Here's an excellent example of one of America's earliest semi automatic carbines: The venerable M1 Carbine. The particular specimen was produced by National Postal Meter. Of the more than 6 million m1 carbines produced during the war National Postal Meter's total production run only makes up 6.8% of the total production run, making Postal Meter Carbines comparatively rare on the modern collector market. Rarer still are the Postal Meter carbines produced with Union Switch & Signal receivers.
After losing their contract to produce M1911 pistols in 1943, Union Switch & Signal Co. of Swissvale PA, immediately tooled up to produce M1 carbines to help aid in the war effort. Lacking the production capacity to build complete carbines, US&S instead opted to build receivers. These receivers were then sent to National Postal Meter where they were built up into complete rifles. These US&S receivers are distinguished by their "U" inspection stamps found directly below the receiver's serial number. US&S only made 50,000 receivers in total, making them among the rarest and most sought after M1 Carbine variants on the modern collector market.
This particular specimen is a great example of a National Postal Meter Carbine with a US&S receiver. It is all original and in excellent condition.
The finish of the metal components is excellent with a wonderful grey-green aged Parkerizing with no areas of wear or rust. All the markings are crisp and legible.
The action is wonderfully smooth and the bore is excellent with crisp rifling and no rust or pitting. The barrel was made by Inland (National Postal Meter was not able to produce their own barrels, and instead used barrels provided to them from Inland, Marlin, and Underwood).There are no import marks anywhere, indicating that this gun has been owned by the good old U-S-of-A since it was originally built nearly 80 years ago.
Included with this rifle is an original sling and original magazine in good condition with excellent bluing (what appears to be discoloration in the photographs is actually oil).
*This weapon was made after 1899 and/or fires a modern cartridge. MUST be shipped to Federal Firearms License holder for transfer. Never bought a gun through an FFL before? Give us a call at (262) 473-5444 and we'd be glad to walk you through this simple process
