About 25 years ago I was a sub area arms officer at a mid sized station in the far north of New Zealand for 18 months. One day a detective came to me with what looked like a M1 .30 cal carbine that had been found at the edge of a drug plantation. It was fitted with a 30 round magazine.

Back then things were a lot looser than they became a few years later. It was common practice for shooters in the station to get offered guns found in circumstances like this for a donation to the station social club. The firearm would then be written off as “destroyed”. At the time NZ was going through a period of registering semi-auto rifles under a new MSSA (Military Style Semi Auto) designation. Because of the mag capacity (more than 7 rounds) this rifle qualified as an MSSA and I was the only one in the station with an endorsement to own it.

I took it home and gave it a good clean. That was when I discovered it was actually an M2 which had the selective fire mechanism removed. It appears (I can’t see the stamping properly under the rear sight) to be an Inland Division manufactured item and the S/N in the 737,000 range.

The obvious answer to how it came into this country was that it had been given away by, or stolen from, a GI stationed here in WW 2, or it was a Korean War trophy.

Anyway I arranged to have it registered on my collectors endorsement and got the necessary paperwork to order in the selective fire components from Gun Parts.

With the carbine back working in selective fire mode it went into my safe and really only came out to show it to very trusted visitors with an interest in firearms.

It is a condition of all guns held on a collectors endorsement that they be deactivated by removing a critical part and never loaded with live ammo. As I never came into contact with .30 carbine ammo I never bothered to remove a part.

The last time I showed the carbine to someone I discovered that the selective fire mechanism was not working as it should. With the current firearms legislation going through an abbreviated parliamentary process, and my brother reminding me of the requirement to deactivate it, on Sunday I pulled the carbine down with the help of YouTube to remove the firing pin. I didn’t have the bolt takedown tool so yesterday I dropped by the home of a retired engineer with a fantastic knowledge of guns who removed the pin for me and reassembled the bolt (without the tool I might add). Today I pulled the carbine down again and replaced the bolt.

On reassembling the carbine I found that the selective fire mechanism would work if I pushed forward on the select fire lever with some force.

Taking the action out of the stock again I found the rear of the lever was not pushing up far enough on the mechanism. I thought about getting the lug on the end of the lever soldered up but then had another thought. Peening.

Taking the actuator lever out again I placed the lug on the rear of my bench vice and tapped it a few times with a ball pain hammer. Reassembled again the mechanism works as it should, and it I am checked and asked about deactivation can truthfully say it is inoperable as required and show the part.

The carbine is a bit rough on the barrel and magazine, the result of rust after being left outside at a drug plantation, but all it lacks now is the barrel band locking clip and the front sling swivel.

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View from down under

Great story Brent. Are those 22 loaders working for you?

Is this one going to have to be turned in under the new law?

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Old paratrooper in NC

Funny you should ask.

I took both the Buckmark and the 15-22 to the range yesterday evening. The Lightning loader for the 15-22 worked wonderfully. The original McFadden magazine loader was very hit and miss, mainly due to operational error. I had a number of rounds tip up vertically in the mag as it was loading. One mag loaded easily with it held up, the rounds just fell in, but the other

I spent some time today playing with the thing and finally rem mbered how to work it right. I had been tipping the whole unit back which caused the rounds to tip. I finally remembered one round loaded per push on the mag. Well, at least that’s what worked.

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View from down under

Fortunatelynot. There is an exemption for “bona fide” holders of collectors endorsements provided the firearm is disabled as described earlier and never loaded with live ammunition. I will get to keep this one.

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View from down under

The M2 had a truly miserable reputation for stoppage when needed most. In the '70s a Korean War vet showed me the method they developed to return the carbine to serviceability under fire for right-handers - it also works for the Mini-14.

With your right hand still in firing position and pointing the weapon toward your target, finger OFF the trigger, remove your left hand from the fore end, make a cup with your fingers pointed down directly over the action, right side of your forefinger touching the charging handle. Sweep back smartly with your left hand, lifting it quickly as the bolt hits the rear of the action, and continue firing. This clears most failure to feed stoppages. If you try it once and it doesn't work, try it again immediately - if it didn't work that time, you'll need to dump the mag, insert another, and try again.

A fresh looking mag would seem to be an easy upgrade. Would doing that be restricted or prohibited. If all you can do is look at it at least it should look nice!

Great story, excellent narrative walking us through acquisition, ownership and best of all the happy ending getting to keep it.

Thanks for sharing this story.... That is a cool firearm, and the probable history is fascinating.

Best Regards, Les

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SWCA 3084, SWHF 495, PGCA 3064

I may be wrong but I believe that rear sight is post WWII. I read that they were all non adjustable flip sights with 2 apertures for close and farther ranges during that war.
Maybe a few came out towards the end of the war?

The M2 carbine was adopted in September 1944, but production on these guns was not initiated until May 1945. This was too late in the war for it to see significant action, if any, in WWII.

The later adjustable rear sight, bayonet stud, and improved safety switch came about as arsenal upgrades after the war, and were standard for post-war manufacture.

John

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- Cogito, ergo armatus sum -

In the past (1960s) I had a Winchester M2 Carbine with a folding (paratrooper) stock. Later I was informed that the only M2s were manufactured by Inland ?

Mags have been hard to source here. I didn’t think to try and find one last year when n the US

Now they are impossible to get

One day I might sit down with some cold blue and see what I can do.

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View from down under

Inland and Winchester both made M2's. Winchester never made any M1A1's (paratrooper model). I don't think anyone ever made an M2 paratrooper.

From what I know this information is correct. All the original folding stock examples were made by Inland. My club had one and I tried firing it a couple of times. It was fun to shoot but its reputation for jamming was well founded.
Jim

If it's perfectly adjusted I can get a whole magazine to fill at once. It's a sight to behold because it doesn't happen often.

Carbines were used in Viet Nam, it might have traveled to Australia from there, then to N.Z.

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Made it, Ma! Top of the world!

War Baby books are an excellent info source!
I follow because they made them where I live.
Oh, and managed to get a birth year one just for fun.
Earlier posts correctly state none made it into WW2.
Korea had plenty. We gave the French lots of carbines,
and plenty to Marvin. Some were surely M2s.
Not a collector item for average guys here, but
likely some came home from Korea.
Great story!

I started in law enforcement as a sheriff's deputy in a small SO. Being the gun guy, the chief deputy gave me his M2 to clean. Once I had it all cleaned up, of course I needed to make sure it operated OK. As predicted, the third shot in full auto was at least at a 45 degree angle.

I cleaned it again and returned it to him.

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John 3:16
WAR EAGLE!

A friend of mine was helping a friend of his clean out his recently departed fathers shop. The father was a cool old guy heavily in to Harleys and guns. In one corner of the shop there were barrels of oil, solvents etc. One of the barrels had a couple rods hanging into the contents. When they removed the rods each one had a M2 barreled action on it. This was 30 odd years ago. I don’t know if they found the stocks or what happened to them.

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I told you not to use Lifebuoy

True!

Because of the abundance of surplus M1 and M2 carbines, their compact size and light weight, a whole lot of them were given to the governments of South Korea and South Vietnam as a part of military aid programs.