Israeli M1 carbines - making a silk purse of a sow's ear?

I kept my folder just in case, but I must say I prefer them in wood WW2 trim - mainly for aesthetics. The ergos of the choate stock are fine, but they are a little unattractive.
I actually quite like the way they look.

And the fact that some Israeli citizen actually carried and used them in that configuration makes them inherently interesting to me.

The folded form factor is also really handy.

I don't know, there is just something about the Choate folder variety that does it for me. But I certainly see why most people prefer the original stock, there is just so much World War/Korean War pedigree there.


In a few years when they are dried up, I think we'll all be fighting over them.
 
Fixable, with a longer barrel that is readily available in Canada.
Hi, nice M1 Carbines, I had one of the NR AO until recently. Looking at an Israeli now. {I put a Chiappa M1-9-yes a pos..but mehh~ in one of those folders lol} I didn't see this info, but can you share where/who has these NR barrels in Canada? Thnx
 
Last edited:
Hi, nice M1 Carbines, I had one of the NR AO until recently. Looking at an Israeli now. {I put a Chiappa M1-9-yes a pos..but mehh~ in one of those folders lol} I didn't see this info, but can you share where/who has these NR barrels in Canada? Thnx
Nobody that I know of. I bought rsdc’s last one and paid to have a second one imported.

At least one vendor (Vulcan) is sleeving demilitarized barrel stubs with cut used surplus Springfield or grand barrels, but personally I would buy a new criterion barrel than bother with sleeved stuff and non-new bores.
 
Hi, nice M1 Carbines, I had one of the NR AO until recently. Looking at an Israeli now. {I put a Chiappa M1-9-yes a pos..but mehh~ in one of those folders lol} I didn't see this info, but can you share where/who has these NR barrels in Canada? Thnx

Not in Canada but you can get Criterion NR length barrels from A Z T E C H armory. Might be a month or 2 wait for their import but it's probably the easiest way to get your hands on one if you can't find one in country.
 
That’s who I imported one of mine from but was more like 3 or 4 months. Depends when you order in relation to their import cycle.

It will be $400-500 landed for the barrel, plus you will need a smith with a 30 carbine reamer (or buy one) and the tools to do the barrel swap and set headspace. And pay that labor if you aren’t doing it yourself. The tools are expensive, so pay someone if it’s a one-off.
 
you will need a smith with a 30 carbine reamer (or buy one) and the tools to do the barrel swap and set headspace.
if you hand-load for .30 carbine, There is a "work around" to get a short chambered carbine easily shooting. The carbine case is straight-walled so just trim your cases to fit & chamber in the new barrel when installed....basically you fit your cases to headspace properly instead of head spacing the barrel to factory cases....same as "wildcating" if you please.
 
if you hand-load for .30 carbine, There is a "work around" to get a short chambered carbine easily shooting. The carbine case is straight-walled so just trim your cases to fit & chamber in the new barrel when installed....basically you fit your cases to headspace properly instead of head spacing the barrel to factory cases....same as "wildcating" if you please.
I would not advise anyone actually do this. If you try to shoot any factory ammo in that gun, you are close enough to locking up that the gun could fire and not be fully locked into battery.

Reaming the chamber to finish dimension is the ticket.

If anyone needs a 30 carbine reamer, I have a spare one listed cheap in the ee. Workarounds that endanger someone who doesn’t realize you left it short chambered are not worth the liability in my view.
 
Good price on the reamer.

A pull reamer setup can also be used for setting carbine headspace. I have a .308 pull reamer for M-1/M-14 type rifles - if I were to do carbines, I could get the reamer to suit.
 
Supposedly some ex Israeli carbines are about to be offered by a dealer with new NR barrels, but otherwise not fixed up. Should be interesting to see what they are listed at, as I have one listed in the EE with surprisingly little interest, given it’s not an inland and has new criterion nr barrel, an bunch of NOS parts installed, etc. Suspect these new ones will be in worse shape and cost more. We’ll see.
 
Carbines are fun guns. I bought my first one 60 yrs ago. Today we were looking at a restored mid 1950s Rock-ola jukebox and thought about my Rockola Carbine.:cool:

I recall IDF people carrying them in Israel in 1979; no synthetic stocks though.

Many knock the Carbine as underpowered, but there are many graves full of proof that it is a killer. I wouldn't use one for deer hunting, but I wouldn't volunteer to be shot with one either. I've shot deer with a .44-40 WCF and an inline muzzleloader using .44 cal bullets in plastic sabots. They didn't have the knockdown power of a high velocity round and I'd place the carbine in the same category.
 
I read a magazine article from the eighties, where one of the companies in the US was purchasing surplus M1 Carbine barrels which had been cut in half, just in front of the gas port.

They showed pics on how it was done and it's quite simple, if you have the tooling for the job.

Just because I was curious, I thought I would go through the motions described and put one together.

Quite simple really.

Just take an existing M1 Carbine barrel and cut it off in front of the gas assembly, then drill it out .500 all the way back through the chamber area.

Turn down another barrel shank to press fit into the original stub and drill out the gas port to appropriate diameter, using the existing gas port in the gas assembly.

Cut a new chamber and it's good to go.

I used an old take off Shilen Match grade barrel with a 1-15 twist rate for mine.

I wasn't worried about esthetics or keeping it looking original so left the barrel profile heavy and didn't install any front sights.

I mounted a scope on the rifle instead and it shoots very well with both 110/115/125 grain bullets.

This wasn't an act of sacrilege, destroying a WWII collectible. The receiver was from a Universal Carbin knock off.

No problem having the rifle de registered at that time.

I don't shoot it much, but when I do, I always wonder why I don't shoot it more.

I've used these hand little rifles from tree stands, where the shots were never past 75 yds. When the bullets are properly placed, they do the job very well indeed on Deer and a couple of Black Bears.
 
Carbines are fun guns. I bought my first one 60 yrs ago. Today we were looking at a restored mid 1950s Rock-ola jukebox and thought about my Rockola Carbine.:cool:

I recall IDF people carrying them in Israel in 1979; no synthetic stocks though.

Many knock the Carbine as underpowered, but there are many graves full of proof that it is a killer. I wouldn't use one for deer hunting, but I wouldn't volunteer to be shot with one either. I've shot deer with a .44-40 WCF and an inline muzzleloader using .44 cal bullets in plastic sabots. They didn't have the knockdown power of a high velocity round and I'd place the carbine in the same category.
From the tests done at the time and later by commercial companies, etc, the little round has appx the same energy as a 357 magnum commercial cartridge when the same weight bullets are used.

I saw a lot of them in use in Brazil. Brazilian police loved them, along with the Mini 14 full auto version AC556, which replaced the M1 Carbines in many of their rural jurisdictions.
 
Back
Top Bottom