M1 Carbine Question

Recce21

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Bought an Inland late '44 carbine and a bunch of new Corwin Arms 5/15 mags for it.
Took it out last night popping gophers (which it makes an awesome mess of) and discovered that it will not properly load the first round of a new mag, it needs to be recocked after it FTFeed and then slammed home like a garand.
Also, I get the odd failure to fire and FTE. Using Tulammo 110gr. ammo.

Is it the mags? Is it the op rod spring? Is it the ammo?
 
M1 carbine's Number 1 problem of failing to feed is the mag. When you take yours out again, instead of gripping the forestock, hold onto the mag, after you have chambered the first round. Apply a bit of upward pressure to force the mag into it's proper place and shoot it while holding the mag. If it feeds ok for the next 4 rds, then your mag is not seating properly under normal conditions.
 
Mags were a big issue for me on my universal (ya different kettle of fish) Holding them as Manteo said solved most of my M1 carbine failure to feed issues. I have a Rockola and a plainfield. When you put the mag in the rifle see how much play you have when you rock the mag. Should be fairly tight. How are the notches on the rear of the magazine? Nice and pronounced or flat/rounded off. Obviously try different magazines. I still like the USGI ones as they have caused the least amount of issues. Universal issue was solved by swapping out the factory aluminum housing for a USGI one. Works fine now. Good luck. To me half the fun of owning a firearm is solving the mechanical issues
 
Legalities aside and assuming a clean rifle, it's likely the mags. Tweak the mag lips open a wee, tiny bit with fine, long, needle nosed pliers. Have an issue 30 rounder that wouldn't feed reliably. That was fixed by tweaking the lips. It's a very small amount, no reefing hard on the pliers.
Otherwise, I've never had any feeding issues that weren't fixed with a bath.
Failure to fire issues are ammo related. Failures to cycle are too. Change ammo or reload. Tula is Berdan primed steel cased though. Not reloadable.
A Speer 110 grain HP with IMR4227 is accurate out of my Plainfield and blows a hole the size of a grapefruit in a ground hog. Likely cut Richardson's ground squirrel in half.
 
M1 Carbine Question



Bought an Inland late '44 carbine and a bunch of new Corwin Arms 5/15 mags for it.
Took it out last night popping gophers (which it makes an awesome mess of) and discovered that it will not properly load the first round of a new mag, it needs to be recocked after it FTFeed and then slammed home like a garand.
Also, I get the odd failure to fire and FTE. Using Tulammo 110gr. ammo.

Is it the mags? Is it the op rod spring? Is it the ammo?

Before you tweak your mags, take a look at the position of the bullet tip on the feed ramp into the chamber.

If you open the mags, you may create other feed and retaining issues.

I found the same issue with more than one M1 Carbine. Especially if soft nose bullets were being used.

The rifle was designed to use full metal jacket bullets. The ogives on the bullet designed for the fun/handy little carbine were slightly swept on purpose because they ran into similar issues right from the beginning with round nose bullets. Most soft nose bullets for the rifle have round nose profiled ogives.

If you are using soft point bullets, you will likely find that your bullets noses are catching on the bottom lip of the infeed ramp, just as it exits the mag.

The best fix for this is to polish the infeed ramps on both guide tracks. This doesn't give the soft nose anything to bind on.

Any gunsmith worth his/her salt can do this easily and you won't have to worry about mag feed issues.

I have looked at those mags from Corwin Arms. They are very good quality, especially for the price. Don't alter them unless you have to.

If you find the mag is the issue, very judiciously file the lips back until the cartridge is at the proper angle. Don't pry them with pliers.
 
GI specs on trigger pull are 4.5 lbs minimum to 7 lbs maximum. There are a number of wear factors that can affect trigger pull in a Carbine. Most often the best route would be to swap parts and see how that affects things. Stripping and assembling the trigger housing can be a bit of a challenge.
 
Looks like I am on the hunt for more parts
GI specs on trigger pull are 4.5 lbs minimum to 7 lbs maximum. There are a number of wear factors that can affect trigger pull in a Carbine. Most often the best route would be to swap parts and see how that affects things. Stripping and assembling the trigger housing can be a bit of a challenge.
 
I have a 42' Underwood ( I installed a Tradex N/R barrel) that I've put a couple hundred Sierra 110 gr soft point thru using all milt issue mags without one ftf. Maybe just lucky but they work for me.

As for gophers or ground hogs...never used it on them, but did shoot a deer last fall (about 80 yrds) with one of the 110's. They were Crono'ed at 1800fps, it went all the way thru breaking ribs on both sides. I could see blood spraying from exit side in the four jumps the deer made before piling up.

Your trigger pull problem might not need any parts, it may just be a sear/hammer angle engagement problem. Remove trigger group in its entirety from the action, #### the hammer and closely watch the top of the hammer as you pull the trigger, if the hammer has to back up any noticeable amount before the sear releases you have to much positive angle in the hammer sear notch. Any gunsmith with good eyes and a super fine Arkansas stone will be able to "repair" it. One thing, before pulling the trigger, I hold my thumb in front of the hammer so that is doesn't "snap" against the front of the trigger group housing.
 
Haven't had that problem with mine, actually the few factory rounds I've put though it are flung hi-wide & everywhere...they are a tad bit hotter than the handloads I use. I started low and worked up to a load that just works the action reliably, at 1800 fps for my gun. Most of the brass now lands a few ft to the right and enough of a small area so as to be easily found for re-use.
 
I agree with the first few comments. I shot a buddies M1 carbine and it had a loose mag. To remedy the situation I applied slight pressure with a couple of fingers (normally the pinky/ring fingers) while the rest gripped the stock. It was a little awkward but there were no feeding issues once I pushed the mag up a few millimetres.
 
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