M1 Carbine by Plainfield Machine Co.

Plainfields are some of the better commercial carbines, and DID see combat duty (alongside early Universals) with ARVN troops and US advisors in the Vietnam war. Some were supplied by the CIA and others were purchased directly by the RVN. Some of the undelivered RVN contract guns later wound up in Korea and have been reimported in recent years.
http://www.m1carbinesinc.com/carbine_plainfield.html

So, yes its a bonafide Carbine, but wouldn't be considered "GI" by collectors.

Ya, it's not a collectible, but hey, you got it to have fun shooting it, so .... SHOOT!!

My introduction to the M1 Carbine, and autoloading firearms in general, was my dad's Plainfield. He bought it new in 1965. Its always run perfectly and is very accurate. It now resides in my safe, though, he just inherited a '44 Winchester and a Universal made before they made the changes to the charging handle. Haven't got those two out to shoot, but I can say with confidence, the Plainfields, at least the earlier ones, were well made. I'd say they're as "real" as it gets

Snapped this photo of mine recently:

Neither of my GI carbines runs well so I’d say you got a keeper.

1KPerDay said:

Neither of my GI carbines runs well so I’d say you got a keeper.

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Really? With factory ammo or reloads? Also, what kind of mags are you using?

Don't know if his was a Plainfield, but my favorite M1 Carbine configuration was the chopped 'advisor' held by Norman Schwarzkopf in this photo:

Dave DeLaurant said:

Don't know if his was a Plainfield, but my favorite M1 Carbine configuration was the chopped 'advisor' held by Norman Schwarzkopf in this photo:

View attachment 1051008

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Stormin Norman

A real General and not a political general. ! I think those "Advisors" were made by Division Level armorers on an in stores M2 paratrooper , not a purchased item . They are indeed a very kewl field PDW !

In 1980 I had an early 3 digit serial number Plainfield. It was dead on accurate. Even though it had all GI parts, listening to the so-called experts, I thought it wasn't worth anything, I sold it to my regret.

Zygodactyl said:

In 1980 I had an early 3 digit serial number Plainfield. It was dead on accurate. Even though it had all GI parts, listening to the so-called experts, I thought it wasn't worth anything, I sold it to my regret.

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The receivers were castings (but good ones), and many times the barrels were cut-down from surplus '03 Springfield tubes, but the small internal parts were largely GI.

1KPerDay said:

Neither of my GI carbines runs well so I’d say you got a keeper.

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Ive had 5 USGI carbines and every one of them was a problem function wise when I first got them. All needed their bolts rebuilt (extractor, ejector, and springs) and I put a new recoil spring in them. That, and replacing the GI mags with current Korean mags brought them up to about 98%.

Just putting one of the GI mags in the gun drops them back down to about 75-80%, so I think that's a big part of the problems. I got a number of GI mags with the guns when I bought them, and every one of them is a problem. The Korean mags work great, both the 15 and 30 rounders, and are only about $12-$15 a mag, so they are a great deal.

My first carbine was a Plainfield. It was Very reliable and quite accurate.
However, I wanted to shoot the CMP matches and the Plainfield wasn’t allowed as it was a “commercial carbine” and not a “military U.S. Carbine “.
I traded it for a 1944 Saginaw S.G. The Saginaw after breaking in the replacement barrel 9/44 Underwood, its reliable, but shoots a “pattern” rather than groups. 13” @100yds, 10-shots.
I now have an Inland that shoots 8-10” at 100yds...but isn’t reliable.. not much of an improvement.
The Plainfield was 2-3moa...
wish I had it back...

Went shooting with a friend and his father when I was about 12, his father had a few DCM obtained rifles he brought. A Springfield '03, a Garand, and a Carbine.

Started with the Springfield, way too much recoil for a skinny 12 year old. Garand was better, but the Carbine, oh yeah.

Years later I jumped on the chance to buy an Underwood Carbine from a brother officer, WWII vet, who was retiring. Best $75 I've spent, all original except for the later improved rear sight, and it runs perfectly.

OP: good luck with your new gun!

Have only owned one M-1 Carbine and it was a Plainfield. Had it for about 5 years in the latter 1990's. Nice little gun that my son used in some NRA Junior matches. Got it from a friend who inherited it from his uncle who had shot it very little. Never had any problems with it and it's one of those that I now regret selling.

I lived very close to the Plainfield plant in Dunellen NJ until after HS. My dad bought an Enforcer short barrel one and a regular one when I was about 12 . The "regular one" sat on the back porch of our little farm in Farmingdale and I coveted the Enforcer which I got given to me when I turned 18 in HS. I also got my dads Winchest M1 which was much prettier after he passed in middle 70s . The Regular plainfield dissappeared but I kept the enforcer until the begging of the 90s when I sold it for a decent ammout, $500 + a scopee. The regular Plainfield reappeared in an Uncles estate and I got that and an Inland too ! I current have the Inland in very good condition and the Regular Plainffield and both work well althought the Plainfield piston was frozen when I got it, probly 30 years of storage. The Plainfield is twice as accurate as the Inland and I have put a Burris fast fire on it on an Ultimak mount and it is my recreational vehicle gun.

If not mistaken, I believe Plainfield may have been the predecessor to the Iver Johnson 30 carbine, one which I was previously given as a gift. Very good shooter and reliable cycling. I shoot only my own cast and powder coated handloads these days.

Pic:



Bayou52

Only thing I ever used in my carbine was GI WW2 era 15 and 30 rounders.

Never a single failure when using military ball. Round count of about 3000.

Guys get beat up secondhand GI mags and wonder why they don’t run. Fresh out of the grease cleaned up they work great. If not you’ve got something wrong with your gun. If GI mags made the guns 75% reliable they’d never of gotten off the drawing board.

JCooperfan1911 said:

Only thing I ever used in my carbine was GI WW2 era 15 and 30 rounders.

Never a single failure when using military ball. Round count of about 3000.

Guys get beat up secondhand GI mags and wonder why they don’t run. Fresh out of the grease cleaned up they work great. If not you’ve got something wrong with your gun. If GI mags made the guns 75% reliable they’d never of gotten off the drawing board.

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They weren't all that well thought of when new, and were often replaced with new mags when they were resupplied with ammo. The mags have always been the Carbines weak spot.

If you want to spend the money the original GI mags bring these days, used or NOS, have at it. The new Korean mags work just fine, and are very inexpensive in comparison, and do bring the reliability up.

Last I remember seeing, the NOS GI mags were going for north oh $50 a pop. Thats 4:1 plus in favor of the Korean mags, and they are a known quality. "Surplus" can mean many things, and not just good quality stuff sold off as excess.

trackskippy said:

They weren't all that well thought of when new, and were often replaced with new mags when they were resupplied with ammo. The mags have always been the Carbines weak spot.

If you want to spend the money the original GI mags bring these days, used or NOS, have at it. The new Korean mags work just fine, and are very inexpensive in comparison, and do bring the reliability up.

Last I remember seeing, the NOS GI mags were going for north oh $50 a pop. Thats 4:1 plus in favor of the Korean mags, and they are a known quality. "Surplus" can mean many things, and not just good quality stuff sold off as excess.

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All I know is I got mine for about the same as the Korean ones several years ago, several different makers, all in cosmoline wraps. No doubt all carbine magazines are flimsy and they were replaced in the field often. But the unissued GI ones are simply not bad magazines by any means. I have/had over a dozen in rotation with well in excess of 3,000 rounds (mostly all Korean surplus ammo which is GOOD STUFF) fired with ZERO (0) malfunctions. Awfully hard to “bring the reliability up” from that.

In my experience, guys with jamming carbines often are using beat up worn mags, have gummed up gas systems, old recoil springs, or are using some of the lower grade commercial guns. Underpowered or inconsistent ammunition can also cause these rifles not to cycle properly. The actions are balanced pretty delicately and will not feed well when there’s not enough impulse from the gas system or enough power from the slide spring to drive the lightweight bolt home to papa.

The Korean guys are great, but it’s just silly to claim GI mags are bad. They are not bad. Same goes for 30 round hardbacks which have been equally reliable. I will say, though, that I’m sure now they are much more expensive and collectible and the Koreans make a fine choice.

Agreed, good condition GI mags run fine in both my guns, as do the Koreans.

I have a 1965 Plainfield I got brand new as a Christmas present in 1965. I’ve just recently gotten it out of the closet to have another go with it. Narry a malfunction with it either with Remington FMJ or 15.0 grains of H110 under 110 FMJ.
Same with a 1942 Inland.
Great little rifle to shoot!

Yay! Carbines!

I knew some of you were waiting for me to weigh in.

296.2 lbs

I was disturbed by the neighbor’s carbine as a youth. It was in a weird space age styled stock and all the metal work was an odd green

yep a Universal Teflon coat.

I mentioned carrying a carbine to public school (on a county school bus) for a history class.

Later I carried it for a couple of JROTC classes and an after noon field op for an Opposing force (we called them Aggressors and the “circle trigon” was the OpFor insignia )

one of the JROTC adult leaders tried to get the wood shop teacher to make up a stock and faux upper to make a carbine look like an AK but they preferred making laminate coffee tables.

Happy? I told a carbine story.

-kBob