M1 Carbine Stuff Follows Me Home

I was fortunate enough to recently acquire some vintage M1 carbine stuff from my uncle…magazines and ammo…but unfortunately, no rifle.

Dammit!

(This is the same uncle who generously GAVE me his M1 Garand a while back...and this is the same M1 Garand subsequently lost forever in a scandalous North Atlantic dirigible collision.)

Unk gave me about 200 rounds of vintage .30 carbine ammo of mixed manufacture.  Remington, Federal, and Winchester.

The ammo is in pretty good shape, and the few rounds that were showing some green corrosion cleaned up with a little Windex.

Some of you might be saying, "Zoomie!  You dumb fuck!  You shouldn't use old corroded ammo.  Are you retarded?"

Fuck it.  I'll shoot the shit.  I ain't scared of nuthin'...

Except bees and wasps.  I hate those motherfuckers.

Anyhoo...Unk also gave me the following magazines:

1 x 30 round marked “Jay Scott”

1 x 30 round marked “N.V.S.” and “Japan” on the floor plate

1 x 15 round marked “CTQ” with the “T” stamped upside down (USGI)

1 x 15 round marked “II” with the “II” inside a circle (USGI)

1 x 15 round marked “N.V.S.” and “Japan” on the floor plate

I did a little intardnets research, and this is what I was able to discover regarding the magazines.

“Jay Scott”- A clearly marked commercial magazine sold by a company known for its handgun grip sales. Split back, no front roll crimp, square hold open follower, rectangular bolster. Well known for having dead springs. Stretching them doesn’t work as they collapse back rapidly when loaded. The followers are also poorly formed and folded and stick going up and down. They appear to be older commercial magazines simply stamped with the Jay Scott name. Definitely not a USGI magazine. Replacement of the follower and spring make them quite serviceable as the body is made well enough.

“N.V.S.”- Marked magazines are Japanese of a fairly high quality. They are split back but with straight cut sides. These magazines are not often seen. “Japan” may be added on the floor plate. Some reference is made to these being German, which is very doubtful since most of them have the “Japan” marked floor plates.

“CTQ”- The “T” is upside down.  J.L. Clark Manufacturing made this 15 round magazine for the M1 carbine manufactured by Quality Hardware & Machine Company.  This is USGI.  Cool.

“II”- The capital “I”s are inside a circle.  International Silver made this 15 round magazine for the M1 carbine manufactured by Inland.  This is also USGI.  Groovy!

The M1 carbine is another one of my “must haves,” and maybe this acquisition of bits and pieces will spur me on to get one.

M1 carbines are pretty salty these days though, so I looked around for anything else that fires the .30 carbine round.

Some of the most common:

Ruger Blackhawk Revolver

Thompson Contender

AMT Auto Mag

The only gun on this list I would realistically consider would be the Ruger Blackhawk because the cowboy revolver thing has always appealed to me.

Besides all that, I could go all "Red Dawn" and say something smart like "You lose!" right before I ventilate a Bolshevik fool.

The funky-ass Thompson Contender doesn’t do a thing for me, even though I have limited experience with it and have fired one in the past. 

The AMT AutoMag frightens me because I know nothing about it and I fear the unknown.  Also, it is ugly as fuck!

What I know for sure is that I think it's a crying shame to have all this shit and not be able to use it, and that the thought of having a handgun that shoots a carbine cartridge is pretty fucking cool.

But, with my luck, some goddamn commie midget will steal my shit as soon as I get it.

I hates me some commie midgets.