Wolf in sheeps clothes. 30M2 Carbine sporter.

trevj

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Talking with a friend recently, and had a chance to talk guns a bit. He was asking me what I knew about a "30 Mark 2 Carbine" he has.

I asked if he meant an M2 Carbine.

That's what it says on the receiver, anyways. I read it there. :)

He took it in trade a few years back, and went through the process of registering it. It has a custom stock on it, sporter style, with decent wood, a cheek piece, and sporter style butt plate, has been reblued (shiny), and is missing the selector mechanics off the trigger assy. It still has the military sights, AFAICT.

So what we were looking at was a M2 carbine that had, at some time past, been sporterized, restocked, and refinished. Apparently a relic from a point in time when they were not as tightarsed about it, as things became, or at least by someone that definately was not. The workmanship looks pretty decent.

Like I said in the title. A bit of a wolf in sheeps clothes. Well, a bit of a pup, anyways.

Not sure how best to proceed. The CFC guy that dealt with the registration application apparently tried to verify whether it was an M2 over the phone, but the selector switch was not present, which threw the guy for a loop (the CFC guy)and cannot be fitted, with the stock as is (not that that matters in the end of the story...). They won't issue him a reg cert, as it is an M2. Rock/Hard place. He's been in limbo with the CFC for the past 3 years on it.

I did not have more than a passing knowledge of what the parts required were, to differentiate between the M1/M2, but recognized the M2 Trip Lever, and that there were a bunch of parts missing from the trigger group. I was able to strip the action from the stock (the stock is sort of like the military one), but was not familiar enough with the M1/M2 to tell exactly what was missing.

Worst case scenario, what's a stripped M2 receiver/barrel/parts collection worth? All together? It would have to go to a 12.3/12.2, correct? Or is it just delaying the inevitable smelter or dewat visit, trying to get this thing transferred to a qualified license holder?

Wish I'd had a camera with me.

Cheers
Trev
 
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He's SOL. If it's never been registered I doubt the CFC will issue the cert, even if he can find someone to transfer it to.

He's told the CFC he's in possession of an unregistered prohibited firearm, not a position I'd care to put myself in, or have a buddy talk about on the internet. He could have his ass hauled off to jail tomorrow.
 
Stevo's absolutely correct.

This is a no win situation. Your buddy needs to strip that firearm down to a bare receiver and ask the CFC what to do with the receiver. I can guess what that will be.

Then he can find an M1 Carbine receiver and rebuild the parts into that, although Bubbaed or sporterized as described it isn't going to be worth a lot.
 
Stevo's absolutely correct.

This is a no win situation. Your buddy needs to strip that firearm down to a bare receiver and ask the CFC what to do with the receiver. I can guess what that will be.

Then he can find an M1 Carbine receiver and rebuild the parts into that, although Bubbaed or sporterized as described it isn't going to be worth a lot.

That's about it. With the M2 marking, it was originally manufactured as selective fire. 12(2) or 12(3). At one time, it depended on how the carbine was configured, not now.
 
His best solution is to strip it to the receiver and surrender the receiver. Correct M-1 receivers are available from people here on the group... Don't play around with it.
 
The M1 and M2 carbine are a smellier pile of poo than the differences between the M14/M305. The selective fire carbine has a serial number and a model marking that distinguishes it from the semi-auto. That is it. The real mechanical functional difference is in removeable parts.

The only way around the registration dilemma is to have some one with the right letters on their papers to register the RECEIVER. The rest of the gun parts will probably need another receiver to be registered to the present owner.
 
The only way around the registration dilemma is to have some one with the right letters on their papers to register the RECEIVER. The rest of the gun parts will probably need another receiver to be registered to the present owner.

The receiver cannot be registered as it is a unregistered and ungrandfathered prohib. A museum could take it on charge, but not an individual, even if he is registered for full auto or converted auto.

As the others have said, strip the gun to the bare receiver and have the parts transferred onto a M1 receiver. He can remove the barrel by cutting the breech ring right off the M2 receiver as it is only going to be a paperweight now anyway. Also, by cutting the receiver in half, he can now bide his time, and keep the two halves of the receiver to boot, since it will no longer be a firearm.
 
Ayup. That's pretty much confirms what I thought, and told him.

I'll have a chat with him about that. Most likely end result is a paperweight and some parts available.
Drag.

To be perfectly clear, he has been in contact with the CFC over this, and they are aware that he has what he has, and have been for several years.

I should be able to talk to him in a few days, and will get back.

Cheers
Trev
 
Now here's the silly bit... ;)

The only difference between an M1 receiver and an M2 receiver is the marking. ANY M1 can be made into an M2 if you use the M2 fire control group.

Now even MORE silly is that the M2 FCG bits are readily available parts in the US. Not even illegal to posess them unless you have a 100% complete set. They are even easy to make if you know what they look like.

The laws don;t have to make sense, I guess...???
 
Yeah, Claven2,

That's what I've seen and found out since.

The owner has not enough invested in it to be worth his travel time to go through the court challenge that was suggested by the CFC guy that he says suggested it.

Like I said, I'll pass along the options and we'll see what comes.

Cheers
Trev
 
Yeah, Claven2,

That's what I've seen and found out since.

The owner has not enough invested in it to be worth his travel time to go through the court challenge that was suggested by the CFC guy that he says suggested it.

Like I said, I'll pass along the options and we'll see what comes.

Cheers
Trev

Forget court challenges...spend a ton of money and then lose, 100%. I'd think about what Stencollector said, the receiver is forfeit regardless. Take a chopsaw, cut the receiver in half, problem solved and a nice paperweight generated-better than nothing.
Or maybe...turn it into a deact.
 
A deact M2 would be a neat thing, IF you could put it in military config first. For display purposes, at least, I would put replica M2 FCG parts in before welding it up.

Comme ça:
116690.jpg
 
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Now here's the silly bit... ;)

The only difference between an M1 receiver and an M2 receiver is the marking. ANY M1 can be made into an M2 if you use the M2 fire control group.

Now even MORE silly is that the M2 FCG bits are readily available parts in the US. Not even illegal to posess them unless you have a 100% complete set. They are even easy to make if you know what they look like.

The laws don;t have to make sense, I guess...???

Very similar to the Sterling Mk4 Police Carbine SMG vs a full auto Sterling mk4. The only difference on the receiver is the markings which in many cases are actually engraved over the original full auto markings at the factory. It doesn't have to make sense, it just has to keep taking firearms away from the public one classification at a time.
 
The few I've seen advertised, would lead me to believe that the term Buyers Market pretty much has it covered.

Can't take them to the range, and the number of guys buying is fewer each year.:(

Cheers
Trev
 
FA are not increasing in value in Canada as the owners are fewer each year

they would have HAD to be 18 in 1978 to register a FA so do the math a few more years and NO legal owned FA
 
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