1958 universal m1 carbine serial number lookup

They both look fantastic, but I just can't attest to their quality.

The current commercial carbines made by Kahr Arms and the new Inland Arms may be exceptions, I don't have any direct experience with those carbines. Some parts may interchange with certain models, but you can never assume parts interchangeability.

The commercial carbines have never even approached the reliability of the GI carbines even under ideal conditions.Īs a general rule, parts are NOT interchangeable with GI guns.

When fed good ammunition from good magazines, the M1 Carbine is an extremely reliable little rifle. The M1 Carbine was one of (if not THE) most reliable auto-loading small arms the US has ever made. They are a sporting rifle made to look like a military rifle they are NOT a military spec rifle at all. By 'GI Spec' they're referring to some loose external parts dimensions, not the full specification for a part or the entire rifle.īut the older commercial carbines were made WAY out of spec for metal quality, external dimensions of parts, and metallurgical quality. When they work, they're just as fun as any GI M1 Carbine, but never confuse them as being 'as good' as a GI Carbine they're not.world's apart.Įven the so-called 'GI Spec' M1 Carbines are FAR from GI Spec. Universal went so far as to extensively re-design the Carbine to the great detriment of the design. So the quality of the rifles suffered, and in the case of the Universal, suffered greatly.

Universal as well as other commercial makers have always known that an M1 Carbine had to hit a certain price point to be economically viable, and back when they were made, there was no way to make an M1 Carbine with anything approaching acceptable quality AND hit their price point. The M1 Carbine is a VERY difficult rifle to manufacture on the cheap. Click to expand.Understand that it's not just Universal Iver Johnson and Plainfield both had extensive problems with their M1 Carbines as well.

1958 universal m1 carbine serial number lookup