ChiefPilot
Member
A number of weeks ago, I decided to take the plunge and order one of the newly available Kahr / Auto Ordnance M1 Carbines. It showed up at the dealer on Tuesday, and I hadn't had much time to look at it until tonight. What follows are my observations while stripping and cleaning it - I will follow up later this week with a range report.
Before I get on with it, I need to state that I am new to M1 Carbines. What may be perfectly normal might seem odd to me, and vice versa. My background with rifles is pretty much limited to .22s and .223s and paper, with the occasional squirrel or rabbit thrown in. If I say something that doesn't make sense, please let me know. With that, onto the details.
The rifle itself comes well wrapped in a cardboard box. After getting through the requisite tape, the box contains a warranty card, a lock, a 15 round magazine, and the rifle. The rifle itself, oddly, has rubber protectors around the end of the barrel and the charging handle. Several others have commented that the action is tight, and that was true for mine as well - the action was very tight. Not stiff-tight, but more so than I would have expected. My initial thought was that this was a normal M1 carbine thing, and since the rifle hasn't been shot yet I figured this was probably okay.
After reviewing the lengthy one page guide to stripping the rifle, I started disassembly by loosening the front barrel band screw. Once this was done, the whole front band assembly (including the bayonet lug) slides forward. The metal handguard assembly comes off, and then the barrel and receiver assembly can be lifted out of the stock.
During this step, I found that there was a lot of grease, dirt, and perhaps somewhat disturbingly, metal particles around the slide. Perhaps this is left over from manufacture, but it didn't inspire a lot of confidence.
Following the directions, I removed the operating slide and spring, trigger housing, and finally the slide and the bolt. I found more metal particles in slide retaining grooves, along with some rust ! The slide spring guide, and the slide spring itself, were rusty
. Not bad, but for a new rifle that isn't something you want to see. I suspect that, despite what Kahr/AO might say, there are some surplus GI parts and this was one of them (anyone know of an easy way to tell what is GI and what isn't?). Not a big deal to clean; some Hoppes and some QT with a cloth had them cleaned up iin just a few minutes. Everything else got wiped down and lubricated. Since the manual did not specify any particular kind of lubricant, I used BreakFree CLP as I do on my AR and .22s - if someone has any other recommendations (keeping in mind I'm new to the M1 Carbine) I'd be happy to hear them.
The barrel appears to be brand new, and had a fair bit of gunk (grease) in it. After a number of swipes, the patches came out clean so we're good to go.
Reassembly went fairly well - bolt goes in, the slide goes on, the trigger group goes on, the slide spring goes on, the barrel/receiver goes into the stock, and the barrel band is replaced. After it was back together, the action was much smoother. Still tight, but not quite as much effort needed to work the slide.
So far, I'm still happy with my purchase but I'm a little disappointed with the overall fit-and-finish. The rusty spring & spring guide don't give me the warm fuzzies, but the stock is nicer than any of the ones I"ve seen on "real" carbines at gun shows. I was very happy to see that it included both a bayonet lug and a metal (not wood) handguard. The bayonet lug is neat because it's something I can't have on my ARs (yet), and I always liked the appearance of the metal handguard instead of the wooden one.
I'm hoping to shoot it this weekend; I've picked up some Winchester and some UMC .30 carbine ammo. I'll post more information (and hopefully some pictures) then. In the meantime, I think I'll go watch Band of Brothers with my new carbine - it seems like the "right" thing to do
-Brad
Before I get on with it, I need to state that I am new to M1 Carbines. What may be perfectly normal might seem odd to me, and vice versa. My background with rifles is pretty much limited to .22s and .223s and paper, with the occasional squirrel or rabbit thrown in. If I say something that doesn't make sense, please let me know. With that, onto the details.
The rifle itself comes well wrapped in a cardboard box. After getting through the requisite tape, the box contains a warranty card, a lock, a 15 round magazine, and the rifle. The rifle itself, oddly, has rubber protectors around the end of the barrel and the charging handle. Several others have commented that the action is tight, and that was true for mine as well - the action was very tight. Not stiff-tight, but more so than I would have expected. My initial thought was that this was a normal M1 carbine thing, and since the rifle hasn't been shot yet I figured this was probably okay.
After reviewing the lengthy one page guide to stripping the rifle, I started disassembly by loosening the front barrel band screw. Once this was done, the whole front band assembly (including the bayonet lug) slides forward. The metal handguard assembly comes off, and then the barrel and receiver assembly can be lifted out of the stock.
During this step, I found that there was a lot of grease, dirt, and perhaps somewhat disturbingly, metal particles around the slide. Perhaps this is left over from manufacture, but it didn't inspire a lot of confidence.
Following the directions, I removed the operating slide and spring, trigger housing, and finally the slide and the bolt. I found more metal particles in slide retaining grooves, along with some rust ! The slide spring guide, and the slide spring itself, were rusty
. Not bad, but for a new rifle that isn't something you want to see. I suspect that, despite what Kahr/AO might say, there are some surplus GI parts and this was one of them (anyone know of an easy way to tell what is GI and what isn't?). Not a big deal to clean; some Hoppes and some QT with a cloth had them cleaned up iin just a few minutes. Everything else got wiped down and lubricated. Since the manual did not specify any particular kind of lubricant, I used BreakFree CLP as I do on my AR and .22s - if someone has any other recommendations (keeping in mind I'm new to the M1 Carbine) I'd be happy to hear them.The barrel appears to be brand new, and had a fair bit of gunk (grease) in it. After a number of swipes, the patches came out clean so we're good to go.
Reassembly went fairly well - bolt goes in, the slide goes on, the trigger group goes on, the slide spring goes on, the barrel/receiver goes into the stock, and the barrel band is replaced. After it was back together, the action was much smoother. Still tight, but not quite as much effort needed to work the slide.
So far, I'm still happy with my purchase but I'm a little disappointed with the overall fit-and-finish. The rusty spring & spring guide don't give me the warm fuzzies, but the stock is nicer than any of the ones I"ve seen on "real" carbines at gun shows. I was very happy to see that it included both a bayonet lug and a metal (not wood) handguard. The bayonet lug is neat because it's something I can't have on my ARs (yet), and I always liked the appearance of the metal handguard instead of the wooden one.
I'm hoping to shoot it this weekend; I've picked up some Winchester and some UMC .30 carbine ammo. I'll post more information (and hopefully some pictures) then. In the meantime, I think I'll go watch Band of Brothers with my new carbine - it seems like the "right" thing to do
-Brad
