General Help with Universal M-1 Carbine

[MikeIsaj]

I now own an M-1 Carbine that my father bought in 1968. It was fired for the first time ever today. I'm having some feed problems. Sometimes the round will strip and overshoot the chamber, jamming up at 12 o'clock. Sometimes the bolt doesn't strip the round and closes on an empty chamber.

I am fairly certain that it's a magazine problem but am also wondering about the bolt spring. It doesn't seem to have as much force as I expected it to. Mind you that expectation is based on absolutly no experience with a carbine.

Anthing anyone can suggest is appreciated.

 

[dfariswheel]

Problems like this can be caused by any number of reasons, but the leading reasons are:

Ammo related. Your firearm just doesn't "like" the brand or type of ammo you're using.

Second, magazine related. Unless you're using a genuine USGI 15 round magazine it's entirely probable this is the problem.

First, buy a USGI magazine in good shape, or borrow one from a buddy.
Next, try a different brand/type of ammo.

If this doesn't fix the problem, then you can start looking for other causes like recoil springs, extractors and ejectors.

 

[MikeIsaj]

I've got a second magazine to compare. I can see the tabs are slightly deformed on the one I used.

I never considered the ammo. It's pretty old too. I guess I was just so excited about firing the weapon, I stopped thinking about all the other stuff.

So I'll take the second magazine and buy a new box of ammo and see what happens.

Thanks dfariswheel!