Post War M1 Carbine production ?

[Cosine26]

Was there any military M1 Carbine production after WWII?

[PhillipM]

NO

[Cosine26]

Thanks. I did not think so.

[Southron]

PhillipM is absolutely correct when it comes to U.S. Government contract carbine production. None were produced after World war II ended. However, several commercial firms did (and still do) manufacture M-1 Carbines.

Plainfield manufactured M-1 Carbines using a variety of new production parts and World War II government surplus parts, so did Universal and several others.. Howa (?) a Japanese company made M-1 Carbines under contract for either Japan or other Far Eastern countries. M-1 Carbines were produced in Italy for the Italian army and the list goes on and on.

Matter of fact, one could make up a fairly large collection of M-1 Carbines that have been made by different companies since World War II. For example here is a company that currently makes M-1 Carbines:

https://www.jamesriverarmory.com/products/category/35-rockola-m1-carbine.html

[Tuna]

Italy never made a US M1 type carbine. They did make a version of the M1 Garand made by Beretta. Parts interchange with USGI SA and Winchester made Garand's. The only country that made a carbine like the USGI one was made by Howa in Japan. The only things different were the rear sight and the bayonet lug barrel band. And parts do interchange with USGI carbines.

[Marcus]

From what I recall, the Chinese also made a version of the M1 carbine sometime in the late 1940's-early 1950's period. Perhaps on U.S. tooling and patterns supplied to the Nationalists right after WW2 that fell into Communist hands after Mao's forces took over the mainland?

I believe a few of these showed up with the carbines imported from Korea back in the 1980's - possibly Korean War captured from the Chinese or Norkie forces. IIRC, they have some kind of gear wheel symbol and Chinese writing on the receiver. I'd love to have one of those, as well as one of the Japanese carbines Howa made for Thailand, in my collection.


A number of countries, such as Israel also purchased commercial early Universal and Plainfield carbines for their police and military forces in the late 1960's and 1970's period from what I remember.

[Allen]

I have seen the Chinese versions. They appeared to have been made in the 40's to 50's based upon the finish wear and patina.

Other commercial manufacturers have included:
Alpine of Azusa, Calif.[95]
AMAC or Jacksonville, Ark. (acquired Iver Johnson Arms)[96]
AMPCO of Miami, Fla.[97]
Bullseye Gun Works of Miami, Fla.[98]
Crosman Air Rifle; produced an M1 Carbine lookalike[99]
ERMA's Firearms Manufacturing of Steelville, Mo.[100]
Erma Werke of Dachau, Bavaria serviced carbines used by the West German police post World War II. Manufactured replacement parts for the same carbines. Manufactured .22 replica carbines for use as training rifles for police in West Germany and Austria and for commercial export worldwide.[101][102]
Federal Ordnance of South El Monte, Calif.[103]
Fulton Armory of Savage, MD[104]
Global Arms[105]
H&S of Plainfield, NJ (Haas & Storck, predecessor of Plainfield Machine)[106]
Howa of Nagoya, Japan, made carbines and parts for the post-World War II Japanese and Thai militaries, and limited numbers of a hunting rifle version[107]
Inland Manufacturing of Dayton, Ohio[108]
Israel Arms International (IAI) of Houston, Texas assembled carbines from parts from other sources[109]
The Iver Johnson Arms of Plainfield, NJ and later Jacksonville, Ark., (acquired M1 Carbine operations of Plainfield Machine) and followed the lead of Universal in producing a pistol version called the "Enforcer".[110]
Johnston-Tucker of St. Louis, Mo.[111]
Millvile Ordnance (MOCO) of Union, N.J. (predecessor of H&S)[112]
National Ordnance of Azusa, Calif. and later South El Monte, Calif.[113]
NATO of Atlanta, GA[114]
Plainfield Machine Company of Plainfield, N.J. and later Middlesex, N.J. (P.O. Box in Dunellen, N.J.), M1 Carbine manufacture later purchased and operated by Iver Johnson[115]
Rock Island Armory of Geneseo, Ill.[116]
Rowen, Becker Company of Waterville, Ohio[117]
Springfield Armory of Geneseo, Ill.[118]
Texas Armament Co. of Brownwood, Tex.[119]
Tiroler Sportwaffenfabrik und Apparatenbau GmbH of Kugstein, Austria manufactured an air rifle that looked and operated like the M1 Carbine for use in training by Austria and West Germany.[120]
Universal Firearms of Hialeah, Fla. - Early Universal guns were, like other manufacturers, assembled from USGI parts. However, beginning in 1968, the company began producing the "New Carbine", which externally resembled the M1 but was in fact a completely new firearm internally, using a different receiver, bolt carrier, bolt, recoil spring assembly, etc. with almost no interchangeability with GI-issue carbines.[121]
Universal was acquired by Iver Johnson in 1983 and moved to Jacksonville, Ark. in 1985.
Williams Gun Sight of Davison, Mich. produced a series of 50 sporterized M1 Carbines[122]

[Tuna]

While China did try to copy USGI carbines they were not really successful at it. The receivers were not up to standards and they were NOT made with USGI supplied equipment. They were hand made like a lot of firearms made in China and no two were or are quite alike. There were carbines that were sent to China during WW2 and later these were used by the communists as well as such units as the Hong Kong police. These were later imported into the US and a very few of the Chinese made carbines were included. These were a rare find and are worth quite a bit to advanced collectors if they can find one. I have seen two of these with one being just the receiver. Over all a bit crude as compared to a USGI carbine.

[Allen]

While China did try to copy USGI carbines they were not really successful at it. The receivers were not up to standards and they were NOT made with USGI supplied equipment. They were hand made like a lot of firearms made in China and no two were or are quite alike. There were carbines that were sent to China during WW2 and later these were used by the communists as well as such units as the Hong Kong police. These were later imported into the US and a very few of the Chinese made carbines were included. These were a rare find and are worth quite a bit to advanced collectors if they can find one. I have seen two of these with one being just the receiver. Over all a bit crude as compared to a USGI carbine.

I went to a gun shop about 15 years ago that had 2-4 or so of them. I didn't look at them very closely because he had 2 IP carbines that I was interested in and purchased that day. I did notice that the Chinese models (that he had) looked like Inlands but upon a closer look the name on the barrel was something similar such as "Inlund" .

[IditarodJoe]

Other commercial manufacturers have included:
Alpine of Azusa, Calif.[95]
AMAC or Jacksonville, Ark. (acquired Iver Johnson Arms)[96]
AMPCO of Miami, Fla.[97]
Bullseye Gun Works of Miami, Fla.[98]
Crosman Air Rifle; produced an M1 Carbine lookalike[99]
ERMA's Firearms Manufacturing of Steelville, Mo.[100]
Erma Werke of Dachau, Bavaria serviced carbines used by the West German police post World War II. Manufactured replacement parts for the same carbines. Manufactured .22 replica carbines for use as training rifles for police in West Germany and Austria and for commercial export worldwide.[101][102]
Federal Ordnance of South El Monte, Calif.[103]
Fulton Armory of Savage, MD[104]
Global Arms[105]
H&S of Plainfield, NJ (Haas & Storck, predecessor of Plainfield Machine)[106]
Howa of Nagoya, Japan, made carbines and parts for the post-World War II Japanese and Thai militaries, and limited numbers of a hunting rifle version[107]
Inland Manufacturing of Dayton, Ohio[108]
Israel Arms International (IAI) of Houston, Texas assembled carbines from parts from other sources[109]
The Iver Johnson Arms of Plainfield, NJ and later Jacksonville, Ark., (acquired M1 Carbine operations of Plainfield Machine) and followed the lead of Universal in producing a pistol version called the "Enforcer".[110]
Johnston-Tucker of St. Louis, Mo.[111]
Millvile Ordnance (MOCO) of Union, N.J. (predecessor of H&S)[112]
National Ordnance of Azusa, Calif. and later South El Monte, Calif.[113]
NATO of Atlanta, GA[114]
Plainfield Machine Company of Plainfield, N.J. and later Middlesex, N.J. (P.O. Box in Dunellen, N.J.), M1 Carbine manufacture later purchased and operated by Iver Johnson[115]
Rock Island Armory of Geneseo, Ill.[116]
Rowen, Becker Company of Waterville, Ohio[117]
Springfield Armory of Geneseo, Ill.[118]
Texas Armament Co. of Brownwood, Tex.[119]
Tiroler Sportwaffenfabrik und Apparatenbau GmbH of Kugstein, Austria manufactured an air rifle that looked and operated like the M1 Carbine for use in training by Austria and West Germany.[120]
Universal Firearms of Hialeah, Fla. - Early Universal guns were, like other manufacturers, assembled from USGI parts. However, beginning in 1968, the company began producing the "New Carbine", which externally resembled the M1 but was in fact a completely new firearm internally, using a different receiver, bolt carrier, bolt, recoil spring assembly, etc. with almost no interchangeability with GI-issue carbines.[121]
Universal was acquired by Iver Johnson in 1983 and moved to Jacksonville, Ark. in 1985.
Williams Gun Sight of Davison, Mich. produced a series of 50 sporterized M1 Carbines[122]

Kahr Arms/Auto Ordnance
James River Armory

[BOB LOUGHLIN]

And , IAI out of Houston.

[Newscotlander]

Was there any military M1 Carbine production after WWII?

By the end of the war all M1 carbine production had changed over to M2 production. The only two companies producing carbines at the end of the war was Inland and Winchester. In 1946, Winchester delivered 4,726 M2 carbines to the U.S. Government. It is presumed that those carbines were produced after the War's end. Reference in CCNL357, page 9. Winchester also produced an unknown number of carbines which were sold to Venezuela in the late 1940s and early 1950s (ref. War Baby!, page 337). It is not known whether those carbines were M1 or M2.