Post WW II "newly built" M1 Carbines

[35 Whelen]

My IJ was pretty much a POS when I got it, but I got everything straightened out.

Like them or not, the commercial carbines are great for those of us who enjoy shooting, and I do, alot.

[309Carbine]

Many of the 60’s era commercial carbines were good guns. The early Universals up to around SN:15K were/are very good carbines with forged steel receivers and many USGI components. Generally after about SN:15,000 things started to roll down hill and really went completely into the toilet by SN:100,000.

Iver Johnson turned out some junk as they acquired Universal and Plainfield finally going out of business. You might find anything in a late 70’s or 80’s, but the very early carbines have a decent reputation.

[grits]

Not now Moose I'll tell you when !
You ever had one ?

[03man]

Words not to over use:
all, none, never, always !

There is always an exception lurking about!

[kar66]

In the 70s I had a Plainfield. It was almost like new when I bought it. I don't know for sure all the G.I. parts that came on it anymore. I do know for sure that it had a Underwood stamped triggerhousing and a Inland marked type 3 band I don't remember which one. I traded it for a Inland long ago. But it was as good as any G.I. that I have owned and I wish I had kept it.

[Tommy1165]

Although I collect USGI carbines, I recently had an AO that took me 2 hours of gunsmiting to get it "right"....
So many areas "out of spec" it was a joke. After completing the work, it functions with AK reliability. I sold it because I didn't know what I'd be working on next and it simply angered me how these can be sold for several hundred or more dollars and be that badly out of spec and not run reliably....

[jeeperbob]

Johnson Arms (not Iver Johnson) was a company owned by Col. Melvin Johnson, Jr who was the designer of the 41 Johnson rifle and the Johnson Light Machine Gun used by the USMC during WWII. They made Carbines from surplus GI parts while they were plentiful. The other companies mentioned also used surplus parts until they were not so easy to acquire and then they used fabricated parts from various sources. That's when the quality and reliability went south. Col. Johnson also designed the 5.7mm Johnson/.22 Spitfire cartridge and rifles as well. The round was a wildcat of a .30 carbine necked down to .22 cal. He actually pitched it to the military in the late 1950's but they by that time had decided to go with the 5.56mm round/M-16. It's interesting that his 5.7mm cartridge was a .2235 caliber design and not far off the 5.56/.223 caliber.

Sadly, Col. Johnson died of a sudden heart attack in 1965 at the age of 54. A very interesting man with a bio worth reading. I've always been intrigued by the 5.7mm Johnson cartridge and I am proceeding with a project to build one since I recently acquired a barrel. All the rest will be GI parts which is what he used in his brief production of those rifles. My barrel was made by Green Mountain Barrel Company for IAI arms in a .224 bore. IAI was the last company who produced this caliber between 1996-2003 and approximately 12,750 made.