M1 Carbine question/problem

[SomeGuy75]

.....

[NorcalGSG]

Ok so first, that's not a USGI pattern commercial carbine, it's a later model Universal Carbine. It has dual recoil springs where USGI pattern has one, and a stamped slide handle instead of a forged one. So the parts are not interchangeable.
Second, the Universals came with a plastic magazine when new, and sort of act like they were made more for those and less happy with metal ones. I have had great success with the ProMag 10 rounders, and recommend trying one because the plastic Universal mags are old now and hard to find. You can find them sometimes on eBay/GB.
Third, the gas piston on a carbine (usgi) is not a serviceable item to be r&r just willy nilly. They are staked in place, and the threads are easily damaged when removing etc. It's a self cleaning design, usually nothing a little cleaner or clp etc dripped on won't take care of for a non-corrosive gun.

[NorcalGSG]

Personally I would run a .30 bore snake through it a couple times with a little clp on the brush part, and lightly grease the bolt track/lugs, oil lightly the springs and let'er rip. I have had great luck with most brass ammo and Tula also, regardless of what others will tell ya about steel case it runs good for me in the carbines.
Unfortunately, the later Universals like this have some inherent design flaws that make them more prone to fire out of battery vs the usgi design. They are known to crack the slide where the sheet metal charging handle has the cutout for the bolt lug, parts are discontinued, and they had reliability problems.
So fart around with it and maybe you can help it out, but don't feel bad if it doesn't work out either. There are other commercial copies out there that follow the usgi design closer which work better, and you may want to upgrade to one of them eventually. Good luck.

[hntnnut]

It appears to be a universal carbine, a post war civilian nock-off.

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

Richard

[hntnnut]

norcalGSG beat me to it.


Richard

[Quiet]

Ok so first, that's not a USGI pattern commercial carbine, it's a later model Universal Carbine. It has dual recoil springs where USGI pattern has one, and a stamped slide handle instead of a forged one. So the parts are not interchangeable.
Second, the Universals came with a plastic magazine when new, and sort of act like they were made more for those and less happy with metal ones. I have had great success with the ProMag 10 rounders, and recommend trying one because the plastic Universal mags are old now and hard to find. You can find them sometimes on eBay/GB.
Third, the gas piston on a carbine (usgi) is not a serviceable item to be r&r just willy nilly. They are staked in place, and the threads are easily damaged when removing etc. It's a self cleaning design, usually nothing a little cleaner or clp etc dripped on won't take care of for a non-corrosive gun.

Personally I would run a .30 bore snake through it a couple times with a little clp on the brush part, and lightly grease the bolt track/lugs, oil lightly the springs and let'er rip. I have had great luck with most brass ammo and Tula also, regardless of what others will tell ya about steel case it runs good for me in the carbines.
Unfortunately, the later Universals like this have some inherent design flaws that make them more prone to fire out of battery vs the usgi design. They are known to crack the slide where the sheet metal charging handle has the cutout for the bolt lug, parts are discontinued, and they had reliability problems.
So fart around with it and maybe you can help it out, but don't feel bad if it doesn't work out either. There are other commercial copies out there that follow the usgi design closer which work better, and you may want to upgrade to one of them eventually. Good luck.

[Brad H]

Are you using 30 round magazines or 15 round magazines?

The reason I ask is that I have 2 universal carbines and both work great with the 15 round magazines and has lots of trouble with the 30 round magazines.

Universal Carbines have a bad reputation, but both of mine have been fine if I stick to the 15 round magazines.

[SomeGuy75]

Thank you everyone, once again I am humbled by the level of expertise on this board. Also with the incredibly rapid response, in less than an hour I now know so much more about this rifle. Since I obviously bought the wrong springs, I’m going to go ahead and order just the recoil springs and see if that makes a difference, give it a good cleaning and reassemble it. I’m thinking my father-in-law may have purchased a standard G.I. Magazine and that might be the problem. I will order one of the 10 round magazines and see if that works after a good thorough cleaning. Also, can anyone tell me approximately what this thing is worth? It appears to have a very low serial number from what I’m finding online, it’s SS32XX. I’m still trying to find out what year it was made. Thanks again guys.

[OCEquestrian]

Probably not a lot. The reliability reputation of the Universal .30 carbine has preceded it from the get go.

[SomeGuy75]

Are you using 30 round magazines or 15 round magazines?

The reason I ask is that I have 2 universal carbines and both work great with the 15 round magazines and has lots of trouble with the 30 round magazines.

Universal Carbines have a bad reputation, but both of mine have been fine if I stick to the 15 round magazines.

[NorcalGSG]

I traded mine to my dealer buddy for a brand new Marlin 795 22 rifle and I was happy. I bought it for too much but since I really wanted a carbine for a long time, I had to learn the hard way
I have also played around with the mag well and mag catch before on other carbines, and sometimes gotten good results by shimming the magazine to tilt fore or aft, or lower or higher and had good results. But that is a bit more advanced tinkering with welding etc and the Universals use an alloy trigger housing, not steel. So might not be worth your time, IDK.
Most sell in the $300 range it seems like, but obviously there's a range there.

[NorcalGSG]

That's a decent looking mag, I would try a new ProMag 10 rounder just because. And regardless of the mag, try them with only 3 or 4 rounds next time and see if the lighter spring pressure helps.

[bohoki]

30 carbine magazines are almost disposable try another

i have the skill required to open the lips up slightly but i cannot really endorse any one else doing that because you can go too far and change shapes too easily

[NorcalGSG]

You don't want coil bind, but you can possibly build some spacers and compress the two recoil springs a bit more for a slightly increased spring pressure to help charge a fresh round. Coil bind means make sure the slide still travels all the way back, and doesn't stop on the springs bottoming out but instead bottoms out on the metal it's supposed to contact when sliding all the way back. Possibly some washers etc might do it, or even some zip ties wrapped around the guide springs possibly. "Fiddling" ideas.

[OCEquestrian]

Markings, if there are any, are on the floor plate...