National Postal Meter M1 Carbine

[Bevo16]

My father is a petroleum engineer and recently was working on a rig in south Texas and one of the workers was talking about a gun that he had for sale that he didn't even know what it was. He just said it was "old". Dad is always interested in a new old rifle, and said he was interested. The worker came in with this M1 Carbine, and dad offered the clueless fool $200 for it, and the transaction was quickly made final.

Dad and the rifle:

The receiver is stamped "National Postal Meter" number 4169693.

I read on another site that NPM would use "spare" barrels from other companies and that the bayonet lug was important. Here is a picture of that:

There is a stamp in the stock that looks like RRA-C, but we have no idea what that means.

Clearly this rifle is worth more than $200. Does anyone know what kind of ballpark this would be worth to a collector, or should we just shoot the hell out of it and enjoy it. It is in very good condition, and looks like it has been carried across Europe then put in a closet for 60 years.

Thanks in advance.

 

[The Chief]

... morre than $200. Does anyone know what kind of ballpark this would be worth to a collector,

Give you $400.00 sight unseen. Email your PayPal account, double your money. I would think about $700, average $$ for average carbine. Urban ledgend has it that the NPM carbines did not originally have the bayonet lug, but I think that is not true. That said I would venture a guess that few carbines made it past refurbishing in a depot at some time in their life. But what do I know? I would go to forum:

http://forums.thecmp.org/forumdisplay.php?f=6

And they would not only know but be willing to help.

 

[feddoc]

Nice rig. Your pa did well.

 

[Sapper!]

http://www.auto-ordnance.com/DL/aom1_manual.pdf

National Postal Meter
1,450,000 - 1,549,999 (Jan. 1943 - Sept. 1943)
1,937,520 - 1,982,519 (Oct. 1943 - Nov. 1943)
4,075,010 - 4,079,999 (Nov. 1943 - Dec. 1943)
4,080,000 - 4,432,099 (Dec. 1943 - May 1944)

http://stevespages.com/pdf/m1_carbine.pdf

http://m1carbineforum.forumco.com/

 

[SWACQ]

or should we just shoot the hell out of it and enjoy it.

Winner.

 

[Rocketman]

http://www.auto-ordnance.com/DL/aom1_manual.pdf

National Postal Meter
1,450,000 - 1,549,999 (Jan. 1943 - Sept. 1943)
1,937,520 - 1,982,519 (Oct. 1943 - Nov. 1943)
4,075,010 - 4,079,999 (Nov. 1943 - Dec. 1943)
4,080,000 - 4,432,099 (Dec. 1943 - May 1944)

http://stevespages.com/pdf/m1_carbine.pdf

http://m1carbineforum.forumco.com/

Super Deal Bevo. Your dad done real good. I'm not a carbine expert but my son just bought a CMP National Postal Meter Carbine from a private owner. It has what has to be an almost new IBM barrel. It also had the RRA-C marked stock.

He payed $600.00 for his and the guy that runs Riverbank Armory (link below) said that weapon at $600.00 was a good deal.

I believe the RRA means it was rebuilt at some point by the Red River Arsenal in Texas. (Or at least the stock came off of a carbine that was.) Not sure if the RRA-C marking means something different. The name of the barrel maker should be stamped on the top of the barrel near the muzzle

Riverbank Armory has all kinds of Carbine stuff for sale. From barrels, receivers, stocks to mags and small parts. I just bought some WWII USGI mags from him, un-issued still in the wraper . He also has new Korean mags which aren't always trustworthy but make pretty good range mags.

http://www.riverbankarmory.com/page1.html