Universal M1 carbine question.

[Sydwaiz]

Since it doesn't look like I will get any help on ARfcom, I'll ask the fine folks of THR about my carbine! I should've come here first.

Besides telling me it's a POS and to dump it and buy a real one which I plan on doing anyway someday, can someone tell me if a USGI trigger housing will fit in a Universal M1 carbine? This rifle used to function great but now it won't feed. I feel that a new trigger housing and mag catch assy will fix it up but don't want to spend the money if it wont fit. I guess I can take my old one out and compare it but thought I'd ask here first.

Now before you tell me to forget it, it will never work right, let me tell you why I want to fix it. This was my dad's carbine and even though it has no collector value, it's still a handy and fun little gun. He used to keep it on his boat which was stored in a covered slip at Lake Mead, NV. Well, a big storm came up, broke the roof on the slip and broke the slip away from the rest of the docks. The marina towed the slip and all the boats into somewhat shallow water but the weight of the roof was too much for the bilge pumps on our boat and proceeded to shove our boat under. About a year goes by and I find this carbine in the back of the safe. All my dad did before he put it away was squirt some WD-40 on it and down the bore. I decided I wanted to fix it up. I couldn't even see down the bore there was so much crud in there! I don't know how, but when I finally cleaned the barrel out, the rifling was still good! The bore is still bright with excellent rifling! And the wood! Wow, did it come out nice. Beautifull color in it. The blueing could be redone but it's not bad. Now all this happened about 18 years ago when I was about 12 or so. So being the first gun I refinished and brought back to life, I hope you can see why I want to fix it and keep it. Okay, I'm done! Thanks for listening to my story! Hope you guys can help.

 

[gamachinist]

Hi Syd,
There is some difference in the size between the USGI trigger housing and the Universal.
I think (careful,I shouldn't do that!) that the GI one will fit in the stock,but it is smaller and it won't look right.(I may have this backwards,it has been a long time since I sold my Universal).
You may be able to put a GI mag catch in the Universal housing and solve the problem.
A lot of GI parts will fit,so you might find one and compare them.A GI stock might be able to be fitted to the Universal action too,that way a GI trigger guard would fit right.
And if the operating slide breaks( a major weak point),get back to me and I'll tell you how to fix it so it will stay together.

Hope this helps,Robert.

 

[Sunray]

"...if a USGI trigger housing will fit in a Universal M1..." It depends. Some of the early Universals could take USGI parts. The later version cannot use them. I can never remember if it's one recoil spring or two that tells you which version you have. However, it's not the end of the world. Gun Parts has Universal parts for a reasonable price.
http://www.e-gunparts.com/products.asp?chrMasterModel=3830zCARBINE&MC=

 

[Nestor]

It, has been a while but I think the 2 spring model is mostly "new production"

 

[gamachinist]

Actually,
The twin spring deal was on Universals from the start.Mine was bought new in about 1973(? I wasn't the original owner) and it had twin springs.
After Iver Johnson bought them,they may have changed to the single spring design.

That may be the big difference in them and the reason the GI trigger and mag housing won't work.

Iver Johnson bought the rights to the Unversal in 1982,and merged it with Plainfield,who had made carbines that were closer to the original mil spec.

GPC has the housing listed as part number 544600-02,but it is currently sold out ( $49.80).
Robert.

 

[larry408]

gamachinist, The early Universals had a single operating rod spring just like a USGI. The newer version has 2 springs and will take very few USGI parts. Mine has a 22,xxx serial number which has only 1 operating rod spring and takes USGI parts. A USGI trigger should work if he has a early version.

 

[gamachinist]

I stand corrected!
The sn on mine was 155,9xx (I should have looked earlier).
Robert.