universal m1 carbine serial number lookup

Universal M1 Carbine Lookup Serial Number Lookup

Universal M1 Carbine Lookup Serial Number Lookup

The serial number lookup that I have seen does not show this to be an Inland.

If you are sure of the serial and that is says Inland, you may have to look for a forum where more Carbine experts are.

If there is one, it could be a receiver that was originally made for Inland and was returned for Saginaw assembly or never shipped in the first place.

MY CARBINE IS A universal carbine serial number 393xxx, manufactured in Florida by HIALEAH can anyone help me determine the manufacturer date.

XXX Its a double rod gas operated carbine with dual rods and return strings.

I bought it new while stationed at Eglin AFB Florida in 1974.

Consider upgrading your membership for less than a box of bullets.

Discussion in Rifle Country started by grammontS, Jul 7, 2020.

Have been looking at a few of these lately, was wondering if anyone could give me some feedback on this manufacturer.

Havent seen any lately, but the Universal M1 Carbines that Ive seenhandled were a poor copy of the military ones, especially the one by Winchester we had that came unused, many years ago.

Simply a cheap copy and IMO not something I would depend on for reliability.

If you really want one save the cash you need to get a Mil surplus mixmaster thats a good shooter.

A couple places have and are still making clones FAR better than the old Universals but the cost of the one Kahr makes tends to put them close to what a Mil-Surp runs and many of them seem to slip past the QA with all kinds of problems.

Far too many for what they sell for.

From what I understand, the very early Universals used surplus parts, but pretty early on, started making their own parts with some value engineered changes.

Ive not heard good things of the reliability of the later Universals.

Mostly GI parts, though I believe Plainfield machined their own receivers.

Through about SN 15000 or so, they were 100 compatible with GI parts and used a forged steel receiver.

Mine has had exactly 1 failure to go into battery in over 800 rounds downrange, otherwise function has been perfect.

At around SN 15000, they enlarged the trigger housing cutout in the stock, meaning that GI stocks have to be modified to fit.

Aftr SN100,000 the design was heavily modified with dual recoil springs and a skelotinized slide which is prone to breakage and replacement parts are hard to come by.

I would avoid the later guns, but highly recommend the early (1st gen.) Universals.

Really, the only weak point on the early guns is the aluminum trigger housing, but this is easily replaced with a steel GI unit.

The link that Bersaguy gave is probably THE best resource for the post-war commercial carbines.

I messed with a few.

Reliability was spotty at best, and no real compatibility with GI carbines.

OP- What is the approx serial number you are looking at My 2XXXX gun has been outstanding.

At different times Ive owned two Universal, one Iver Johnson commercial and one GI M1 Carbine.

Universals were built to a price and varied considerably in quality, but I have to say that mine both functioned about as well and accurately as any other M1 Carbine Ive shot.

Id want to take the action out of the stock and inspect the build quality, then fire a couple of full magazines through it, seeing whether it feeds and ejects consistently.

The only things you can usually count on being interchangable with GI on Universals are magazines.

Sometimes a few parts like the handguard and rear sight will also swap, but Im not sure this is universal.

Serial number range is just about everything when considering a Universal M1 Carbine as the early guns used a preponderance of surplus military parts.

This is my 4 digit SN Universal M1 Carbine that has been flawless in form, firing and function from the day I purchased it.

Universal M1 Carbine Serial Number Lookup