Anyone remember the NRA M1 Carbines in the '60's?

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doc540

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Our family bought a carbine through the NRA back in the mid-60's. I think we ended up paying around $25 for it.

Buyers took the chance of getting one which had been used as an ice breaker in the Chosin Reservoir or a new one.

We lucked out and got a practically new one, Winchester, serial #5643 (looks to be 1944 manuf.).

As a junior high shop project I sanded and re-oiled the stock.

My dad, a WWII vet (B-17 pilot in the 8th) is 87 but still going pretty darned strong, and eventually I'll inherit it.

I got it from him this week to clean it and shoot a few rounds through it. It still looks new.

Just wondered if anyone here remembered about the NRA offering them for sale back then.

Thanks
 
I have my Dad's Winchester: 1.1M that he got from the NRA back about 1961 or so. First centerfire rifle I ever shot. He tried having a Sears(Weaver) 2.5x mounted on the receiver. Twice. Other than that and the TruOil project I applied to it years ago, it looks new.
It shoots well but is fussy about how you tighten the barrel band down. If you do that so it likes it, it's good for 3-4" groups at 100 yds. Otherwise it strings shots about 10".
 
This was the forerunner of the current Civilian Marksmanship Program, which was the DCM of Director of Civilian Marksmanship.

I got my Rock Ola in 1965 for $20.00. $17.50 for the Carbine, and $2.50 for UPS delivery to my door.

I was too late, but you could buy a 1911 for $25.00 just before then.
 
I have to wonder....of all the carbines, Garands, 1911's, etc., that turn up with the passing of our old vets, how many of those were actually bought as surplus like that, and not "brought back" as usually assumed? Certainly nothing wrong with it, I'm very glad such programs exist. I really need to join the CMP.
 
I remember them well. $20.00. As mentioned, the 1911s had been discontinued (I still have my DCM notice saying that I would be notified when sales resumed; I'm still waiting so I can get that $17.50 .45). In the meantime I got one as a Christmas gift--it cost my parents $25.

Even at that young age I wasn't a big carbine fan and didn't think it was really worth the whole $20 to me. I humped around B-52s for a while with carbines, and other than their light weight I didn't think too much of them then either. Had one for a while in the 80s which didn't change my mind any.

Give me a Garand any day...

Sure miss those prices, though.:banghead:
 
"Even at that young age I wasn't a big carbine fan and didn't think it was really worth the whole $20 to me."

Man, you must'a had a lot of other cool toys because after slaying cans with my .22, that carbine with a "banana clip" was about as much fun as I'd ever had at age 16!
 
The price was right, but having to deal with Railway Express on the delivery was a real PITA.

I now have my father's "bring back" from his European sojourn, D-Day to Dortmund.
 
I still have my grandfather's Inland. It told me he got it back in the 60s when he joined the NRA, paid $15 or $20, he couldn't remember. It is never leaving the family. (That or his 1917 Enfield.)

He wasn't in the war, he had a critical job at a steel mill, but my other grandfather, and my wife's grandfather were both B-17 crew with the 8th, had their memos and medals framed, nearly identical.
 
I'm setting here looking at the receipt for mine.

Ordered Feb 21 1965.
Shipped from Red River Army Depot, Texarkana TX, on April 20, 1965.

Price was $17.50 + $2.50 Packing & Handling.

It turned out to be a pretty nice Inland.

It now resides in the M1-A1 stock I bought for another $15.00 at a gunshow, inside the GI web gear jump case I bought for $5.00 at another gun show.

The days of $20 buck Carbines and $40 buck M1-A1's were a long time ago folks! :D
 
So, how did that whole deal come down orignally?

Did the NRA buy govt. surplus and resell them or just act as an agent?
 
The DCM was a US Army-run organization.
The commanding officer was an Army officer, but all the workers were civilian government workers.

The program loaned firearms and gave ammo to NRA affiliated gun clubs, mostly for the purposes of training juniors how to shoot.
They also sold firearms and ammo to NRA members.

As example, in the 1960's my old gun club had a few 1911's, a number of M1's and a fair number of Remington 513, Winchester 52, and Remington 40-X .22LR target rifles.
Many of these guns were "checked out" to club members and they could keep them as long as they wanted, but had to be responsible for them and turn them in when ordered.
Depending on how many junior members you had in the club, the DCM would send the club ammo for use in matches and junior training.

In order to buy a DCM firearm in those days, you had to be an NRA member, and fill out a request to buy.
When your "number" came up, the firearm was shipped direct to you from a US Army depot.
You were allowed to buy at least one of the available firearms per year, with some restricted to one in a lifetime.
When I bought my M1 rifle in the early-1980's, it was one M1 per lifetime, at a price of $165.00.
 
doc540--yes. I knew a wheat farmer a couple of towns away who collected guns like a magnet. His house was like a big lending library and I had unlimited borrowing rights. So by the time I was 17 or so I had been shooting M2 carbine full auto and the Thompson SMG. (Legally.) Not to mention every other thing that was around in the 1960s.

When I went in the military I was rather disappointed with their limited inventory...

I remember that man with great fondness...
 
$15 or $20 was a lot of money in the mid-60's. The average U.S. annual income was $4,658.72 in 1965.
"...at a price of $165.00..." How long did it take you to save that much?
 
Took advantage of the free ammo provided through the NRA to the local club in the mid 60's. The club had loaner Grands to shoot, and we used them in rifle matches for fund raising.

Club dues were $5 and you received two boxes of 30-06 when you paid your dues. I shot up the ammo in a 1903-A3 I purchased at a surplus store for $25 (still packed in cosmoline and unfired when purchased) The good old days , even though $25 was not always easy to come by working for $1 an hour.
 
I have decided this year to deer hunt with a M1 carbine, The last 8 deer were with a 308 I have been playing with the M1 carbine recently and it is a very handy firearm.
 
I wasn't even alive when the DCM sold carbines through the NRA in the 1960's. I have one of those ex-DCM Carbines though. I lucked into it at a gun shop. I believe, but could not confirm, that it came from the estate of the original purchaser from the DCM. It sill had the 1960's DCM paperwork showing that it cost $18.50. I paid quite a bit more then that though.

I don't think the previous owner ever fired the gun. It was *very* tight and looked like it had a still new repark. Everything was bone dry as well. A buddy of mine helped me detail strip it and lube everything up. It shoots great and is now my wife's favorite gun.

Here's two of our carbines. The top one is the 1960's DCM gun. The bottom one is my Inland from the CMP from last year.

CarbinesResized.gif
 
"$15 or $20 was a lot of money in the mid-60's. The average U.S. annual income was $4,658.72 in 1965.
"...at a price of $165.00..." How long did it take you to save that much?"

???

We were just middle class, and $25 for a Carbine was considered cheap.

My Ruger Single Six purchased two years later from Oshman's Sporting Goods in 1967 was $78. I saved the money by mowing yards and washing cars at $5 a pop.
 
Man, wish I could have gotten an M1 carbine for $25... :eek: Yeah, I know... 60's pricing...

Still...

At any rate, you got any pics?
 
Ahhhh yes, the good ol days when guns were sent via the USPS and no background checks....

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doc540

Looks like you have one of the earlier variations. No bayonet lug, or at least not retrofitted with one, and the round push button safety.
I have one with similar characteristics.
 
I was issued one of these when I was in the USAR medics in the late 60's. I couldn't hit the broad side of a barn with it.
 
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