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U.S. M1 Carbine
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BackgroundThis carbine was imported by Century Arms in July or August 2007. This was one of approximately 8000 M1 carbines believed to have been imported from Guatemala. The overall condition of this shipment was very poor. The carbines were filthy and had seen much use and/or poor storage conditions. This particular carbine has gone through at least a partial rebuild, possibly a full rebuild. It shows no evidence of who did the rebuild, indicating it was probably done outside the U.S.A. The Office of Ordnance is known to have contracted with at least one company outside the U.S. for the M1 carbine inspection and rebuild process, FN of Belgium. The barrel date of 9-51 indicates this rebuild took place after September 1951. The rebuild includes an M2 stock and handguard, M2 mag catch, M2 sear, post WWII cast recoil plate, the Springfield Armory barrel, and various other upgraded parts. It is not known how this receiver found it's way to Guatemala. It is the only known carbine with German agency markings in the shipment imported by Century Arms. Finding this carbine was a stroke of serious sheer luck. It is the first example to show carbines were issued to the Railway Police in Stuttgart. If the Railway Police marked their carbines other than on the receiver, those parts were lost in the rebuild process. Of interest is the markings on this receiver are below the stock line and not in plain sight. This is the only German agency discovered to have done this, so far. All other agencies placed the agency markings where they would be obvious.
Barrel Group
S A 9-51 stamped upside down with letters and date on one line. Right side of barrel has Century Arms Georgia, VT import mark.
Stock Group
Stock was cleaned only. It looks like what you might envision a stock would look like after several wars and third world nation use. On removing buttplate several grams of dried red dirt fell out.
Receiver Group
Bolt Group
Trigger Group
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