442ndRCT Soldier's Forum

Went to the gunshow in Kingman, AZ and picked up a cheap M1 Carbine for $300. It's a Universal, so I know its a piece of crap...but I didn't want to shell out a lot of $$ for a Carbine and then blank-adapt it, thereby rendering it unable to fire live rounds ever again. BTW - how do I go about getting this one blank-adapted? Jerry Berry?

Yup, give it to me and I'll take it to him for you, or you can contact him at Jerrymadjb@aol.com .

Also, you want to swap out the rear sight, a khaki sling, and front barrel band to one without a bayonet lug.

Sling = http://cgi.ebay.com/M1-CARBINE-1-REPO-S ... dZViewItem

Type 2 barrel band (nicer than type one = http://cgi.ebay.com/30-cal-M1-Carbine-T ... dZViewItem

Flip sight repro = http://cgi.ebay.com/US-Military-M1-Carb ... dZViewItem

I just bought all three of these EBay items. How much does Jerry charge to blank adapt it?

For friends, nothing. He is in our 4th Marines unit.

cool..still need to get a stock that would look ww2 for it. I read somewhere that some USGI stocks won't work on a Universal, Iver-Johnson type carbines.

Bring it to my house and we will try to put it in my stock. If it fits then get a GI one.

Blank adapting a Carbine ruins it?

You have to dril and tap the barrel which can have an effect on the accuracy.

yeah, I don't care too much for the accuracy factor...that's why I only paid $300 for it. Universal M1 Carbines are notorious for being pieces of junk...kinda like Auto-Ordnance M1 Carbines. If I want a 'nice' Carbine, I'll save up and get a USGI one from CMP.

Mayo wrote:You have to dril and tap the barrel which can have an effect on the accuracy.

Hmmm so I could have a barrel for live fire and another for blanks?

I used to own a Universal Carbine. It WAS a piece of crap. Every time I fired it, it literally fell apart. The barrel band would work loose the handguard would fall off and I couldn't get rid of that gun any faster!

But I seem to recall that Universal eventually trashed that design and made a copy of the GI carbine that was much better. All I know is mine was crap.

It was designed with two recoil springs instead of one so it was slightly fatter than GI carbines and nothing on it was interchangeable with military carbines.

The guy in Illinois that offered to sell me his, offered it to a guy that does WW2 back home... back to square one I guess

But I think I'll pursue a M1911A1 first...

M14MSgt wrote:yeah, I don't care too much for the accuracy factor...that's why I only paid $300 for it. Universal M1 Carbines are notorious for being pieces of junk...kinda like Auto-Ordnance M1 Carbines. If I want a 'nice' Carbine, I'll save up and get a USGI one from CMP.

What's the status on your carbine? Did it swap out stocks ok? Did you have it tapped?

Sorry for the late reply on this thread Tim. Well...as far as my Carbine goes, it seems I am destined to have problems with non-GI carbines. First time I took it the local range, it would not fire in semi-auto. I had to "hand jack" it to extract & chamber a fresh round. Then, after doing this to the tune of approx. 100 rds, the firing pin broke. Needless to say, I learned yet another valuable (and $$) lesson. I have the CMP paperwork and the $600 all ready for April 28, when I am ordering a National Postal Meter service grade. After two Auto-Ordnances and one Universal, I will FINALLY (I HOPE) have a reliable M1 Carbine that will fire semi-auto.