M1 Carbine with the Bullet Boy
If you have been following me on Twitter you would know that I have been working on getting an M1-Carbine WW2 surplus paratrooper rifle. Well after weeks of talk and several phone calls my buddy Ray down at Simmons Sporting Goods came through for me. I knew for almost a month that they had an estate of weapons from a gun collector with about 40 M1-Carbines. I finally got in to look at them. I was the second customer that got to pick through them. I made my choice.
The Inland I choose has some obvious wear marks as any period weapon does. The wood and finish are in good shape. It has a bayonet mount which isn’t common on early M1-Carbine’s making me believe this was not an early war manufactured weapon.
Inland Division was in fact owned by General Motors most famously known for building cars. Many manufacturers stepped up during WW2 and changed their factories over to support the Mission in Europe and Asia.
You can see that the rear sight is a later sight that was fitted and can be seen on the M2 rifles. M2 sights are adjustable where M1 sights are not with a fixed peep hole sight.
The M1 is fitted with a later model M2 Bolt. You can also see the M2 rear sights as well.
The rifle also had this marking on it which makes me think it was a company symbol or some other symbol. It is certainly going to merit some checking to see its history.
I have been looking at carbines for a long time and finally getting one for my collection. Something about the vintage and the history of the paratrooper weapon really drew me to it. It shoots a .30 carbine round which is a straight case and can easily be mistaken for a pistol cartridge. The M1 is reportadly accurate to 500 yards. I doubt that but will certainly test it out tomorrow at 125yds.
Stay Tuned for the range report as a I get to scratch this weapon off the top of my want list. The range report maybe a few days as it is cold and have some holiday festivities to tend to.
Let me know what you think? What is your favorite WW2 era weapon?
