US M1 Carbines: Wartime Production, 4th Editon

More than 7 million M1 and M2 Carbines were manufactured by ten different companies between 1941 and 1945 when production ended for all time. In a feat of organization and industrial coordination unparalleled before or since, the U.S. Ordnance Department supervised the design and production from scratch of this second-most famous American shoulder arm of World War II. The M1 Carbine served in every single theater of the war and was present at every major and minor battle from the Philippines to Okinawa. When the Vietnam War ended in 1975, thirty-four years later, it was still in service with certain American special forces units, the U.S. Navy and with South Vietnamese forces.

Today, the M1 Carbine is one of the most popular U.S. military collector rifles. It is relatively inexpensive and offers a wide variety of collecting options. It is also a modern firearm and is therefore fun, easy and cheap to shoot.

The fact that it was manufactured by ten different companies, combined with the military's propensity for improving, updating and refurbishing its weapons has provided collectors with a great challenge finding and original, as-manufactured specimen or else restoring a battle- hardened veteran to original specifications. Perhaps 40 to 50% of all M1 Carbines manufactured were provided to military allies and friends during World War II and the Cold War. The first M1 Carbines available to the collecting public were those obtained from the Director of Civilian Marksmanship and they remained relatively few and far between. Then in 1986, Congress allowed the reimportation of a significant number of M1 Carbines and other military firearms considered to be collectible. Hundreds of thousands of M1 Carbines returned home. Most had been upgraded and refurbished in foreign armies, but with parts from the vast stores manufactured before production was shut down in 1945. The collector, faced with the task of restoring an M1 Carbine to its original condition can obtain parts readily available from many dealers, local gun shows or any one of a dozen or more mail order dealers. The problem is which part goes with which rifle. All told, there are more than 90,000 possible parts combinations for any single carbine!

"The M1 Carbine: Wartime Production" book provides this information. Through a combination of text and charts, every single part of the M1 Carbine manufactured by ten different manufacturers is listed by serial number range.

Is your M1 Carbine manufactured by Inland the barrel is stamped Saginaw Gear? This may or may not be correct depending on the serial number of your carbine.

The barrel date on your IBM Carbine is 1944 and it has a rear sight adjustable for windage. Is this correct. No. IBM manufactured M1 Carbines only until very early 1944. The windage adjustable rear sight (there are two variations to confuse things further) were not installed until beginning in mid-1945.

Will replacing a barrel or a rear sight reduce the value of my M1 Carbine? No, in fact if you install the correct part, the value will be increased.

You can take an M1 Carbine that saw its last service with the Israeli, South Korean or Philippine armies, for instance and which has undergone many repairs and refurbishments until there are only a few original parts left, and restore it to completely original condition, making it a very valuable collector's carbine.

In addition to explaining which parts are correct for which M1 Carbines by manufacturer and serial number range, the book also explains all those mysterious markings on wood and metal parts and shows how they can be used to select the correct parts for restoration.

Also included in the book are descriptions and proper identification for all accessories issued to the soldier with the M1 Carbine, including various types of ammunition. Also, complete instruction on assembly/disassembly and on maintenance and cleaning.