Plug in rifle..advice needed please

piper

This evening, my best friend came by my house with a M-1 carabine he purchased for extremely cheap. The rifle has a plug which appears to have been welded in the barrel, just beyond the breech. The bolt/charging handle operates without any problems. We called a machinist friend about it, and he says the rifle is only good for putting on the wall, because the welded plug has ruined the metal tempering, and removing it would only make it worse. We are questioning if this weapon can be made to fire again or not, just curious. I have seen demilitarized weapons that have been cut or holed, but not with a plug like this.

My question to all...is our machinist friend correct, or should we find a gunsmith who might have a second opinion? We've never seen this before. Thank you for any help.

burpfire

if it is welded in the chamber, you are screwed! definate metal fatigue. if it is in front of the chamber into the rifling, there shouldnt be a problem. if he got it dirt cheap, i would just have it re-barreled.

rufe-snow

I agree with bf, if is just the barrel that was made inoperable and nothing was tempered with in the receiver? Shouldn't have any problem as long as it's rebarreled. Being your from France you might have problems obtaining a replacement barrel though. Getting one shipped from the U.S., likely would be difficult.

jjmitchell60

You might want to check to ensure no more tack welds anywhere on it. I have seen many M1s with welded barrels BUT they also tack weld the receiver to barrel, gas tube,& other places. If any tack welds then the parts are usually junk! So it could be just a wall hanger after all.