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I've always assumed that some day I'd buy one - mostly because of my love of the M1A and that generation / family of guns. My neighbor recently passed and his wife has asked me to help figure out what his guns are worth. It turns out that he has an M1 Carbine. Most of his other stuff does not interest me - but this one does.

I'm starting to research the M1 Carbine family of guns, but would love pointers on what specifics to look out for. I want to understand what a fair price would be for the gun - as I'll probably try to buy it from her. I'll probably want to pay a bit over what she would get from a consignment shop - in my perfect world if a consignment shop would sell it for $1200 and give her $900 - I'd give her somewhere in the $1100 range for it and we'll both win. Most important to me is that if there is something particularly rare or valuable about the gun we both know it before it changes hands.

So... what should I look for?

TIA

That is a big question....way too many variables. The M1 Carbine was made by many different companies, all have inherent values to them. Para trooper stock, cartouche or armory stamps on the stock, serial number range, manufacturer, condition...all factor into the price. It's kind of like asking how much a classic car is worth...without specifics about the car or detailed pictures, it will be difficult to price.

There were many commercial copies, too. The most easily recognizable one is the one made by Universal, because it's operating rod looks different.
Also, a perforated steel top piece is also a dead giveaway that it is likely a commercial (non-G.I.) copy.

Here are the genuine manufacturers of G.I. carbines.

Inland, Winchester, Underwood, Quality Heavy Machine Company, National Postalmeter, IBM, Standard Products, Rock-Ola, Saginaw Gear and Irwin-Pedersen.

Copied this from another site:
Production numbers by maker
Inland : 2.M
Winchester: 810K
Underwood: 545K
National Postal Meter: 413K (239 marked Commercial Controls)
Quality Hardware: 360K (29K or so marked UN-Quality)
IBM: 347K
Saginaw Steering Gear: 294K
Saginaw (Grand Rapids)/ Irwin Peterson: 223K (Marked S’G’ or IP on receiver).
Standard Products: 247K
Rock-Ola Music Co.: 228K

Original, “as built” condition Rock-Ola’s and Saginaw/Irwin Peterson tend to be the highest valued basic M1 Carbines. The much rarer UN-Quality and virtually non existent Commercial Contols M1 Carbines tend to be auction pieces where just about anything is possible.

Regardless of how close to original condition a particular rifle may be, having a “Rock-Ola” or S’G’ Saginaw receiver heel stamp will always sell at a premium above Inland/Winchester/Underwood stamped M1 Carbines.

Take a good look at the bolt and op rod for cracks…. Have had to replace/ weld up a bunch of them.

have owned one of most along with a couple doubles, i'm down to just a few a saginaw, and inland or two. postal meter went for 1250 a year ago.
awesome fun shooters for sure,
i'll dig thru what i have and see if i can move one more out, eventually all the crap i have will be going, don't have but one son in law worth giving it to, so gonna sell a lot of it.
happy hump day
Rj

didn't Singer make them too?

You can adopt me and my granddaughter rj... just saying

cool arrow wrote: ↑January 20th, 2022, 6:58 am didn't Singer make them too?

No, they made 1911's, legend is 500 +/-

delta6 wrote: ↑January 20th, 2022, 7:34 am

cool arrow wrote: ↑January 20th, 2022, 6:58 am didn't Singer make them too?

No, they made 1911's, legend is 500 +/-

And when you can find one they go for around 80K dollars.

SupportTheSecond wrote: ↑January 20th, 2022, 8:48 am

delta6 wrote: ↑January 20th, 2022, 7:34 am

cool arrow wrote: ↑January 20th, 2022, 6:58 am didn't Singer make them too?

No, they made 1911's, legend is 500 +/-

And when you can find one they go for around 80K dollars.

Close..2021, Spring auction at RIA, a Singer sold for $195,500.00

Thanks a ton - good information.