Universal M1 Carbine

NIGHTLORD40K said:

Yours is a couple hundred later than mine. Im jealous, you got a flat bolt! Definitely a GI part, that. Mine has a Inland round bolt, Saginaw slide, and Rockola recoil plate.

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You know the thing that has always fascinated me about the M1 carbine, after the war there should have been millions of surplus carbines around to fill all the needs.. But no They had to keep making more. They just kept making them in Japan, US, Germany etc. Heck they are still making copies now.. Just fascinating the demand for this rifle.

I had one way back when. It was not reliable. I was very disappointed with it. I traded it in on a Colt SP-1. Best trade I ever made.

.308 Norma said:

I killed a huge mule deer buck in 1972 with that carbine. I shot him right behind the ear at about 10 yards.

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Was he sleeping in his bed?

According to my late uncle (a fantastic outdoorsman), shooting a mulie in his bed is a measure of a deer hunter as, in his considered opinion, mule deer are very difficult to sneak up on.

I owned one, I purchased mine in 1980 or so for less than $100 pre-owned. It served me for PD/HD & plinking using FMJ ammo from Korea until I turned 21 at which time I purchased a factory new S&W Model 13. My Universal carbine was 100% reliable with its factory polymer magazine and 15 round metal magazines but not so great with the 30 round steel magazine. I sold it to a work colleague who really wanted it around 13 years ago for $250.

indy1919a4 said:

You know the thing that has always fascinated me about the M1 carbine, after the war there should have been millions of surplus carbines around to fill all the needs.. But no They had to keep making more. They just kept making them in Japan, US, Germany etc. Heck they are still making copies now.. Just fascinating the demand for this rifle.

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Well, fully half of US wartime production was given away or sold at bargain prices to friendly (ish) foriegn countries during and after WW2. Indeed, Uncle Sam was so short of serviceable GI carbines during the early days of the Vietnam War that Universals and Plainfields were bought and supplied through quasi-official channels to the RVN.

NIGHTLORD40K said:

Well, fully half of US wartime production was given away or sold at bargain prices to friendly (ish) foriegn countries during and after WW2. Indeed, Uncle Sam was so short of serviceable GI carbines during the early days of the Vietnam War that Universals and Plainfields were bought and supplied through quasi-official channels to the RVN.

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Amazing.. Any one ever hear a total production number of M1s including all the clones

I’ve got a Universal M1 Carbine that has been 100% reliable. I bought it from a friend a few years back.

My Dad had one back in the '70s. We couldn't get it to shoot better than 6 moa. He sold it after a year.
It never jammed, but he wanted better accuracy.

Poper said:

Was he sleeping in his bed?

According to my late uncle (a fantastic outdoorsman), shooting a mulie in his bed is a measure of a deer hunter as, in his considered opinion, mule deer are very difficult to sneak up on.

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No sir, that big mule deer buck was not asleep in his bed. He had actually been hit in his right hind leg by another hunter on the other side of the hill. I saw him come running around the hill on three legs. Then he turned and ran downhill into some really thick brush in the bottom of a draw not far from where my wife (her first year hunting) and I were sitting.
So we got up and walked over to where we saw the deer disappear. I could see the deer standing in the brush, not over 10 yards away, and when I put the fixed 4 power scope on top of my 308 Winchester on him, all I could see was brush and deer hair. So I grabbed the M-1 Carbine my wife was carrying and handed her my scoped Model 100 Winchester. Using the Carbine’s “peep” sight, I easily put a 30 Carbine bullet right behind the deer’s left ear. He went down kicking.
BTW, I agree with your uncle - in my experience, mule deer are very hard to sneak up on. They don’t have those big ol’ mule ears for nothing. Years ago, somebody told me the reason mule deer “brush up” (hide out) when the wind is blowing is because the noise makes it very hard for mule deer to detect predators.

tactikel said:

My Dad had one back in the '70s. We couldn't get it to shoot better than 6 moa. He sold it after a year.
It never jammed, but he wanted better accuracy.

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The key to Carbine accuracy is a properly fitted recoil plate. After adjusting the "hang" on both my Inland and Universal, they shoot about 2 MOA consistently.

Bent and pinched barrels are a thing too. My buddy who was in the Army in the '50s said bent barrels were the norm on Carbines they had in Germany. He said they would just bend them back!

Mr. Zorg said:

I owned one, I purchased mine in 1980 or so for less than $100 pre-owned. It served me for PD/HD & plinking using FMJ ammo from Korea until I turned 21 at which time I purchased a factory new S&W Model 13. My Universal carbine was 100% reliable with its factory polymer magazine and 15 round metal magazines but not so great with the 30 round steel magazine. I sold it to a work colleague who really wanted it around 13 years ago for $250.

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Holy crap, that's almost the exact same story I have with mine. Mine rode behind the seat until I turned 21 when I replaced it with a Ruger Security Six. I too sold mine to a coworker. Weird.

I have not shot one in many years but the few that I have shot worked fine. As others have mentioned they came in various versions that may have variations in reliability.

A neighbor had one in the late dark green Teflon coat that seemed to shoot OK the one time I used it, but few rounds fired.

A couple of years later I ran across a late model with the cut out op rod and plastic plate riding in the scope mounting holes on the left side of the receiver and despite trying numerous 15 round magazines that all worked in my GI's NEVER fired a full magazine without a failure of some sort.

I was unaware of the history of Universals and so when a college kid offered me an excellent Universal early model with GI parts and "one leg" in a M1A1 replica stock in a canvas tote bag that looked like a M60 Barrel bag, for a price of only $200 when GI Carbines were already fetching $250 in crappy shape I refused to even haggle for one of "those Universals"

Ignorance is bliss only when one remains ignorant!

-kBob

This thread piqued my curiosity enough that when I Googled the subject, this site popped up. New to me but likely not new to other thread participants but I'll post the link here anyway.

http://www.m1carbinesinc.com/carbine_universal.html

Mr. Zorg said:

This thread piqued my curiosity enough that when I Googled the subject, this site popped up. New to me but likely not new to other thread participants but I'll post the link here anyway.

http://www.m1carbinesinc.com/carbine_universal.html

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Its a GREAT site! IIRC, the owner is anonymous, but I have sometimes wondered if he is a THR member.If so, and he reads this, thank you!

I briefly had one some years ago and it was quite reliable. It was probably a later one since it had the 2 recoil springs instead of the GI issue single. I do recall the front sight loosening enough to wobble which I promptly fixed with a rubber hammer

Girlfriends daughter came over one day (she was about 20 at the time) and both walked into the bedroom to talk like they usually did and the next thing I hear is the bolt racking back which made ICE run through my veins! That`s the only time I ever hollered at her (daughter) since it almost literally scared the crap out of me. Talked it out of her hands and all was well. Lesson learned by her and even us as it drove home the fact that you need to secure your weapons even if you have no kids at home. People can, and do, come to visit!

All that being said, I actually traded it for a 12 ga pump, which I still have.

GunnyUSMC: I’ve got a Universal M1 Carbine that has been 100% reliable. I bought it from a friend a few years back.
Yours has the GI slide (solid where the right bolt lug engages the slide).
The one I looked over at Sears years ago had the stamped slide cut out so you could see the right bolt lug. I passed on it.
Yours probably has a higher percentage of actual GI Surplus parts than the later Universal production redesign versions.

(And I'll bet others have pointed this out.)

I had read somewhere the main issue were mags malfunction with the late models, beside the non complete GI parts compatibility.
You may always find some universal's carbines standing alone in the racks walking around the gunshows.

Carl N. Brown said:

GunnyUSMC: I’ve got a Universal M1 Carbine that has been 100% reliable. I bought it from a friend a few years back.
Yours has the GI slide (solid where the right bolt lug engages the slide).
The one I looked over at Sears years ago had the stamped slide cut out so you could see the right bolt lug. I passed on it.
Yours probably has a higher percentage of actual GI Surplus parts than the later Universal production redesign versions.

(And I'll bet others have pointed this out.)

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It being one of the earlier carbines is why I bought it.

czhen said:

I had read somewhere the main issue were mags malfunction with the late models, beside the non complete GI parts compatibility.
You may always find some universal's carbines standing alone in the racks walking around the gunshows.

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Magazines are an issue with all M1 Carbines. But I have found that some Universal carbines are a little more sensitive.