M1 Carbine help

[TNrifleman]

If there's any carbine experts out there. I just got a inland m1 carbine its in good shape and everything seems to be in good working order but. It doesnt want to chamber about 90% of the time. It will strip the round out of the magazine and push it to far to the left or right and not go into the chamber. Then if you pull back on the bolt just a little it will straighten the round up and it will chamber and fire then extract and may or may not chamber the next round. I thought it had to be a magazine issue but i changed mags and it does the same thing. I got it shoot about 3 rounds in a row once. I also stripped it and cleaned it good including the gas piston with no luck. Any ideas would be appriciated. I thought about polishing the feed ramp but i cant imagine its a feed ramp problem since 43. I also changed ammo with no luck. Any ideas?

[Will]

May be weak op rod spring,but almost always mag. A lot of aftermarket U marked

reproduction mags floating around and Carb works best with USGI Mag. Is anyone

near you that you could try them off their gun?

[Garufa]

Don't polish anything!

Now that we've got that out of the way...are you using USGI mags or aftermarket?

[TNrifleman]

both were usgi one was a rough national postal meter and the other was a underwood i belive, it was like new i tried them in my friends rock ola and they worked fine so i dont think its the mags but your right it seems like a mag issue to me im stumped keep the ideas comming thanks. Could be two bad mags i guess.

Edited May 4, 2010 by TNrifleman

[Garufa]

Have you greased, not oiled, the sliding parts? Anywhere the slide/operating rod and bolt travels against metal needs grease.

[Will]

The Underwood mag you are talking about that looks like new (marked U on back)

sounds like the aftermarket ones I described in above post. They have been bad

luck for most carbine owners. Try A real USGI mag with a good spring in mag.

[TNrifleman]

No it was dry so i just oiled it a little i'll grease it and try some better mags thanks. I'm going to order a new recoil spring to just to be sure.

Edited May 4, 2010 by TNrifleman

[Mike.357]

A mag marked with a U is for Union Hardware. It would be a GI mag and should not be the cause of your problems. Don't go polishing stuff on the weapon.

if I had your rifle in my hands and compared it to mine we could probably figure it out.

My first thought would be to check out how you have it lubed.

At any rate I bet it is fairly simple to fix or figure out.

I would be willing to meet with you Friday afternoon or Saturday to try to get it sorted out.

[TNrifleman]

Mike i appriciate that i may take u up on that if i can get away i'll pm you.

[Will]

U marked mag=Union Hardware Not Always

New aftermarket mags-Marked U on back-thin metal-black paint finish-weak springs

USGI Real Blued finish-Heavy steel -strong spring.

Repro's are now found U marked at all gunshows. Dealers will tell you they are

WWII issue. Tons of them floating around in last six months.

[Mike.357]

The offer is out there bud

[Garufa]

U marked mag=Union Hardware Not Always

New aftermarket mags-Marked U on back-thin metal-black paint finish-weak springs

USGI Real Blued finish-Heavy steel -strong spring.

Repro's are now found U marked at all gunshows. Dealers will tell you they are

WWII issue. Tons of them floating around in last six months.

This is true. I've seen those U marked repros and as a general rule USGI mags are blued but many were parkerized (at arsenals). I have a couple of the parked ones and they are fine, but prefer the blued.

Edited May 4, 2010 by Garufa

[Mike.357]

no accounting for knock offs or forgeries. I have a U mag, it is blued and works fine. And just enough rust to be USGI, LOL

I have an Inland mag that looks like it was fished out of the English Channel last year. I spray painted it with some Krylon, it works great too.

[TNrifleman]

Thanks for all the help guys Mike i sent you a PM. Do you guys know anything about the Korean mags I heard they were good from a couple of people so I ordered a couple to try out. I've got a couple of asian m1a mags and they work perfect i guess we'll see. Thanks again.

[Mike.357]

Mark@sea you have any ideas?

[DaveTN]

Have you completely disassembled the bolt and soaked it in cleaner?

[TNrifleman]

No guess i need to get the disassembly guide and totaly strip it down all the way.

[DaveTN]

No guess i need to get the disassembly guide and totaly strip it down all the way.

I had the same problem you had; mags made no difference. I disassembled and thoroughly cleaned the bolt and it took care of the problem. I did it without a Bolt tool; but I won’t try that again.

http://www.tngunowners.com/forums/gunsmithing-troubleshooting/13154-does-anyone-have-m1-carbine-bolt-tool.html

Here are some excellent links if you have not found them yet.

Collecting and Shooting the U.S. M1 .30 Caliber Carbine - Bolt Disassembly and Reassembly

Collecting and Shooting the U.S. M1 .30 Caliber Carbine - Disassembly and Reassembly

[TNrifleman]

thanks for all the help i've got some stuff to try now. Thanks again

[Mark@Sea]

The korean mags are fine, have worked well in my carbines.

I have a bolt disassembly tool, will loan it out, pm me a mailing address. Definitely helps, unless you have an extra thumb on all three hands .

[Mike.357]

I did not know you had that, guess i never needed it before, LOL

[Garufa]

Unless there is something obviously broken on the bolt don't fool around with trying to take it apart.

Try Mike's mags and properly lubricate the gun. I bet that will fix it....unless Bubba had it before you did.

What's the history of this most excellent weapon?

[TNrifleman]

It appears to be all USGI except that someone has put a blue finish on it,the barrel and receiver are both inland and all the other parts look to be GI to. Oh ya and they cut the ears off the front sight when they blued it. Why you would do that makes no sense to me.

[TNrifleman]

Update Well I changed the recoil spring and the old one was about 1/4 inch shorter than the new one. hopfully that will help it but im out of ammo so i'll have to find more before i test it out.

[roverboy]

I did some work on my brother in law's Thai carbine made by Howa. It was doing the same thing and I replaced the recoil spring with a stronger one from Sarco and also gave the rifle a good cleaning throughout and lightly greased. By the way has anybody have any experience with these Thai carbines? Don't mean to hijack the thread here. In my opinion they are a cheap made knockoff. Tnrifleman hope the spring takes care of your rifle.