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Went out to the range with the M1 carbine and had a failure with it. Apparently the staking on the gas nut failed and it worked itself loose to the point that it came out with the piston.
Inspection of the gas cylinder did not reveal any damage. The lines that you see in the photo are just on the surface of the metal. No sign of cracking from the inside of the gas piston and the threads do not look damaged. So it looks like a matter of installing a new gas nut and staking it in place. I don’t have the wrench for this gun, so I’ll have to order both from Sarco and fix it when I get back from Thanksgiving in Flagstaff.
Update: Ordered two replacement gas nuts and the wrench from Sarco. They should be here tomorrow. If that is the case, I'll install the replacement nut, stake it and test it Wednesday morning.
Took a bucket of brass down to Tucson Iron and Metal. Net weight was 29 pounds. Price today was $1.75 a pound, so I got $50.75 which paid for the parts and overnight shipping. So I made out all right.
Damn! Shooting war baby's for 40 years and never saw anything like that happen to one, never found one loose either. Luck of the draw I guess, or carelessness by some armorer years ago that finally caught up. Even the crappy Universal didn't do this, Universals in case anyone didn't know come in two flavors. One carbine is identical to a USGI carbine, some early models even use surplus GI parts. Then you have the other style, usually with a ventilated steel handguard and a modified gas system. This is a fair to middlin' piece of crap, sometimes works OK, other times short strokes, stovepipes, and other issues. Had one of the modified design, got rid of it fast, came across another and almost passed before I took a closer look. 30 years shooting it later and no problems, good deal at $110, what do you think that sells for now?
Leave it as it is. The ages have been at work on it and man can only mar it.
Don't hit at all if it is honorably possible to avoid hitting; but never hit soft.
Theodore Roosevelt
I bought a new Universal carbine with the ventilated handguard back around 40+ years ago. No firing issues at all but one day the guard came loose and the action caught sending it back into my forehead leaving a bloody mess. It found a new home soon after that. Now I want a real war time carbine. Ya right, as soon as my rich uncle dies.
Parts will arrive Wednesday and I might have a chance to test the repair before heading out of town. Looks like a subpar installation as I can clearly see where the nut was previously staked.
awalker1829 wrote: ↑Mon Nov 23, 2020 11:15 pm
Parts will arrive Wednesday and I might have a chance to test the repair before heading out of town. Looks like a subpar installation as I can clearly see where the nut was previously staked.
I was teacher a 12 year old how to shoot the M1 carbine a few months ago in anticipation of the world ending, the hand guard came off. Lesson for me, checking screws that have not been checked in over ten years before firing a rifle.
(looks like his apocalypse rifle will be an SKS for the time being, more ammo on hand and he did okay with it as well as the little M1)
"Fast is fine, But accuracy is everything" Wyatt Earp
"This year will go down in history. For the first time, a civilized nation has full gun registration. Our streets will be safer, our police more efficient, and the world will follow our lead into the future!"
Adolph Hitler – 1933
Update: put the original gas nut back in, tightened it and test fired the rifle. Functioned flawlessly. Stripped it and the nut appears not to have moved. I will still replace the current nut once the new part arrives and stake it in place. I believe in purchasing parts in multiple when possible. I’ll have a spare new gas nut and two gas nut wrenches-one permanently at the bench and one in my field kit.
Well, I took the gun out and test fired four magazines of reloaded 30 carbine through it. For some reason, a few cartridges got light strikes on the primers and had to be fired a second time. Got a few stovepipes-maybe two per 15 round cartridge. Since it's reloaded ammo, I'm chalking the issues up to the ammo-I know I used an intermediate charge and probably should use the maximum powder charge for this gun. New nut felt tighter going in, so the original may have been worn. Staked the new nut and it didn't show any sign of moving after sixty rounds.
These rifles were designed to operate with the government spec round only, no gas system adjustment. If you are shooting light loads the problems described would be inevitable.
Leave it as it is. The ages have been at work on it and man can only mar it.
Don't hit at all if it is honorably possible to avoid hitting; but never hit soft.
Theodore Roosevelt
Ran four fifteen round magazines through it. Averaged a couple of stovepipes per mag. Two of the mags are vintage military surplus and work fine, one is a new mag and works okay. The other new one is a POS. I need to get a couple more NOS surplus mags and look for some surplus ammunition.
awalker1829 wrote: ↑Wed Dec 02, 2020 6:14 pm
Ran four fifteen round magazines through it. Averaged a couple of stovepipes per mag. Two of the mags are vintage military surplus and work fine, one is a new mag and works okay. The other new one is a POS. I need to get a couple more NOS surplus mags and look for some surplus ammunition.
Surplus US ammunition is non corrosive, always was, but M1 carbines saw worldwide distribution during and after the war. Some countries manufactured corrosive primed ammo so beware. If you are loading your own light loads then just make some to GI spec, that should solve any problems. Some who were issued these complained that they were underpowered, that was with the GI load, with your light load they would have purely hated it. Mostly they expected the carbine to just be a short version of the M1 rifle capable of the same performance.
Leave it as it is. The ages have been at work on it and man can only mar it.
Don't hit at all if it is honorably possible to avoid hitting; but never hit soft.
Theodore Roosevelt
Actually, the load isn’t that light. It’s 14.5 grains of Win296, which is only 0.5 grains below the maximum charge for a 110 grain bullet. I did strip the bolt prior to shooting the gun as the bolt needed cleaning. Anyways, I’ll take the gun out again and see how it does.
Took the rifle out this afternoon and got better results with it. Got a few light primer strikes-ought to replace the springs since who knows when they were last changed. There’s a seller on GB who has M1 carbine spring sets and happens to be local, so I’ll probably do that this week.
Got new replacement springs and spent the evening replacing every spring other than the ejector and extractor springs. The old recoil spring was extremely worn-held next to the replacement spring, I could really see how compressed it had become. The old one had compressed to the point that it’s at least an inch shorter than the new spring. Between the springs and the gas nut being replaced, it should do better at the range this time.
Who ever last worked on this rifle sure excelled at screwing things up. In addition to the poor staking job, they somehow managed to screw up the installation of the magazine catch spring and plunger. They put the plunger on the blind end of the spring. Discovered that when I disassembled the mag catch in order to replace that spring and plunger along with the safety spring and plungers. Had to insert a thin punch and give it a few sharp taps to break the plunger loose.
Anyways, I’ve loaded some mags up and will test it tomorrow. It should run fine now.
It’s an Inland Division with a barrel date of 11-43. It has the Korean War bayonet lug. Functioned well at the range, but I’m still going to replace the ejector and extractor springs when I get the chance. I have a new extractor spring but need a new ejector spring.
Well, the M1 carbine is having extraction issues. Given what happened with the gas nut, I’m giving up on fixing it myself and going to send it to Fulton Armory for servicing. They have a deal where you can buy the shipping boxes from them and get a place in the service queue for $90.00. They send you the packing boxes and forms and they contact you when your turn is coming up to send the rifle. I called them this afternoon and they said their service queue is currently six months. Yeah, I’m going to do that. It’s worth the money and I’ll know that the gun will be serviceable for years to come.
Well, the rifle is at Fulton Armory and I just paid the repair bill-$1,230. Turns out that the rifle was in need of an overhaul, including a new barrel. It should be good for years to come. I've requested the original parts to be returned, so the parts will stay with it.
