ordnance and Alpine made carbines out of surplus parts. Some are ok, some aren't.
The best commercial carbine is/was the original Plainfield. Before IJ bought them out. I've had mine for 30 years or so. Never had any issues a bath didn't fix. Never had to replace a single part either.
Auto-Ordnance(Kahr) is making milspec copies. MSRP is $775.

 

[Hoppy590]

MSRP is $775.

might aswell get a CMP for that price, event he Import carbines from say CAI are cheaper than that last i checked

 

[bhk]

The street price on a Kahr (Auto-Ordinance) is actually around $600. If I were buying a carbine for occassional plinking and pride of ownership, I would probably buy a GI one. If I were going to use it hard, like for a truck/camping gun, I would consider the Kahr-AO.

 

[pinetree64]

I got a CMP Inland and it is great fun. I would look into one of these vs. a new one.

 

[RecoilRob]

The Kahr/AO have a cast receiver IIRC...so that would make them NOT milspec. All else might be the same, and it might not make a difference, but a forged and milled GI should be the better rifle.

 

[Devonai]

Stay away from late-model Universals. I wasted too much time trying to get one to work before giving up in disgust. The difficulty of disassembly/reassembly was enough to give me gray hairs.

 

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

Modern cast receivers, especially in a pistol caliber, are as serviceable as the original forged receivers. The Auto Ordnance have enjoyed a mixed review here and there, but generally have proven to be accurate, reliable firearms. I would not hesitate to buy one.

Regards,

Dave