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Old February 29, 2020, 02:32 AM   #1
TimW77
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M-1 Carbine Magazines

Recently picked up a very nice M-1 Carbine.

It came with just a few magazines including a single 5 rounder.

Looking for suggestions on brands to buy, where to buy them and just as important brands / companies to avoid!

Would like to find 5, 15 and 30 round magazines.

TW
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Old February 29, 2020, 11:59 AM   #2
wnycollector
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I have had good luck with the Korean KCI 15 round mags. All run 100%. The KCI 30 round mags have been less reliable. Three work fine, but one not so much. I swapped the mag spring for a Wolff spring and it is now working with zero issues.
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Old February 29, 2020, 05:41 PM   #3
Steve in PA
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I’d stick with the 15-round Korean magazines. I have several and they run great. I might pick up one 30-round magazine just to give it a try, but from my experience and everything I’ve read, the 15-round magazines are golden.
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Old February 29, 2020, 07:39 PM   #4
kymasabe
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My carbine loved the Korean mags and hated everything else.
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Old February 29, 2020, 08:09 PM   #5
greentick
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I'll jump on the Korean mag dog-pile. Work great.

I tried some pro-mags but they tended to self-eject after 1-2 shots. All 3.
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Old March 1, 2020, 10:25 AM   #6
TBM900
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TimW77 View Post
Recently picked up a very nice M-1 Carbine.

It came with just a few magazines including a single 5 rounder.

Looking for suggestions on brands to buy, where to buy them and just as important brands / companies to avoid!

Would like to find 5, 15 and 30 round magazines.

TW
Like the Carbine itself, it's magazines require some education in order to help avoid issues and getting screwed.
Invest the time in some research.
Here are a few generalized highlights based on my experience to help you get started...

15 round magazines
-The golden age of mil-sup Carbine magazines is sadly long gone
-The majority of aftermarket magazines are sketchy at best
-Mil-surp magazines were faked by the truckload and flooded the market
-The faked ones are usually easy to spot, but some are difficult even for experienced buyers
-Most folks selling "real" GI surplus magazines don't know how to ID a real one
-GI surplus magazines can be rebuilt, often with just a new spring
-GI surplus magazines can still be found as new... you will pay a premium (unless really lucky)
-Real Korean (KCI) surplus are as good as USGI surplus
-Many sellers started packaging their crap mags as KCI mags <-- BEWARE
-Once Korea moved away from the Carbine, the original contractor sold off the tooling & packaging equipment. The company that bought everything started producing/packaging magazines that were NOT as good as the originals. Apparently they sought help in refining their production and quality has improved, but the bad ones are still out there along with the fake "packaged" ones.

30 round magazines
-The vast majority of "USGI" labeled magazines are aftermarket
-Almost all aftermarket ones garbage, junk, trash, useless, utter waste of money
-Fake USGI are out there but harder to spot than the 15 round ones as most were made specifically to trick people
-If you really want a 30... DO YOUR HOMEWORK
-My personal suggestion is to only buy the "hardback" 30 as they were never faked (too complicated and expensive to fake)
-They are also much tougher and more reliable than splitback USGI 30's
-You will pay through the nose for one, but they are worth every penny
-They had been in the $200-300 range, but not long ago several surplus cases were found which drove pricing back down around $100. Once those are gone I'm sure pricing will climb back up, especially that the Carbine is starting to have a bit of resurgence in popularity.
-If you do want to use a 30, make sure you swap the mag catch to the 3-lug. People using 30's sometimes have issues because they are using the 2-lug catch, swapping it out will often fix the issue.

Good luck and enjoy the wonderful world of M1 Carbines
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Old March 1, 2020, 02:38 PM   #7
T. O'Heir
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Gunparts has mags. One brand of 10 round repro at $19.50. The rest are 15 or 30. Don't touch Promag(out of stock anyway). They have G.I., blued-steel, magazines marked AYP(at $43.75 each) with some storage rust. That will come off with 0000 steel wool and light oil or a light touch with a fine brass wire brush in a bench grinder(that's just faster.).
5 rounders seem to be scarce. Not even Auto Ordnance lists 'em.
The only issue I've ever had with a Carbine mag was with the 1 30 rounder I have. Wouldn't feed right. Easily fixed by tweaking the lips open a wee, tiny bit with needle nosed pliers.
Think IMR4227 and 110 grain bullets. Carbide dies only.
Oh and go here for everything you ever wanted to know about the Carbine. All the links work.
http://www.uscarbinecal30.com/
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Old March 2, 2020, 12:07 AM   #8
rc
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There are tons of original GI magazines out there.
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Old March 3, 2020, 09:53 PM   #9
jrothWA
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For 30 rd., magazines...

suggest you replace the magazine release with the one made with extra protrusion to engage the recess of the maagazine to support it.

If you can locate the combine DOD tech manual form the 1950's.

Also, polish the feed ramp [lightly] to reduce stutterring of round feeding from the mag. Especially, if you use soft-nise amm.
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Old March 5, 2020, 05:27 AM   #10
TimW77
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Carbine Mags

Thanks for all the suggestions!

TW
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Old March 7, 2020, 02:48 PM   #11
Kevin Rohrer
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I own plenty of 15- and 3-round, Korean mags that work perfectly.

Stay away from anything Chinese.
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