Holy Cow!

[Oldschool shooter]

Just got a text from Classic arms. M1 carbines made by original gov't contractors and refurbished by James River Armory. They are beautiful, but $1499? Maybe I'm just cheap. Makes me appreciate my nice old WWII vintage M1. They are out of most makers, looks like inland is all they have left. The Rock-Olas were going for a $500 premium.

 

[Ugly Sauce]

I remember not buying one once at a gun show for $300.00. I thought that was $50.00 too much.

 

[Mars5l]

RTI had them not long ago, I remember some where like new or unissued condition were going for close to $2k. They are on my list but I've bought too many other guns this year

 

[JCooperfan1911]

I wouldn’t give half of that for a U.S. Carbine, Caliber .30, M1. Not a very impressive weapon compared to the M1 rifle.

Consider the collector’s value has been obliterated as well and there is no way in hades. Horribly buy.

 

[Ru4real]

Holy cow! Cut my legs off and call me shorty!

Seems like a high price.

 

[Walkalong]

I remember not buying one once at a gun show for $300.00. I thought that was $50.00 too much.

I remember when there tons of them for $150

 

[jmorris]

Yeah, lots of prices these days seem pretty crazy to me but then again even people only qualified to take out the trash at a fast food restaurant make a lot more money than I did entering the workforce as “skilled” labor.

That said, I could get a chop beef sandwich, frys and a drink for $2.99, now it’s over $12.

Looks like they are about the same, except at least they are probably just as good as they were “back then”...

 

[Pat Riot]

My first M1 Carbine was $129.00 plus tax. My second was $130. That was 1992. I sold them both for $250 each in 94 and thought I was getting ahead. Two weeks later Clinton banned the sale of military surplus M1 Carbines and all of a sudden they cost $750.
They are fun guns but not $1500 worth of fun.

 

[DocRock]

RTI had them not long ago, I remember some where like new or unissued condition were going for close to $2k. They are on my list but I've bought too many other guns this year

Talk about taking the Micky! All of those RTI guns came from SH godowns in deepest darkest Africa and none of them were unissued. Everything I have seen from their Africa acquisitions required extensive restoration. If there were recent previous M1 imports from a different origin, I didn't see them.

 

[PapaG]

Bought a 100% Underwood a few years ago for $300 but some dip had filled in the sling-oiler hole with plastic wood and made a Weatherby style pistol grip with it also. And added a recoil pad, why I don't know. I'm accumulating parts, buttplate and screw, sling, oiler to put it back if I can get the crap off it. If not, I have a Winchester stock to put on it. It shoots great.

 

[Speedo66]

I wonder if these are the nasty looking Ethiopian imports we talked about here a week or two ago?

Perhaps someone wholesale bought some and is cleaning/ refurbishing them to increase the price, or at least make the price more palatable?

Maybe I didn't overpay when I bought my very clean Underwood for $75 in 1974 or so.

 

[792mauser]

Bought my 26x,xxx Inland maybe 3 years ago for 350$.

That seems a BIT high.

 

[wiscoaster]

I saw one at Cabela's last summer. They're really very nice. But that price certainly deserves a "Holy Cow!!" - seriously and no kidding, but they don't have any trouble selling them.

 

[wiscoaster]

I wonder if these are the nasty looking Ethiopian imports we talked about here a week or two ago?

No.

 

[CapnMac]

Sadly, open-market military issue Carbines are stuck at the $1500-1800 price point.

The dba Inland and dba Rockola version are using castings made by AO/Kahr for their replicas--no small end of bad press on those. Used dba Inlands are down around $800-900--and you are typically getting less than what you pay for at the price. New, the dba Inlands are down to $1000-1100.

If a person is committed, and keeps really, really tight watch on the CMP & Carbine fora, military version are available in the $800-900 range. Just not often. All too often from widows and estates.

Find a rare original, National Postal Meter, Rockola, Standard (especially UnStandard) and two grand is an entry point.

It's the modern reality.

All those barrels of $25, $50, $100 carbines were bought up. Just by other people. And, most of those people have kept them.

Now, only about $1500 for what is a hand-tuned, generally 'correct' Carbine is a pretty good deal versus some used Carbine with an unknown past.

 

[lemaymiami]

Want to learn more about that war baby? Here are my two primary sources of info (I got the bug too late - just a few years ago... when any decent war surplus carbine was a lot more than it would have been just twenty years ago...).
http://forums.thecmp.org/forumdisplay.php?f=6
https://www.milsurps.com/forumdisplay.php?f=110

 

[whughett]

I remember when there tons of them for $150

I bought two of them, assembled from parts laid out on a dealers table, for that. Assembled one from as many parts marked RockOla as were there. These were re-imports from some Asian country in the 80’s. Sold both for a handsome profit in the late 90’s but no where near those prices.

 

[eastbank]

my first m1 carbine was payment for mowing a yard for two months in 1960. it had no magizine and i fired it as a single shot, ammo was not every where then.

 

[illinoisburt]

If you are looking for an expensive pretty wall hanger then probably a great deal. I would not be in hurry to get anything JRA has assembled with any intention of actually using it. They do a great job of finishing, horrible awful terrible job of fitting. My experience with them has been beautiful looking guns that are out of spec and do not operate correctly. Now granted that is limited to their AK74s and BM59s, however I would not expect that to have improved with other lines. Customer service was extremely bad - literally cussing at you on the phone bad. I would never purchase anything they built again.

 

[GBExpat]

For reference, when the CMP started selling their first unexpected supply of M1 Carbines in Summer 2007 the least-expensive maker-mark, Inland, was selling for $495.

 

[Bfh_auto]

Some

I wonder if these are the nasty looking Ethiopian imports we talked about here a week or two ago?

Perhaps someone wholesale bought some and is cleaning/ refurbishing them to increase the price, or at least make the price more palatable?

Maybe I didn't overpay when I bought my very clean Underwood for $75 in 1974 or so.

Some of you were around then. The rest of us don't have that option and it names aren't Mcfly so we can't fly the delorean back then.

 

[RussellC]

I remember when there tons of them for $150

I often think of Shotgun News in the old days....Grands for 50 bucks. They were all packed in goo and all, but still wish I had bought a few hundred dollars worth.

Russellc

 

[Tommygunn]

I often think of Shotgun News in the old days....Grands for 50 bucks. They were all packed in goo and all, but still wish I had bought a few hundred dollars worth.

Russellc

I wish I could get a Grand for fifty bucks! A 2000% increase in investment!

Grand=Garand.

 

[vintovka]

Old story. Bought a M-1 IHC that reportedly came from Somalia circa 1998. Not "blue Sky" Was strapped with a dozen others on a dirty dusty pallet. I picked by best one and maker while still strapped. . When unstrapped the the stock wood literally collapsed/crushed in my hands having been eaten hollow by wood boring insects. Salvaged it with new wood and burned the rest. The entire shipment should have been fumigated. Bore was only fair yet brought nearly 2K when sold recently.

 

[.455_Hunter]

Makes me happy I stumbled upon an low round count, early production Universal in excellent condition for $500 at the LGS.

Sure, it's not GI, but has been 100% reliable and definitely fills the M1 Carbine slot in my collection of representative US military weapons.