Howa M1 Carbines made for Thailand and Japan ?

[campperrykid]

There's some solid information at the link . It's an interesting story , surprised me a lot.
www.m1carbinesinc.com/carbine_howa.html

Looks like the Clintons blocked some imports to the USA , but some thousands made it in. Others went to Canada and other countries.

 

[eos]

There are examples of these carbines here. I have seen both military and sporting models.

 

[sunray]

"...Clintons blocked some imports to the USA..." Clinton banned the importation of Chinese made firearms.

 

[campperrykid]

"...Clintons blocked some imports to the USA..." Clinton banned the importation of Chinese made firearms.

Among others.
By a variety of means , often by delegating the dirty work to others.
There are many ways to block importations of items.

 

[sunray]

"...many ways to block importations of items..." A Presidential Edict beats nearly all of 'em. Supposedly due to Chinese human rights policies, but it was mostly to keep inexpensive M305's out of the U.S.
Rumour has it that the U.S. made a deal with the Russians to keep AK's and SKS', etc. out too.

 

[campperrykid]

I dunno. Some guns from mainland China are importable into the US.

 

[contact148]

yes shotguns are but no rifles/handguns

and I actually had 2 of those m1 carbines pretty sure I have one somewhere on the m1 carbine rack.......

 

[campperrykid]

yes shotguns are but no rifles/handguns

and I actually had 2 of those m1 carbines pretty sure I have one somewhere on the m1 carbine rack.......

I think you nailed it about the imports from China . I've got a Winchester 1897 Trench Gun clone that was imported around 2003. I had given up on an affordable 1897 copy when Norinco gun imports were banned . Seems like "another firm in mainland China" took over production. The newer 1897 is a much better copy and uses walnut provided by the US importer.

Back to the topic of Howa M1 Carbines made in Japan.
Some of the Howa's showed up at Knob Creek. Traced to this company in Pennsylvania:
www.usarmamentcorp.com/other_products.html

Scroll down just past Title 1 and just above the Liberator Pistol.

 

[contact148]

Im going to buy 20 i want the free rack!!!!

 

[Mk VII]

I've seen one of those Howa carbines here. Puzzled me at the time. Might photograph it if I see the owner again.

 

[TGC]

Aw yes, that carbine is a lovely gun, and when i become PM, just watch me, LOl

 

[campperrykid]

Based on the info in the linked site:
Sounds like about 9,000 Howa M1 Carbines entered Canada and 4,000 were imported into the US.
Not a large number compared to USGI production 1942-1945 , or the 600,000
plus planned for release by South Korea.

 

[john@]

Are you sure about the 9000 in Canada? I only see 12 Howa semi auto rifles in the Ottawa Citizen gun registry. Only 8 of them are M1 Carbines.

 

[campperrykid]

It's a Fair Question.

I am working with 2nd hand info from what I believe to be good sources.
It's pieces of an incomplete puzzle.

The 9,000 figure is based on info from the two page article here:
www.m1carbinesinc.com/carbine_howa2.html


Milsurp history is full of surprises.
Until a few years ago , I had no clue that tens of thousands of M1 Garands were built from scratch in Italy. Too bad they are so rare in the US.
Good thing the people in Canada were able to save a bunch of them.
Until a couple of weeks ago I had no idea that Howa had a contract to work on USGI M1 Carbines.

In a related area:
Some of the M1Carbines that were loaned to German & Austria police after WW2 had the reciever rings scrubbed.
It's possible ( I guess ) that some of the South Korean Carbines might even have bilingual markings , like ROK ammo cans and bando's. English and Hangul.

 

[contact148]

alot of M1 carbines were given to the germans for police use

I have several of them

the germans being ..well german stamped the last 4 digets of the serial # on EVERY part of the rifle

they also removed the rear sights and filled the dovetail in and brazed a V-notch site on the reciever ring (where its stamped U.S. M1 carbine)

this was as many if not all new police officers had experince useing nazi arms which were V-notch sights

 

[campperrykid]

Documented fact , various modifications are not uncommon among the German & Austrian M1 Carbines.
Here's some detailed info about the Bavarian/Austrian Carbines.

www.bavarianm1carbines.com

Some returned to North America as early as the 1960's.
Check out the 1965 "American Rifleman " ad in the Export/Import section:
$59.95 -- USD.