Chiappa 9mm M1 Carbine Review
- Thread starter beltfed
- Start date
Do any of the after market M1 stocks fit this Carbine? I want a stock w/ a longer length of pull. Also....any ideas for removing the plastic bayonet lug? After a quick take down of the M1, it appears I would need to replace it w/ an actual M1 part or cut the plastic where it meets the stock. ideas...suggestions...flames....
Re. Stock: See the photos comparing a USGI stock with the M1-9 - not a drop in as there will be some fitment issues, but by and large it is pretty close.
Re. Front band/bayonet lug: I took the front sight off by drifting out the pin, and the band slid off the end of the barrel.
I chose to hack off the 'bayonet lug' at the intersection of where it meets the full diameter barrel band, and sanded it flush (the bayonet doesn't fit on the plastic replica anyhow).
You could replace this with a USGI part, but know the forward edge of the plastic guard is considerably thicker than the steel flange riveted to the wood USGI handguards, so the allowances within the band will be different between the two.
Although I haven't directly tried it, I imagine fitment is required here also.
Last edited:
Failure to feed and it is blow back. By FTF, what is happening (on my gun) the next round is not going all the way into the chamber. So maybe you are right, the lighter or cheaper ammo is not strong enough for the action....I also suspect that after 100 rounds perhaps the action was getting a bit dirty and not able to cycle as well. Just a thought.
Makes you wonder what the Cost is to the dealers.
Thank you Beltfed and Heckler for the great posts.
I had my synthetic M1-9 out to the range for the first time yesterday and my results were the same. I only brought 250 rds with me. By the end of it, things were looking better, but at first, I was really worried I had bought a lemon. Strangely, my rifle feeds hollowpoint ammo the best and 124gr FMJ the worst.
When I got home I spent about 2 hours on the rifle. I noticed that the buffer seemed to be meddling with things, but I was really tired at this point and didn't want to over do things. I had already spent a lot of time cleaning and lubing everything. I didn't go crazy modifying things.
Two things I did do, came to me thanks to the Ruger 10/22. I think that cocking the hammer robs the M1-9's bolt of its rearward momentum even worse than in the 10/22.
So firstly, I polished the surface of the hammer that the bolt rides over on the rearward action. This is minor, but it helps. I chose this angle of attack because its really easy to get the trigger mech out and apart. Then I did just a little tuning on the hammer bent. This involved multiple assembly/disassembly processes. Be aware that when you do this, there is a tendency for the trigger/disconnector pin to work its way loose. Once its out of one side of the trigger, which isn't all that easy to see at a glance, your results will be all messed up. Make sure that pin is properly located. When I was finished, there was almost zero camming of the hammer on trigger pull.
Then I swapped out the hammer spring for a factory Ruger 10/22 hammer spring. With the addition of two small washers between the head of the hammer strut and the spring, this seems to work perfectly. I loaded 5 primed empty cases into a mag and all 5 fired. Only one failed to feed too.
Before this, my trigger pull gauge would bottom out at 9lbs before the trigger even BEGAN to move. Now it fires at 5.5lbs.
Cycling those empties, I was certain I could feel the buffer wasn't letting the bolt back far enough. The bolt face just barely gets in behind the top round in the mag. Maybe the buffer will compress some with use, but I think that if my rifle doesn't feed reliably after the next 100rds I am going to trim it as you did Heckler.
Thanks again!
One other peeve I have with this rifle is that it is really hard to seat a full mag with the bolt closed. The tab that engages the magazine is so tiny, I am leery about modifying that at all. Anybody have any thoughts on what to do here?
I had my synthetic M1-9 out to the range for the first time yesterday and my results were the same. I only brought 250 rds with me. By the end of it, things were looking better, but at first, I was really worried I had bought a lemon. Strangely, my rifle feeds hollowpoint ammo the best and 124gr FMJ the worst.
When I got home I spent about 2 hours on the rifle. I noticed that the buffer seemed to be meddling with things, but I was really tired at this point and didn't want to over do things. I had already spent a lot of time cleaning and lubing everything. I didn't go crazy modifying things.
Two things I did do, came to me thanks to the Ruger 10/22. I think that cocking the hammer robs the M1-9's bolt of its rearward momentum even worse than in the 10/22.
So firstly, I polished the surface of the hammer that the bolt rides over on the rearward action. This is minor, but it helps. I chose this angle of attack because its really easy to get the trigger mech out and apart. Then I did just a little tuning on the hammer bent. This involved multiple assembly/disassembly processes. Be aware that when you do this, there is a tendency for the trigger/disconnector pin to work its way loose. Once its out of one side of the trigger, which isn't all that easy to see at a glance, your results will be all messed up. Make sure that pin is properly located. When I was finished, there was almost zero camming of the hammer on trigger pull.
Then I swapped out the hammer spring for a factory Ruger 10/22 hammer spring. With the addition of two small washers between the head of the hammer strut and the spring, this seems to work perfectly. I loaded 5 primed empty cases into a mag and all 5 fired. Only one failed to feed too.
Before this, my trigger pull gauge would bottom out at 9lbs before the trigger even BEGAN to move. Now it fires at 5.5lbs.
Cycling those empties, I was certain I could feel the buffer wasn't letting the bolt back far enough. The bolt face just barely gets in behind the top round in the mag. Maybe the buffer will compress some with use, but I think that if my rifle doesn't feed reliably after the next 100rds I am going to trim it as you did Heckler.
Thanks again!
One other peeve I have with this rifle is that it is really hard to seat a full mag with the bolt closed. The tab that engages the magazine is so tiny, I am leery about modifying that at all. Anybody have any thoughts on what to do here?
Thanks for the detailed reviews everyone.
I must say at the original price I considered buying one, but at the new over $500 price I think I'm out. Im a tinkerer by nature and I know I could make one of these reliable but I can't justify spending $600 of my hard earned cash for a rifle that clearly doesn't work properly out of the box. for that price I'd buy a sub2000, and I hate plastic guns!!
Makes you wonder if they even test their own guns at Chiappa?? I'm trying not to be a downer but it blows my mind that companies make guns that are super unreliable in today's market.
I'm sad, I really wanted one of these!!
I must say at the original price I considered buying one, but at the new over $500 price I think I'm out. Im a tinkerer by nature and I know I could make one of these reliable but I can't justify spending $600 of my hard earned cash for a rifle that clearly doesn't work properly out of the box. for that price I'd buy a sub2000, and I hate plastic guns!!
Makes you wonder if they even test their own guns at Chiappa?? I'm trying not to be a downer but it blows my mind that companies make guns that are super unreliable in today's market.
I'm sad, I really wanted one of these!!
I'm gonna do the usgi trigger swap, have one on the way. Also went through my M1 carbine parts and found two made in japan rear sights. Going to give one of them a try as well. Will report back later. Sounds like the spring swap would be way easier. Did the creep lessen of disappear? My trigger is terrible like all the others
Any chance of you posting pics of the "made in Japan" rear sights? If they're Howa rear sights I'm interested.
To get the bolt/guide rod out you have to take out the 4 cap screw at the front of the guide rod. Heat is your friend here as they are loctite soaked as much as the rest of the gun. Take a punch down each hole and tap off the barrel sleeve. There is a notch that will let you lever the guide up and off the receiver. As for the buffer i dont recommend trimming it (at least on mine). There is a hole on the back of the receiver that is full of glue/loctite. Gentle drilling and a punch will push out the buffer. I trimmed mine 1/8 and cleaned up the slag of glue then reinstalled. Big mistake as it then seated properly in the hole and didnt touch the bolt at all. Ended up shimming it with some washers to set it where i wanted it. Clears the back of the magazine now. As far as magazine fitment goes, i have some mec gar 9mm and 40 and they all fit, after taking off the sharp edges on the bottom of the bolt guide/support. My factory beretta 92 magazines still wont lock in, will see if i can figure it out later. Also looks like the barrel band will have to be shimmed (similar to a 10/22) as it allows alot of play between the barrel and stock.
berretta 96 will work
