New (sort of) M1 carbine. Have questions

[drifter2be]

I purchased a practically new M1 carbine this morning. It is a Universal and was purchased new in 1996 and never fired by the owner. Planning to put rounds down range this Saturday. I've heard that reliability and quality can be a bit spotty on the Universal M1 carbines. What should I be looking for as far as possible issues down the road and what could I possibly do/upgrade be for there is an issue to prevent future problems?

Thanks for any help you can provide. I know I should have done more research and gotten these questions answered before buying but it was an unplanned purchase due to finding the rifle for a great price with the ammo and extras.

[fal_762x51]

I would look for extra operating rods.

[smoothy8500]

Despite what you hear, the universals are not bad. You won't need extra op-rods. There have been issues with the bolt disengaging from the slide if it was assembled with the incorrect/replacement slide. They can be finicky with magazine and ammo choice.

[sigstroker]

It used to be pretty easy to buy complete military M1 carbine parts sets. Will all the military parts fit? Maybe it's worthwhile to just keep the barreled receiver, bolt, and stock, and replace most everything else with military parts.

[SVT-40]

The Operating rods are notorious for cracking. And GI rods will not fit.

[MrPlink]

My buddy got a universal not that long ago and it was pretty bad. Went full auto right out of the box (he joked about getting a m2 carbine instead) and had problems locking mags in place

[drifter2be]

Well, luckily the two mags I have, one that originally came with the rifle and a 30 round Korean made mag, both lock into place properly. Will know how well the rifle functions and shoots in about 12 hours. Is there a fix, improvement or upgrade for the op-rod on these rifles, should it become an issue?

[SVT-40]

Nope, no fix and no spare parts. Some try to weld the cracked op rods but thats usually only a temporary fix until it breaks again.

Go here for more info on problems with these rifles. There are pic's of the cracks which commonly occur as well as other info.

http://maxicon.com/guns/universal_m1/universal_m1_carbine_production.htm

[Marcus von W.]

There was a company a number of years back who welded steel cover plates on the late Universal slides and sold them as "unbreakable". Whether they were truly unbreakable or only "less breakable" we may never know. Either they weren't marketed aggressively enough (this was in the pre-internet days, so "getting the word out" would have been very difficult), the cheap owners of the cheap Universals were too damn cheap to buy one, or maybe every late Universal owner out there somehow deluded themsleves into thinking that they had the magic golden Universal that - unlike every other late Universal made before and after theirs - was somehow not a piece of crap and would run forever without hammering itself back into the scrap metal from which it was made.

What can you do, you ask, to keep your late Universal from turning into a wet paper sack full of dog doo in your very hands, you ask?

Only one intelligent choice, says I. Sell it. Yes, that's right, sell it. Do I need to repeat myself? Sell it. Get your money back out of it while you still can. When it breaks, its value will be just this side of nothing.

I don't know if one could convert a late Universal into a manually operated bolt action rifle by either plugging the gas port or replacing the gas piston and nut with a solid piece, or by doing away with the slide all together and attaching a bolt handle to the right lug of the bolt.

I saw a post-WW2 German modification of a WW2 U.S. carbine that was converted to a bolt action by removing the slide and adding a bolt handle to the bolt. The carbine was done up like a Mannlicher style rifle, and looked pretty cool. This was done to get around some of the restrictive German firearms laws like the one that limited semi-autos to 2 rounds. You haven't lived until you have used a magazine in your M1 carbine that only holds 2 rounds or a special 2 round clip for your Garand.

I don't know what you consider a "great price"..... garbage on sale for 50% off is still garbage.