M1 Carbine Project

[Carguy]

I wanted an M1 Carbine but didn't want to spend the funds so I got this:

Or should I say I made this! It started life as a Ruger 10/22 and a bunch of surplus parts!

Lots of fitting and still some tweeking needed. I also need to mount a couple of empty mag bodies onto the bottom of the ruger mags so it will look genuine at the range!

I love milsurps and this is my very own clone that is ultra cheap to shoot!

 

[JonJ]

That came out nice. I saw one done on rimfirecentral.com. I'm interested to see what you do to the mags.

BTW: I deleted the crosspost you had in the Milsurp forum. 1 thread will be easier to track.

 

[tele_mark]

Outstanding!

 

[hminsky]

wow!

 

[Dirtypacman]

Pretty dam cool

 

[SKS Ray]

That came out nice. I saw one done on rimfirecentral.com. I'm interested to see what you do to the mags.

Thats what I was thinking.
I remember reading an article in either Guns and Ammo or Shotgun News where someone made a 10/22-M1 Carbine clone but lost the magazine it was in.
Have any pics of stock work or magazine work?

 

[Carguy]

I followed the thread on www.militaryfirearm.com, under the Build it Yourself section.

The mags can be done by either using the Ruger mags and screwing them onto a piece of wood that is attached through the empty mag and fixed to the footplate by screw or glue or JB Weld. I plan to try the JB Weld and attach it to the bottom of the Ruger mag (after cutting the M1 mag body down a little. Others have used stick mags and attached them the same way right down the M1 mag.

As far as the fitting goes I didn't take pictures of the process. It was really just me, my dremmel tool and a cigar. Dremmel, fit, dremmel somemore...that was the afternoon. I wish I had more ability, maybe to make a jig and use a router. Would have speeded things up and probably made a better / neater fit!

My biggest dilemma is the rear sight on the Ruger won't come off so it is under the top hand guard and thus it is sticking up a little and I just don't know of a way to secure it better even if I get the sight base off. That is why I used the cut down sight rail to hold it on.

I probably could have bought a 22LR M1 on Gunbroker for $400 but making it was more fun. Besides I sold a Savage rifle that had been sitting in the safe for a year so this whole project cost me barely $50 out of pocket considering I sold the Savage for more than the Ruger cost.

 

[TomH]

Sweet! Now I need one.

 

[calsdad]

That is pretty freakin cool.

You might have just made the next generation of the Liberty Training Rifle (check in the Training forum for Appleseed posts)

I might just have to do that to my 10/22

 

[dwarven1]

My biggest dilemma is the rear sight on the Ruger won't come off so it is under the top hand guard and thus it is sticking up a little and I just don't know of a way to secure it better even if I get the sight base off. That is why I used the cut down sight rail to hold it on.

You can drive the rear sight out of the dovetail with a punch, but that will leave an empty dovetail on the barrel. Not sure if the handguard will cover it or not.

That is pretty freakin cool.

You might have just made the next generation of the Liberty Training Rifle (check in the Training forum for Appleseed posts)

No, he didn't.

While the M1/10/22 is very cool looking, the whole point of the LTR is a cheap, easily built, cheap-to-shoot, rifle that's close to your main battle rifle. I love my M1 Carbine, but it is nowhere NEAR an MBR. With center-fire ammo so expensive, you can get a LOT of shooting in for $12 with a .22.

But this mod took him a whole day... a day he could have been honing his shooting skills. Don't get me wrong - it's VERY cool, and I might have to do it myself sometime just for grins - but you'll never see a whole line full of them the way you will see a line full of LTRs.

 

[Carguy]

If I can drive the rear dovetail out the hand guard definitely will cover it as it covers the dovetail base now.

This project was to make a fun plinker that was a conversation piece and something...different. It cost me less than nothing (as I owned the gun that wasn't being shot that I sold to fund most of this project). I truly believe that I will "play" with this at the range alot more than I ever shot the bolt action Savage that I sold. as far as spending a day making this instead of practicing at the range...that's okay because all of my range visits are for proficiency with my carry weapons and then just plain fun. And the day spent making it was just as much fun...not to mention the satisfaction I have for the accomplishment. Don't get me wrong, it's not like I just wrote a pulitzer prize winning novel or anything but I'm proud of myself and enjoy sharing it with you all. I'll post pictures of the completed mags when i finally get round to working on them...busy holiday weekend planned...I hope to have Monday to myself.

 

[dwarven1]

Carguy, like I said - it is VERY cool! I definitely like it; all I was saying was that the concept of the LTR was different than this.

Now... having said that... There's nothing wrong with using it for an Appleseed Shoot!! There are Appleseed Shoots in the works for the Independence Day weekend, August 16-17 and Aug 23-24, all in New England. Why not plan to bring that out to one of them and wring it out?

 

[TomH]

- but you'll never see a whole line full of them the way you will see a line full of LTRs.

Is that a challenge?

 

[dwarven1]

Nope, just a statement of fact. If you can bring 25-30 people to an Appleseed Shoot, all with M1 Carbine/10/22 hybrids, I'll cheerfully admit I was wrong in front of the whole line.

There are at least 4-5 shoots in New England between now and the end of the year. Which one are you coming to?

 

[TomH]

I was just kidding of course, but it is a pretty neat project. I bet there would be a market for M1 stocks that fit 10/22's (unless someone already makes them that I'm not aware of). An M1 is on my future firearms list, but I think a clone will be first!

 

[Coyote33]

Some more cool M1-10/22's. Need to refresh the picture links. TomH, did you ever end up getting one?

 

[warwickben]

I was just kidding of course, but it is a pretty neat project. I bet there would be a market for M1 stocks that fit 10/22's (unless someone already makes them that I'm not aware of). An M1 is on my future firearms list, but I think a clone will be first!

I've seen a few m1 carbine style stocks for 10/22.
http://www.eabco.com/m1_carbine_ruger_1022_tribute.htm

They also offer mags to get the look.

 

[Coyote33]

Nice! Thanks for the link, Ben. I also liked the adapter that mounts two mags back to back to make it 20 rounds, but have the longer "look".