US Army issue Jukebox, .30 cal
There are always an assortment of offbeat projects going on here. Some belong to customers, most are mine. This morning we managed to finish up one of them and get the pile of parts off of the bench once and for all.
I've been accumulating parts for the project for a while, and had actually got the last part for it months ago.
It's a Rock-Ola! No, not the jukebox. Yes, it is by the jukebox manufacturer, but it isn't actually a jukebox. It's an M-1 Carbine.
During WW2, the regular firearms manufacturers couldn't keep up with the needs of the military, so contracts to manufacture stuff were given to other types of companies. For instance, General Motors produced .30 cal machine guns, .45 cal "grease guns", as well as other rifles. In fact, General Motor's "Inland" manufacturing division was the biggest producer of M1 Carbines. The funky thing is that other types of manufacturers got in on this too. National Postal Meter, IBM, Underwood (the typewriter people) and of course, Rock-Ola.
The project began when I stumbled onto a box-o-parts on ebay a few years ago. There was a stock of unknown vintage, a 1972 dated barrel and the rest of the stuff all appears to be WW2 vintage, but all of them were brand new, unissued parts. What was lacking was a rear sight and the receiver. Between then and now, I tracked down a rear sight for it, and eventually hunted down a source of receivers.
The place that had the receivers had an assortment of them with varying prices, depending on manufacturer. The difference between the low end (Inland) and the higher priced names was $100. I have always felt that the concept of a jukebox company making guns for the war effort is a great story, so I decided to spend the extra $100 and get the much rarer Rock-Ola made receiver. I had already owned an Inland for a long time, and it used to be my "house gun" when I lived in a crappy neighborhood in Lowell, but that is another story...
So anyway, the parts sat around for a long time, and eventually I accumulated all of the specialized tools that it takes to assemble an M1 Carbine. There's a special tool to disassemble/reassemble the bolt group, another to remove/install the gas piston, and most importantly, a funky shaped wrench for screwing the receiver onto the barrel.
I went to install the barrel, and it stopped short of installing all of the way. No matter how hard I cranked on the special wrench, it stopped about 45 degrees away from where it needed to be. In frustration, I walked away from the project for a while, leaving assorted M1 parts and tools strewn about. It began to nag at me, but I couldn't take the time to figure it out.
Last night I went and read the 1953 dated Army issue shop manual for the M1/M2/M3 carbines, typical read-yourself-to-sleep stuff right? One sentence on page 121 solved the mystery. It reads: "Select proper barrel and receiver combination so that about 1/16 inch draw is obtained when assembled". Select proper combination? I had assumed that they would be 100% interchangeable, being mil-spec and all. Nope, and that was the problem!
So this morning Jim comes in, and we set about stoning down the mating face of the barrel by a couple of thousandths (by fitting until it worked, no real science to it) and cranked it down so that the barrel was square to the receiver. After that it was just a case of touching up the finish on a couple of spots and assembling the rifle. Jim polished some rust spots off of a 15-round mag that had gotten wet while sitting on the workbench (again, that's a story for another time), then reblued it. We removed the firing pin to see if the bolt would close all the way with a live round (poor man's headspace gauge) and it locked up nice and tight, so we stripped it down and put the pin back in.
I've got a bunch of .30 cal ammo; reloads that I inherited from a friend, surplus stuff and Wolf brand. Hopefully we'll have a chance to test fire it and sight it in sometime soon. With the exception of the refinished WW2 era receiver, it is a completely new gun, so I don't expect many issues, if any. Let's see what kind of music comes out of this 1940's jukebox!
I snapped a picture of some of my M1 Carbine stuff. Here it is as a thumbnail, click on it to see a larger version:
The Rock-Ola is on the top, the Inland is on the bottom. The Inland would have been set up exactly like the Rock-Ola when it was built during the war, but it is tricked out in "house gun" trim, complete with M2 metal handguard, post war folding stock, and 30-round M2 mag. In the middle is a reproduction fleece lined case. On the right is a post war bayonet for the M1 and it's scabbard. Clockwise from there is a magazine pouch for two 15-round mags (as seen on the top rifle), a .30 cal carbine round, the gas pistol nut tool, the bolt disassembly tool, and on the lower left is the special 7 lb. wrench for installing the receiver.
I've been accumulating parts for the project for a while, and had actually got the last part for it months ago.
It's a Rock-Ola! No, not the jukebox. Yes, it is by the jukebox manufacturer, but it isn't actually a jukebox. It's an M-1 Carbine.
During WW2, the regular firearms manufacturers couldn't keep up with the needs of the military, so contracts to manufacture stuff were given to other types of companies. For instance, General Motors produced .30 cal machine guns, .45 cal "grease guns", as well as other rifles. In fact, General Motor's "Inland" manufacturing division was the biggest producer of M1 Carbines. The funky thing is that other types of manufacturers got in on this too. National Postal Meter, IBM, Underwood (the typewriter people) and of course, Rock-Ola.
The project began when I stumbled onto a box-o-parts on ebay a few years ago. There was a stock of unknown vintage, a 1972 dated barrel and the rest of the stuff all appears to be WW2 vintage, but all of them were brand new, unissued parts. What was lacking was a rear sight and the receiver. Between then and now, I tracked down a rear sight for it, and eventually hunted down a source of receivers.
The place that had the receivers had an assortment of them with varying prices, depending on manufacturer. The difference between the low end (Inland) and the higher priced names was $100. I have always felt that the concept of a jukebox company making guns for the war effort is a great story, so I decided to spend the extra $100 and get the much rarer Rock-Ola made receiver. I had already owned an Inland for a long time, and it used to be my "house gun" when I lived in a crappy neighborhood in Lowell, but that is another story...
So anyway, the parts sat around for a long time, and eventually I accumulated all of the specialized tools that it takes to assemble an M1 Carbine. There's a special tool to disassemble/reassemble the bolt group, another to remove/install the gas piston, and most importantly, a funky shaped wrench for screwing the receiver onto the barrel.
I went to install the barrel, and it stopped short of installing all of the way. No matter how hard I cranked on the special wrench, it stopped about 45 degrees away from where it needed to be. In frustration, I walked away from the project for a while, leaving assorted M1 parts and tools strewn about. It began to nag at me, but I couldn't take the time to figure it out.
Last night I went and read the 1953 dated Army issue shop manual for the M1/M2/M3 carbines, typical read-yourself-to-sleep stuff right? One sentence on page 121 solved the mystery. It reads: "Select proper barrel and receiver combination so that about 1/16 inch draw is obtained when assembled". Select proper combination? I had assumed that they would be 100% interchangeable, being mil-spec and all. Nope, and that was the problem!
So this morning Jim comes in, and we set about stoning down the mating face of the barrel by a couple of thousandths (by fitting until it worked, no real science to it) and cranked it down so that the barrel was square to the receiver. After that it was just a case of touching up the finish on a couple of spots and assembling the rifle. Jim polished some rust spots off of a 15-round mag that had gotten wet while sitting on the workbench (again, that's a story for another time), then reblued it. We removed the firing pin to see if the bolt would close all the way with a live round (poor man's headspace gauge) and it locked up nice and tight, so we stripped it down and put the pin back in.
I've got a bunch of .30 cal ammo; reloads that I inherited from a friend, surplus stuff and Wolf brand. Hopefully we'll have a chance to test fire it and sight it in sometime soon. With the exception of the refinished WW2 era receiver, it is a completely new gun, so I don't expect many issues, if any. Let's see what kind of music comes out of this 1940's jukebox!
I snapped a picture of some of my M1 Carbine stuff. Here it is as a thumbnail, click on it to see a larger version:
The Rock-Ola is on the top, the Inland is on the bottom. The Inland would have been set up exactly like the Rock-Ola when it was built during the war, but it is tricked out in "house gun" trim, complete with M2 metal handguard, post war folding stock, and 30-round M2 mag. In the middle is a reproduction fleece lined case. On the right is a post war bayonet for the M1 and it's scabbard. Clockwise from there is a magazine pouch for two 15-round mags (as seen on the top rifle), a .30 cal carbine round, the gas pistol nut tool, the bolt disassembly tool, and on the lower left is the special 7 lb. wrench for installing the receiver.
posted by MVTCoPete | 7:28 PM
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