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30 cal. carbine

dgreendgreen Member Posts: 2 ✭✭
edited May 2006 in Ask the Experts
My uncle has a 30 cal. carbine from WWII. It is in good condition. Is it leagl and what might it be valued at approximatly? It is marked made by GM and is semi-or full auto when it is shot. All parts are the original gun and marked property US Goverment.
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    hicap47hicap47 Member Posts: 516 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Original unregistered M2 carbines are worth about 10 years.....
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    Spider7115Spider7115 Member, Moderator Posts: 29,714 ******
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by hicap47
    Original unregistered M2 carbines are worth about 10 years.....

    ...PLUS a $250,000 fine
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    gskyhawkgskyhawk Member Posts: 4,773
    edited November -1
    read what he writes

    My uncle has a 30 cal. carbine from WWII. It is in good condition. Is it leagl and
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    11b6r11b6r Member Posts: 16,588 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Dgreen, you sure got a nice greeting for your first post, huh? To expand on what the guys are saying- the 2 most common GI carbines are the M1- semiautomatic- one shot per trigger pull- and the M2- which can be semi- or full auto- pull trigger and it shoots until magazine is empty. The M2 has a selector switch on the upper left side of the reciever, just ahead of the bolt. Now, to the thing that got you short responses- IF you have an M2, it is considered a machine gun. With VERY few exceptions, it is illegal to possess an unregistered machine gun in the US- that's the 10 yrs and $250,000. If a machinegun has not already been registered, it cannot be- cutoff date was back about 1986. If you have an M1 Carbine, they are legal in MOST areas of the US, and are selling for about $400-600 in good condition- there are a lot of variations that can bring more or less. Bottom line- if it IS a true full auto, well..."Houston, we have a problem." If it is an M1- nice little weapons. And I'm glad folks were not yelling at me in my first post. [:)]
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    CS8161CS8161 Member Posts: 13,595 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Five years in Leavenworth, making small rocks out of big rocks.
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    nmyersnmyers Member Posts: 16,880 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I think that we need to know why you say it is "legal".

    To us, that means that your uncle has a Alcohol, Tobacco, & Firearms form, in his name, for that carbine. We need to know the number on the bottom of that form (maybe a 4 or 5?) and the information filled in on the form.

    All I can tell you now is that "GM" never made full auto M1 carbines, so it's for sure that some of the information you gave us is not correct. You need to write down everything stamped on the gun & describe it for us, or better yet, take some photos.

    Neal
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    CS8161CS8161 Member Posts: 13,595 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    He never said it was legal, he ASKED if it was legal.
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    Laredo LeftyLaredo Lefty Member Posts: 13,451 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    dgreen........Welcome to the forums. What 11b6r said is correct.

    The M-2 carbine was not "standardized" for the military until sept 1944 near the end of WWII. They were much more common in the Korean war.

    If it has the selector switch as described by 11b then tell your uncle to get rid of it. M1 Carbines are one of the types of guns I collect. I have never seen one marked "property US government".
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    nmyersnmyers Member Posts: 16,880 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I don't know that we need to tell dgreen that his uncle needs to get rid of the carbine. If the gun is undocumented, but is stamped "M1 CARBINE", he can remove the M2 parts & destroy them, & have a perfectly legal carbine. Dept of the Army Technical Manual TM 9-1276/TO 39A-5AD-2 "Cal. .30 carbines M1, M1A1, M2, and M3" can be found at most gun shows, & he needs to buy < $20 worth of parts.

    Neal
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    v35v35 Member Posts: 12,710 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    If the receiver is marked M2 and the gun isn't registered
    with the BATF, dismantle the gun and cut the receiver in half and throw away the rear half. All the rest of the parts are worth selling.
    During the Korean War, most if not all M1 carbines with US forces in the far east were converted to M-2 carbines. So if the carbine in question is marked M-1 and there is a selector switch alongside the receiver on the left side, it is one of these conversions.
    To make such a gun legal, the trigger housing, slide and disconnector lever would have to be replaced with an M-1 trigger housing.
    Last I knew it is illegal to possess the M-2 parts if you also have an M-1 even though they are not installed.
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    redman.com1redman.com1 Member Posts: 718 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    nmyers, at least you have enough since to to tell the man that all you have to do is swap out the parts to make it legal, instead of trying to scare the pants off the guy! but my book shows 400,000 m2's where made by inland (general motors). but then again he said general motors, which means he is just looking at the barrel and not the reciever. needs to let us know whats under the rear sight?
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