Best Way To Buy an M-1 Carbine?

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What are my best options for buying a carbine, probably from out of state?
Watch all sorts of places. CMP Carbine Forum, and the Carbine Forum, are both places to look--if the intention is a M Military Carbine. And, some of those will not be $1200 mystery machines.

Of the current manufacturers--only Fulton seems to have little in the way of bad press. Everyone else has endless tales of woe. The New Inland is using cast parts by AO; the AO copies not getting much in the way of great press. The New Rockola are not moving that fast, and are rumored to be chock full of New Inland and IAI parts of dubious fit.

My most recent one was from a local THR member, matter of fact. And at a reasonable price, too.
 
I dont think its just the dealers, at least from what Ive seen on Gun Broker. The guy I usually follow, thats had three Carbines I watched, starts all his auctions at a penny.

From what Ive been seeing all along, regardless what the guns are, they dont stay at a penny very long, and all seem to quickly jump over what I think most who have a good handle of what guns normally sell for what, would say the people bidding are straight up nuts, or in full blown panic mode, or both.

He just had a Gen 3 Glock 19 that was used sell for $720 plus S&H etc. My local shop has the same gun new, for $575, and a 19X for $695, and thats out the door prices.

At this point, I would not bid on anything on GB unless its one of those things everyone seems to have missed. And that sot of stuff always scares me too, as I have to wonder what Im missing. :).
 
If youre gonna buy one, might as well buy two, or three, and just get it over with. :p
 
These M1 Carbine prices makes my CMP order of two M1 Garand's look really good!

Still need to find a nice Rockola, Winchester or Underwood Carbine...I've been looking for years and have missed opportunities along the way (not quick enough to the advertisment), but it's a bit about the chase with me rather than the destination, so I'm ok with it.
 
but it's a bit about the chase with me rather than the destination, so I'm ok with it.

Absolutely. There are a lot of guns i almost wish I hadn't found. Because after I did I realized that the chase was the fun part. Some just no fun to shoot. Some cost too much to feed. Some you can't afford to fix etc. Of course the internet made the chase pretty much obsolete
 
Bronco72: Exactly.

Top ratings, in my opinion, are extremely important. And their past volume can be just as critical.

Without both of these factors , I would not have considered an Israeli “Turn In” S&W 6904. It is at least as good as described (very good condition).
The seller in the Knoxville area had sold at least 1,500-2,000 items.
 
Those are copies with "some" GI parts. New manufactured receivers and barrels. Not unlike my Universal copy. (Although, the Fulton gun may be a much better quality.) I'm looking to own a piece of history, not a facsimile thereof.

Sorry I must have missed in your OP where you stated you only wanted original GI. Like others have stated, if it is a reimport be sure to shoot it first. We sold a metric ton of Blue Sky's when they were available and a considerable amount had problems. Mine runs great however. YMMV. Good Luck and I hope you find a good one!
 
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Tommygun:
if your father had been forced to use it, in either an offensive or defensive operation, then a ding might represent one or two allied lives saved.

The video (possibly same guy in photos) features the CEO or Pres. named Uli--.
The company IO no longer produces AKMs, due to some widespread bad publicity (he sent an e-mail to "Rob Ski" with AKOU), but possibly Uli's company "cleaned up its act" a bit.

Not trying to make a pun, simply hoping that he's trying to sell products- although imported vs. manufactured- in a manner which results in much more customer satisfaction.
I would love a true M-1 Carbine.:)
 
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The video (possibly same guy in photos) features the CEO or Pres. named Uli--.
The company IO no longer produces AKMs, due to some widespread bad publicity (he sent an e-mail to "Rob Ski" with AKOU), but possibly Uli's company "cleaned up its act" a bit.

Because Rob Ski showed how crappy IO’s AK’s were.
 
Were those Carbines from Ethiopia somehow cleaned up, even a little,

before shipped from any US company to a retail customer?

Ian McCollum over at Forgotten Weapons on youtube did a video on them a while back. The gun wasn't as dusty as in the photos here, but it still needed a thorough cleaning. You could see a lot of black coming off on his hands in the video as he field stripped it.
 
I checked out Royal Tiger's website. I thought those guns were getting a kind of bod rap, but when I actually look, I ca't find much negative about them.

As for their price being $100 over list, they have 21 carbines left and they were denied a license to import more. The fact that people didn't snap them up, however, tells me there must be something wrong with them.
 
If youre gonna buy one, might as well buy two, or three, and just get it over with. :p
LOL. And a carbine is just the gun to do it with. For starters you have to have at least one from every manufacturer. Then you have to have at least one of each manufacturer in both WWII and post war configuration.
 
I had a chance to get an Inland with a barrel stamped 1-45 for $1400. I decided just to give in and bought. 2 weeks later another store im a regular texted me with another Inland with bayonet and ammo for $1400. They are out there. Military Arms Channel on YouTube just released a video for top 5 American rifles. He did showcase his Fulton Armory M1 Carbine, he toted it as a quality piece compared to most universals.
 
Me personally, but I’ll take my chances elsewhere than M1’s looked over and sold by Uli (I.O.)
 
Tommygun:
if your father had been forced to use it, in either an offensive or defensive operation, then a ding might represent one or two allied lives saved.........

Ultimately I really do not know exactly how he obtained it, but I've come to suspect some kind of "horse-trading" might have been involved. My father spent two years of U. S. Navy service in Korea as a member of the U. D. T. That's "Underwater Demolition Team," a spec-ops force that was a sort of precursor to the U. S. Navy SEAL TEAMS. I never got the story behind exactly how he obtained the carbine; all I recall him talking about with regards to firearms was being issued a Colt 1911 pistol in the freezing Korean winter aboard a destroyer, thinking that if he had to fire the gun, wondering how he'd manage with his trigger finger frozen stiff.:uhoh::confused:

But....could be. Anything's possible I guess. A carbine would make a great light weapon if they went ashore in a rubber zodiac, I guess. Mostly the Teams were laden with explosives and direct confrontation with the enemy wasn't their central intent.
 
Tommygun:
Oh yes, UDT. Amazing people. Starting several years ago I've read about seven books written by the latter-day SEALs. I don't presume to actually - understand - anything, but it's far better than reading second-hand info by other authors.

Can't imagine the swimming, gear and weapons skills (plus lympet mines etc) required for UDT qualification back then-even in these earlier years. The true Frogmen.

You know that in the early 60s (or so) some UDT gents egressed from a submarine, and placed a weird listening device directly onto a Russian cable on the seabed, in the western Pacific?
Our intell. were able to listen to simple, non-scrambled Russian being spoken.

My Dad learned this firsthand from a retired submarine commander, while waiting for the Blue Angels to begin a springtime warm-up airshow in Pensacola.
 
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