M2 Carbine spare parts - The Firearms Forum

mindelh · 03-27-2011, 08:01 AM

What spare would be good too have?
What part (s) ware uot the fastest?

woolleyworm · 03-27-2011, 12:58 PM

Welcome to TFF Mindelh; as long as you have your paperwork, parts are available from a few sources. It's best in my opinion to have whatever spares you can afford to have on hand; most importantly in your case; the springs, sear and disconnector group. I have spare parts for most all of my guns, I pick them up when I can find them. I may never have to replace them, but they'll get passed down to my kids and they won't have to scour the earth trying to find parts for a gun made 50+ yrs ago.

jim brady · 03-27-2011, 09:12 PM

mindelh - Wolleyworm is right - AS LONG AS YOU HAVE THE LEGAL PAPERWORK. THAT is critically important, unless you wouldn't mind shareing a room in a Federal Retirement Home with a friendly fellow named "Bubba". From my understanding it's not hard to make an illeagle conversion of an M1 to M2, and there are sources of parts to do this, but it's just not worth putting your head into a noose to do it. Even having the selective fire parts and a legal M1 Carbine on hand are enough to book you space in that 'Hotel'.

I've had several M1 Carbines over the years, and the parts that wear out with LOTS of firing are the extractor and the firing pin. I had one when I came back from Viet Nam and fired 10,000+ rounds thru mine and wore out 3 firing pins and 2 extractors (and eventually cracked the receiver).

My Brother-In-Law was a Marine in Nam (before I got there) and he and his buddies tested an M2 against an M-16 for the rate of fire. 30 round mag in the M2 and a 20 rounder in the M-16. Both started firing full auto the same time, and the 30th fired brass case from the M2 hit the ground about the same time the M-16 fired it's 20th shot. Pretty impressive.

medalguy · 03-29-2011, 07:50 PM

Disconnector spring, sear spring, hammer spring. Recoil spring too. Disconnector lever might be a good part to have on hand as well.

I try to keep extra springs for most of my weapons that I shoot or want to shoot on any kind of regular basis.

Jim K · 04-03-2011, 08:03 PM

The bolt parts are no problem as they are the same as M1 carbine parts. The main part to have a spare of is the disconnector lever, the long bar that trips the disconnector. Many of those around are repros and won't stand up. You can have spare parts as long as you don't have the full M2 kit; that would put you into possession of another machinegun and would be illegal unless you had done the full transfer on the parts.

Jim

medalguy · 04-03-2011, 11:33 PM

Jim K brings up an interesting point. That possession of a full set of parts could be considered another "kit" seems correct. However this also points out the stupidity of that portion of the law, or at least ATFE's interpretation of the law. I own a FA Thompson SMG, but possession of a full set of all the internals is not considered possession of another machine gun. However, I also possess an M2 marked carbine, yet possession of only part of the parts required to make that receiver function as a machine gun is considered a violation of the law.

Who said gun laws have to make sense???

Jim K · 04-28-2011, 06:09 PM

The original list of M2 parts includes those parts needed to convert the M1 carbine to an M2 configuration. ALL of those parts are needed; if one is missing, then the parts do not constitute an "M2 kit". The parts are the selector switch, the disconnector, the disconnector lever, the M2 sear, the M2 slide, and the M2 hammer. ALL are needed to make the gun selective fire. There are six parts; no combination of five will constitute a machinegun, only all six.

The M2 marked carbine is considered a machinegun, both under the OAMGAAMG law, as well as the reasonable (for BATFE) view that a gun is what it says it is, and that an M2 carbine is a machinegun even it no full auto parts are in it.

Jim

03-27-2011, 08:01 AM	#1
mindelh Member Join Date: Mar 2011 Posts: 1	M2 Carbine spare parts What spare would be good too have? What part (s) ware uot the fastest? -->

03-27-2011, 12:58 PM	#2
woolleyworm TFF Moderator/Host Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: SW Fort Worth Contributor Posts: 4,887	Re: M2 Carbine spare parts Welcome to TFF Mindelh; as long as you have your paperwork, parts are available from a few sources. It's best in my opinion to have whatever spares you can afford to have on hand; most importantly in your case; the springs, sear and disconnector group. I have spare parts for most all of my guns, I pick them up when I can find them. I may never have to replace them, but they'll get passed down to my kids and they won't have to scour the earth trying to find parts for a gun made 50+ yrs ago. __________________ . What are you gonna do, talk the alien to death? -- (on Sigourney Weaver's worry about Guns in Aliens) "Safety is something that happens between your ears, not something you hold in your hands." "I carry a small gun to compensate for my huge Blue press." .

03-27-2011, 09:12 PM	#3
jim brady Advanced Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2009 Posts: 1,098	Re: M2 Carbine spare parts mindelh - Wolleyworm is right - AS LONG AS YOU HAVE THE LEGAL PAPERWORK. THAT is critically important, unless you wouldn't mind shareing a room in a Federal Retirement Home with a friendly fellow named "Bubba". From my understanding it's not hard to make an illeagle conversion of an M1 to M2, and there are sources of parts to do this, but it's just not worth putting your head into a noose to do it. Even having the selective fire parts and a legal M1 Carbine on hand are enough to book you space in that 'Hotel'. I've had several M1 Carbines over the years, and the parts that wear out with LOTS of firing are the extractor and the firing pin. I had one when I came back from Viet Nam and fired 10,000+ rounds thru mine and wore out 3 firing pins and 2 extractors (and eventually cracked the receiver). My Brother-In-Law was a Marine in Nam (before I got there) and he and his buddies tested an M2 against an M-16 for the rate of fire. 30 round mag in the M2 and a 20 rounder in the M-16. Both started firing full auto the same time, and the 30th fired brass case from the M2 hit the ground about the same time the M-16 fired it's 20th shot. Pretty impressive.

03-29-2011, 07:50 PM	#4
medalguy Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 585	Re: M2 Carbine spare parts Disconnector spring, sear spring, hammer spring. Recoil spring too. Disconnector lever might be a good part to have on hand as well. I try to keep extra springs for most of my weapons that I shoot or want to shoot on any kind of regular basis.

04-03-2011, 08:03 PM	#5
Jim K Advanced Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2009 Posts: 6,408	Re: M2 Carbine spare parts The bolt parts are no problem as they are the same as M1 carbine parts. The main part to have a spare of is the disconnector lever, the long bar that trips the disconnector. Many of those around are repros and won't stand up. You can have spare parts as long as you don't have the full M2 kit; that would put you into possession of another machinegun and would be illegal unless you had done the full transfer on the parts. Jim

04-03-2011, 11:33 PM	#6
medalguy Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 585	Re: M2 Carbine spare parts Jim K brings up an interesting point. That possession of a full set of parts could be considered another "kit" seems correct. However this also points out the stupidity of that portion of the law, or at least ATFE's interpretation of the law. I own a FA Thompson SMG, but possession of a full set of all the internals is not considered possession of another machine gun. However, I also possess an M2 marked carbine, yet possession of only part of the parts required to make that receiver function as a machine gun is considered a violation of the law. Who said gun laws have to make sense???

04-28-2011, 06:09 PM	#7
Jim K Advanced Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2009 Posts: 6,408	Re: M2 Carbine spare parts The original list of M2 parts includes those parts needed to convert the M1 carbine to an M2 configuration. ALL of those parts are needed; if one is missing, then the parts do not constitute an "M2 kit". The parts are the selector switch, the disconnector, the disconnector lever, the M2 sear, the M2 slide, and the M2 hammer. ALL are needed to make the gun selective fire. There are six parts; no combination of five will constitute a machinegun, only all six. The M2 marked carbine is considered a machinegun, both under the OAMGAAMG law, as well as the reasonable (for BATFE) view that a gun is what it says it is, and that an M2 carbine is a machinegun even it no full auto parts are in it. Jim