Universal M1

[International Harvester]

Just found a Universal M1 .30 Carbine. Made in Jacksonville which I think makes it the last year of production. It's in excellent condition. I don't know these guns, is it restricted? Has many large clips with it. Is there a certain barrel length that makes it restricted? Any info would be appreciated including a rough valuation. I was guessing about $200 like an SKS.......

 

[Hitzy]

Late model Universal with cut out on the oprod for the bolt cam, dual recoil springs are not worth $5....tons of issues with these guns, many proprietary parts so USGI stuff won't fit, total garbage.
Should be restricted with an 18" barrel.
30 round MAGS are worth about $30 if they are decent mags.

 

[jbmauser]

There is some excellent info regarding the Universal carbines out there including very important safety checks to make sure the thing won't fire out of battery. I had a non-restricted Universal that was pretty accurate and fairly reliable but it just barely passed the safety checks. Overall they are a pretty poor quality copy (except the earliest versions which were mostly USGI parts) and not something I would be interested in.

 

[Brutus]

In my own example this Universal carbine was very unreliable. Jammed quite often and in 1979 there was no internet or a good base of corporate knowledge regarding these firearms.

Sold it without a single regret.

 

[Zdragunov]

wouldn't touch it with a stick. I had one and it was a complete junk. Potential for out of battery explosion, didn't want to feed from any mag. Trigger group made of soft aluminum etc...

 

[pw58]

check reciever for cracks,buy sks instead

 

[Cocked&Locked]

seen a couple that committed suicide by partial receiver failure. I would advise anyone i knew not to purchase a universal....

 

[sunray]

No M1 Carbine uses 'clips'. They use magazines. All M1 Carbines that have an 18" barrel are restricted, regardless of who made it. This stuff should have been covered on your PAL/RPAL course.
Late model Universals are junk, but yours is an Iver Johnson. IJ bought Universal around 1983 and kept making them until they went bankrupt in 1986. IJ did make some with 19" barrels in about 1979, but not many.
Universal thought they could improve upon the design, but made a huge mess instead. The poorly made, stamped, op rods tend to break and you can't easily get parts. No issue parts will fit other than magazines. Those, of course, must be pinned to 5 or they are illegal to possess.
Anyway, go here. However, it appears Jim has stopped working on it. Pity, he was doing some good stuff. Most links still work though.
http://www.m1carbinesinc.com/carbine_universal.html
http://www.m1carbinesinc.com/carbine_ij.html

 

[International Harvester]

Shot it. Worked well after I tweeked the angle of the flanges at the top of the "magazine". Ya Sunny, that info probably was on my RPAL/SkHunterSafety course or whatever it was I had to sign to buy ammo.