Okay there was one bright spot today. EDITED 6/14

[Utah Bob #35998]

[Pat Riot]

Nice! 

[Injun Ryder, SASS #36201L]

How hard was it to clean up? Per the ad, they still have a lot of cosmoline on/in them.

 

I should get mine next week. It should arrive Tuesday but the FFL is usually open only Friday - Saturday as he has a full time job.

[Utah Bob #35998]

8 minutes ago, Injun Ryder, SASS #36201L said:

How hard was it to clean up? Per the ad, they still have a lot of cosmoline on/in them.

 

I should get mine next week. It should arrive Tuesday but the FFL is usually open only Friday - Saturday as he has a full time job.

It’s right out of the box in this pic. Bright bore. No cosmolene visible. I’ll break it down tomorrow.

I haven’t even wiped it off.

 

 

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

1 hour ago, Utah Bob #35998 said:

I never saw an M-1 or M-2 carbine with a stamped trigger guard.  The ones I'm familiar with all had cast guards integral with the safety / magazine release.  This is a fascination.

 

Also, I was under the impression that all were retrofitted (if they weren't issued with them) with bayonet lugs fairly early on.

 

You need an oiler and sling now.

 

Cingrtas.  You have a chunk of history.

[Utah Bob #35998]

8 hours ago, Forty Rod SASS 3935 said:

I never saw an M-1 or M-2 carbine with a stamped trigger guard.  The ones I'm familiar with all had cast guards integral with the safety / magazine release.  This is a fascination.

 

Also, I was under the impression that all were retrofitted (if they weren't issued with them) with bayonet lugs fairly early on.

 

You need an oiler and sling now.

 

Cingrtas.  You have a chunk of history.

The type 3 barrel band with bayonet lug was used on Winchester and Inland guns in late 44. They were the only contractors still making carbines. None of the other makers used them but eventually most were retrofitted postwar. It’s rare to find pics of a carbine with a lug in the ETO but you do see some with Marines in the Pacific in 45. This one escaped the retrofit although it does have the late rear sight. I’ll replace that.

[Capt. R. Hugh Kidnme]

My wife, who is a member of local DAR, was tasked on Tues with introducing a retired USMC Maj General as a speaker for a gathering Vietnam vets. She also was his hostess for the whole event and was in charge of introducing him to all attending vets. This is largely because of our son's career in the USMC. Post retirement, this General had an association with the Vietnam Commemoration in D.C.

 

 

   Before the main part of the event she walked around and was introducing herself to the vets to become acquainted with them. When she was thanking one for his sacrifices made, he gave her a challenge coin from his Vietnam service. He was 1st Cav and it bears that insignia, his tour dates, and his name. It is really a beautiful piece. I had no idea these were so specific and well made. Hooah!

[Utah Bob #35998]

22 minutes ago, Capt. R. Hugh Kidnme said:

My wife, who is a member of local DAR, was tasked on Tues with introducing a retired USMC Maj General as a speaker for a gathering Vietnam vets. She also was his hostess for the whole event and was in charge of introducing him to all attending vets. This is largely because of our son's career in the USMC. Post retirement, this General had an association with the Vietnam Commemoration in D.C.

 

 

   Before the main part of the event she walked around and was introducing herself to the vets to become acquainted with them. When she was thanking one for his sacrifices made, he gave her a challenge coin from his Vietnam service. He was 1st Cav and it bears that insignia, his tour dates, and his name. It is really a beautiful piece. I had no idea these were so specific and well made. Hooah!

There’s currently a big industry in challenge coins. Not sure when it started, maybe I the 80s. Seems like every unit has one now. They were rare in the 60s. We daidn’t have one for the Cav.

Wen I was in then 10th Special Forces Group in  ‘69, the commander had coins made for the group. Cost us 6 bucks a piece as I recall. They weren’t called “challenge coins” then except if you were in the club and somebody slapped their coin on the bar. It was a challenge and you had to match it with yours or buy a round.

[Capt. James H. Callahan]

SWEEEEET!!!

JHC

[Four-Eyed Buck,SASS #14795]

Very nice, UB!

[J-BAR #18287]

We need a video of you making noise with it and getting it all dirty again!

[Utah Bob #35998]

4 hours ago, J-BAR #18287 said:

We need a video of you making noise with it and getting it all dirty again!

That might happen......

[Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967]

On 6/12/2021 at 4:25 AM, Utah Bob #35998 said:

The type 3 barrel band with bayonet lug was used on Winchester and Inland guns in late 44. They were the only contractors still making carbines. None of the other makers used them but eventually most were retrofitted postwar. It’s rare to find pics of a carbine with a lug in the ETO but you do see some with Marines in the Pacific in 45. This one escaped the retrofit although it does have the late rear sight. I’ll replace that.

 

Bob, that's the same sight my "virtual" 1943 Saginaw wears.  Which sight would you replace it with?

 

BTW ~ here are a couple of interesting sites for serial number dates, production numbers, and oddities...

 

http://www.uscarbinecal30.com/serialnumbers.html#numericalorder

 

http://uscarbinecal30m1.com/Production.aspx

 

Speaking of "oddities," there's an amusing anecdote about companies sharing components - this could result in some interesting marks... like the Underwood-Quality Hardware receivers stamped thusly:   

 

 

                            

 

It's a name, not a statement!  

 

 

 

[Utah Bob #35998]

43 minutes ago, Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967 said:

 

Bob, that's the same sight my "virtual" 1943 Saginaw wears.  Which sight would you replace it with?

 

BTW ~ here are a couple of interesting sites for serial number dates, production numbers, and oddities...

 

http://www.uscarbinecal30.com/serialnumbers.html#numericalorder

 

http://uscarbinecal30m1.com/Production.aspx

 

Speaking of "oddities," there's an amusing anecdote about companies sharing components - this could result in some interesting marks... like the Underwood-Quality Hardware receivers stamped thusly:   

 

 

                            

 

It's a name, not a statement!  

 

 

 

Yeah I was hoping for one of those. Kinda rare though. Imagine what the first guy who was issued one thought.

I want to use the two leaf flip up because the adjustables wee very late and post war. But mostly because the later rear sight covers up the sn anf maker.

I added a repro sling and original mag today. Looking better. Didn’t need much cleaning at all.  Couple hundred rounds of ammo should be in tomorrow. 

[Utah Bob #35998]

UPS just stopped by. 2 bandoliers of carbine food. Doesn’t look like I’ll have much opportunity to shoot this week though.

[Sedalia Dave]

On 6/11/2021 at 8:19 PM, Injun Ryder, SASS #36201L said:

How hard was it to clean up? Per the ad, they still have a lot of cosmoline on/in them.

 

I should get mine next week. It should arrive Tuesday but the FFL is usually open only Friday - Saturday as he has a full time job.

 

I soaked my M1903 in mineral spirits for a couple of days. The cosmoline came right off. Used a length of PVC pipe for the barrel / receiver.

 

Used oven cleaner on the stock. Sprayed all over after removing all the metal and let sit for 15 minutes. Then scrubbed with a soft bristle brush and rinsed with hot water.

[J.T. Pinkerton]

Who is the maker?  Looks like a later Inland.  Very nice.

 

[Utah Bob #35998]

On 6/11/2021 at 7:19 PM, Injun Ryder, SASS #36201L said:

How hard was it to clean up? Per the ad, they still have a lot of cosmoline on/in them.

 

I should get mine next week. It should arrive Tuesday but the FFL is usually open only Friday - Saturday as he has a full time job.

The first pics were right out of the box. No cosmolene on it at all. Just wiped it off. Close to inspection arms clean.

[Utah Bob #35998]

1 hour ago, J.T. Pinkerton said:

Who is the maker?  Looks like a later Inland.  Very nice.

 

It’s a Quality Hardware and Machine Co, Chicago

[Utah Bob #35998]

On 6/11/2021 at 8:23 PM, Forty Rod SASS 3935 said:

I never saw an M-1 or M-2 carbine with a stamped trigger guard.  The ones I'm familiar with all had cast guards integral with the safety / magazine release.  This is a fascination.

 

Also, I was under the impression that all were retrofitted (if they weren't issued with them) with bayonet lugs fairly early on.

 

You need an oiler and sling now.

 

Cingrtas.  You have a chunk of history.

This is a Type IV trigger guard. The bayonet lugs were mostly done 45-47.   This carbine escaped apparently.

[Injun Ryder, SASS #36201L]

Picked it up about 3 hours ago. It is going to need a thorough cleaning. 

 

Quality Hardware, Fine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And, as promised in another thread, the M1 Carbine and the CMP 1911:

 

 

 

 

[Injun Ryder, SASS #36201L]

UB - Where did you order the sling? 

 

(I have purchased slings in the past and can find them but still curious.)

[Utah Bob #35998]

12 minutes ago, Injun Ryder, SASS #36201L said:

UB - Where did you order the sling? 

 

(I have purchased slings in the past and can find them but still curious.)

Got the sling from At The Front. 

[Utah Bob #35998]

42 minutes ago, Injun Ryder, SASS #36201L said:

Picked it up about 3 hours ago. It is going to need a thorough cleaning. 

 

Quality Hardware, Fine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And, as promised in another thread, the M1 Carbine and the CMP 1911:

 

 

 

 

Interesting serial number, what I can see of it. If it’s a 155 series it’s from the first block of numbers.

Serial number blocks assigned by the government:

--1st block, serial number: 1,550,000 - 1,662,519 | February, 1943 - September, 1943
--2nd block, serial number: 1,875,040 - 1,937,519 | June, 1943 - October, 1943
--3rd block, serial number: 4,432,100 - 4,532,099 | October, 1943 - March, 1944 (Un-Quality is included in this serial number block) Un-Quality made by Union Switch & Signal for Quality Hardware.
--4th block, serial number: 4,632,100 - 4,879,525 | March, 1944 - May, 1944

[Utah Bob #35998]

On 6/14/2021 at 5:29 PM, Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967 said:

 

Bob, that's the same sight my "virtual" 1943 Saginaw wears.  Which sight would you replace it with?

 

BTW ~ here are a couple of interesting sites for serial number dates, production numbers, and oddities...

 

http://www.uscarbinecal30.com/serialnumbers.html#numericalorder

 

http://uscarbinecal30m1.com/Production.aspx

 

Speaking of "oddities," there's an amusing anecdote about companies sharing components - this could result in some interesting marks... like the Underwood-Quality Hardware receivers stamped thusly:   

 

 

                            

 

It's a name, not a statement!  

 

 

 

They were actually Union Switch and Signal. I guess the govt assigned them the UN code maybe because a US code would be confusing. The result was hilarious. 
 

I want to put the early two leaf sight on it. 

[Injun Ryder, SASS #36201L]

28 minutes ago, Utah Bob #35998 said:

Interesting serial number, what I can see of it.

First three numbers are 187. Third number is a light "7".

 

Manufactured Jul-Aug 1943.

[Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967]

16 hours ago, Injun Ryder, SASS #36201L said:

Picked it up about 3 hours ago. It is going to need a thorough cleaning. 

 

Quality Hardware, Fine.

 

 

 

I'm sure there are those who would flame me for this, but here goes:

 

Back in the late 80's, through the generosity of an old friend I acquired a Remington built 1903.  When I received it, it was only a barreled action from which someone had attempted to chisel the rear sight sleeve, and had then taken a buffing wheel to and removed "all that ugly gray stuff."  Someone had had an idea of "sporterizing" the rifle, but evidently lost interest after butchering it and discarding all the furniture - including the stock.

 

With the spirit that fellas are showing here regarding Carbines and 1911's, I set out to restore it.  It took me about four years to finish the job, but I got it done - the final piece was the screw that anchored the front sight blade, which I finally found in Fresno.  My old buddy Hank re-Parkerized it for me.

 

But the biggest challenge was finding a stock;  I finally ordered one from Numrich.

 

Now, I'm sure that they sent me the best one they could.  But when it arrived, I was numbed when I opened the package and found it to be the ugliest piece of wood I'd ever seen.  As Sgt McNiece used to say, it was enough to gag a maggot.  My immediate thought was something between a railroad tie and a telephone pole.  Plumb ghastly.  Significantly worse than your carbine stock.

 

Well, along comes my old pard, Palouse.  He told me of something he'd done as an armorer during his Army days... and I tried it.  After all, this was not a museum piece.

 

With all metal removed from the wood, outdoors on a sunny day I liberally sprayed the stock with Easy-Off oven cleaner.  I let it set for a while, then wiped it thoroughly with an old towel, rinsed with clear water, and repeated.  After three applications I was astounded when I held an almost new-looking, raw wood rifle stock.  Every bit of grime and grease was gone, with no damage to the wood.  Heck - even the paint in the original stamped rack numbers was still there.  All I had left to do was a light rubdown with steel wool and a few coats of BLO (boiled linseed oil), and she was ready to go!  

 

No sanding; no scraping; no damage to the wood at all.

 

 

[Utah Bob #35998]

1 hour ago, Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967 said:

 

I'm sure there are those who would flame me for this, but here goes:

 

Back in the late 80's, through the generosity of an old friend I acquired a Remington built 1903.  When I received it, it was only a barreled action from which someone had attempted to chisel the rear sight sleeve, and had then taken a buffing wheel to and removed "all that ugly gray stuff."  Someone had had an idea of "sporterizing" the rifle, but evidently lost interest after butchering it and discarding all the furniture - including the stock.

 

With the spirit that fellas are showing here regarding Carbines and 1911's, I set out to restore it.  It took me about four years to finish the job, but I got it done - the final piece was the screw that anchored the front sight blade, which I finally found in Fresno.  My old buddy Hank re-Parkerized it for me.

 

But the biggest challenge was finding a stock;  I finally ordered one from Numrich.

 

Now, I'm sure that they sent me the best one they could.  But when it arrived, I was numbed when I opened the package and found it to be the ugliest piece of wood I'd ever seen.  As Sgt McNiece used to say, it was enough to gag a maggot.  My immediate thought was something between a railroad tie and a telephone pole.  Plumb ghastly.  Significantly worse than your carbine stock.

 

Well, along comes my old pard, Palouse.  He told me of something he'd done as an armorer during his Army days... and I tried it.  After all, this was not a museum piece.

 

With all metal removed from the wood, outdoors on a sunny day I liberally sprayed the stock with Easy-Off oven cleaner.  I let it set for a while, then wiped it thoroughly with an old towel, rinsed with clear water, and repeated.  After three applications I was astounded when I held an almost new-looking, raw wood rifle stock.  Every bit of grime and grease was gone, with no damage to the wood.  Heck - even the paint in the original stamped rack numbers was still there.  All I had left to do was a light rubdown with steel wool and a few coats of BLO (boiled linseed oil), and she was ready to go!  

 

No sanding; no scraping; no damage to the wood at all.

 

 

So it was just grease and grime. No damage. Great!

There are any number of commercial made degreasers that will do the job. I’ve used several. O also sometimes use a steamer to let the stuff that is deep in the wood migrate to the surface.

[DeaconKC]

A suggestion from someone who has cleaned a LOT of milsurps: Get a 3' length of house gutter, glue the end caps on it, put your cosmoline coated action in it and fill with odorless mineral spirits. Let it sit overnight and the next day will be very easy to clean.

 

And PS: Don't take the rifles to a coin op carwash to spray them off. Just... trust me on this...

[Utah Bob #35998]

2 hours ago, DeaconKC said:

A suggestion from someone who has cleaned a LOT of milsurps: Get a 3' length of house gutter, glue the end caps on it, put your cosmoline coated action in it and fill with odorless mineral spirits. Let it sit overnight and the next day will be very easy to clean.

 

And PS: Don't take the rifles to a coin op carwash to spray them off. Just... trust me on this...

Wouldn’t even raise an eyebrow around here. 

[Utah Bob #35998]

Never having loaded carbine mags from stripper clips, I was surprised to see the design. There’s a spoon attached to each clip as opposed to the separate spoon you use for the M16/M4 mags. Must have been a lot more expensive to manufacture those. Pretty neat idea.

[Alpo]

If there was supposed to be video in that last post, it didn't show up. I got 32 seconds of sound, but no picture.

[Utah Bob #35998]

2 minutes ago, Alpo said:

If there was supposed to be video in that last post, it didn't show up. I got 32 seconds of sound, but no picture.

Must be the file was to large. I’ll try to fix it.

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

On 6/12/2021 at 4:25 AM, Utah Bob #35998 said:

The type 3 barrel band with bayonet lug was used on Winchester and Inland guns in late 44. They were the only contractors still making carbines. None of the other makers used them but eventually most were retrofitted postwar. It’s rare to find pics of a carbine with a lug in the ETO but you do see some with Marines in the Pacific in 45. This one escaped the retrofit although it does have the late rear sight. I’ll replace that.

EVERY.....

 

SINGLE.....

 

TIME.....

 

I think I know everything someone comes along and puts me at the back of the classroom again.  I knew about the bayonet lugs, but I never knew there were more than two kinds of trigger guards.

 

Some day you learn something even if you try not to.  

 

 

[Utah Bob #35998]

I want to replace the M2 stock with a proper M1. May take me a while.