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30cal carbine

tone59tone59 Member Posts: 673 ✭✭
edited April 2011 in Ask the Experts
countryfarmer...my father has been gone for awhile now.it took a long time before i could bring myself to open the safe and view the collection and then realize what a wonderful gift he had passed on to me.i wish he was here to share my new found interest in what he spent so many years to acquire.so yes,they are well cherished and will be passed on to my son after im gone.thank you for the reminder.
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Comments

  • mark christianmark christian Member Posts: 24,443 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    All USGI M1 carbines were produced during WWII so it will be the same situation with yours. Millions of carbines were rebuilt after the war and plenty of them saw action in Korea so there is a possibility that yours did as well. The Yellow P is likely some sort of arsenal rack number/marking intended to identify the weapon, but these are not official markings.
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  • nmyersnmyers Member Posts: 16,892 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    The serial number you gave indicates that the receiver was made by Inland, not Winchester. Are you looking behind the rear sight, or did you give us the incorrect number?

    Soldiers were not permitted to take home their government issue firearms. (It's possible that he did it anyway.) Or, he may have bought it from the Director of Civilian Marksmanship. Or, he may have bought it from a dealer, usually indicated by an importer marking somewhere on the barrel or receiver.

    Neal

    EDIT: First, we only get 10 responses to a question. You can extend the number of responses by editing your original posting, rather than adding a response (select the icon that looks like a pencil & pad of paper.) Second, as Mark said, the P is likely a rack number. In the US military, a given firearm may be issued to hundreds of different soldiers during its service life; so, a soldier's name or initial would never be put on a firearm, as it would quickly look like a graffiti-covered wall. On the contrary, mutilating a firearm in the US military is grounds for discipline. It is not uncommon in the US military for a soldier to have to memorize the SN of his issue rifle.
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  • tone59tone59 Member Posts: 673 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    nmyers...i gave the incorrect#.sorry,thought i new it from memory.i was way off(7 digits not 6). it is 55582xx.after looking and unable to find the maker myself a gunsmith pointed out the winchester name under the rear sight just forward of the serial#.can anyone tell me when this rifle was made.
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  • tone59tone59 Member Posts: 673 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    mark christian...thank you for the info.if the military marked arms assigned to soldiers by the soldiers last name the yellow P makes sense.ours begins with the letter P.
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  • tone59tone59 Member Posts: 673 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    first of all i would like to apoligize to those of you that have taken the time to try and answer my questions based on the wrong info i gave.i feel like an idiot.so far i have posted an ithaca as an ithica,said S&W dated a colt 1911 for me,and then gave the wrong info on this carbine as i confused it with what i recalled seeing on a 1903 springfield.sorry guys.from now on the gun will be in front of me when inquiring about it.can anyone date this 30 cal M-1 carbine for me?it has the name winchester under the rear sight.serial#55587xx.there are no importer markings,numbers,or lettering that i can see anywhere on the barrel or receiver.the right side of rear sight has l.R.CO.and the#71600xx.the metal strap which holds the front of the stock to the barrel has AMCO on it. the underside of the butt has 128 in large yellow numbers not a P as i had mistakened before.
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  • countryfarmercountryfarmer Member Posts: 4,552
    edited November -1
    I don't believe the military EVER put a intial on the firearms to match up with who it was assigned to. The P is some sort of rack ID. If you could find any papers your dad had while he was in the military, it might have is rifle number listed on it. I know my dad still has his papers from when he turned in his rifle.

    One of my carbines has a P on it also. It was a return from Korea through Blue Sky, the blue sky stamp is barely visible and only half done on the barrel and very easy to miss on mine.

    Mine has a number on the stock too. Look at the barrel very carefully possibly on the underside. See if you see any lettering under there or partial lettering. ON my one carbine, the import stamping looks like a scratch on the underside of the barrel, it is incomplete but I think it is suppose to say Blue Sky Imports. As I said before it was years before I reconized it as a stamping.

    No matter what is on the gun remember, it was your dad's rifle, cherish it.
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  • mark christianmark christian Member Posts: 24,443 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    The 128 is still a rack number and could have any number of meanings, none of which were official. IR CO and AMCO are sub contractor markings and no doubt some carbine guru can ID the specific manufacturer by their initials.
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