National Postalmeter M1 Carbine.

[GunnyUSMC]

Back in 2010 I stopped off at one of the local pawn shops and didn't see anything I wanted. As I was leaving my friend that runs the shop asked me if I had a rear sight for a M1 Carbine. I told him yes and he asked me what I wanted for it. I asked what he was going to put it on and he said a GI M1. He said that the sight had been removed to mount a scope. He then went to the back and got the carbine. I was happy to see that someone had mounted a SK no smithing mount on the gun.
I took a good look at it and asked what he wanted for it. He said he was not sure so, I low balled him. I told him I would give him $300. I knew that he would come back with a counter offer, but I was shocked that he said $325. I thought I would try and save a little more money so, I asked if that was the out the door price. He said that he would have to add the tax. I asked what would that come to and he said $355. I said make it $350 and I'll go ahead and take it. He smiled and said OK.
Oh! there are no import marks on it.

Here are the pic's




The SN# puts it built Jan 1943 - Sept 1943.










The Barrel date is 5-43. The bore looks pertty good and should clean up very nice.




S HB stamp in the sling slot.










Other then oiling it and putting it away, I haven't messed with it. It is one of those project guns that I need to find time to get to.

 

[Dr.Rob]

Great find! Sure it needs a little rust prevention but for that price? Can't beat it!

 

[texas chase]

You are a dirty dog...

 

[Wes Mantooth]

That looks a lot like one I have. serial # 42xxxxx. Can anybody tell us what it's worth?

 

[Welding Rod]

That is awesome. Congratulations on a great find!

 

[nathan]

A little JB bore paste on the barrel and it should turn out nice.

 

[carbine85]

Nice find. That stock will clean up nicely and has some markings.

 

[Carl N. Brown]

That stud in the rear sight slot means some previous owner had a scope mount on it (I had one of those commercial mounts on my IBM carbine, but went back to the peep sights.)

IIRC National Postal Meter was not common. 413,000 of the ~6.5 million M1 Carbines made in WWII.

 

[carlo1776]

Very nice, should be fun to clean up. A buddy has one made by IBM and have not seen another since.

 

[whatever]

Nice looking carbine. Any chance you have a source for rear sights? My IBM m1 carbine was sporterized years ago and I'm trying to get it back to stock one piece at a time.

 

[GunnyUSMC]

I did remove the SK scope mount stud frome the rear sight slot. I have 2 or 3 GI rear sights in my parts box, but will need to dig them out to see if they are correct for the rifle.

 

[Dr.Rob]

In reasonable shape a WW2 carbine can easily be worth 600-1000 bucks.

 

[carbine85]

I did remove the SK scope mount stud frome the rear sight slot. I have 2 or 3 GI rear sights in my parts box, but will need to dig them out to see if they are correct for the rifle

Any of the USGI Carbine sights will fit. It inserts from the right side to the left. If you don't have the sight tools you will have to remove the rifle from the stock, place it flat on a solid surface and knock the sight into place using a wooden dowell. I always set the windage to zero and see how far off it is. They always seem to need to be pushed more to the left. Depending on which sight was on it before you may have to change or file the front sight post to correct the elevation to match the rear match.

 

[rondog]

An NPM for $350? I hate you!

J/K of course, but damn.....nice score!