Written By - auctionarms.com - 06/19/2007
Link to Original Article here

Originally the M 1 Carbine came with only a serial number on the rear of the receiver. The later rear sights made the manufacture difficult to see. But the serial number was visible enough.

I have seen several of the reimports with serial numbers on everything. Ahead of the rear sight, one the barrel, stock, butt plate, ect. That could be because some of these other militaries were prone to lose parts and steal them from each other.

With most all U. S. military weapons, they are suppose to be 100% interchangeable. So numbering the parts to any particular would partly eliminate that as while they might fit and function, the number would make the switched parts apparent.

So if your M 1 Carbine has any extra serial numbers, even if there is no importers stamp on it, you can pretty well bet that some military besides the U. S. had used the weapon.

The M1 Carbine used to be the most manufactured military in the World and the United States distributed them to most all of our allies. I do not believe that there has been any large destruction of M 1 Carbines. So present prices do not denote rarity. Just a neat little useless gun that everybody wants. I say useless because the cartridge does not have the knock down power needed in close quarters. Seems that the military thinking that caused it to be adopted was a bit fuzzy. Or just imagine an M 1 Carbine in a longer and more powerful 45 APC. Man, what a gun that would be.