Are M1 carbines illegal?

MIL as an WWII M1 carbine from Inland (?) She says it needs to be destroyed because there is no paperwork.  Inland says it was stolen because they didn't sell these rifles to civilians, and it has to be destroyed because a bump stock can be attached.

Thus sounds like total BS. its a semi-automatic. My father owned guns that have no paperwork and he owned guns that had the ability to accept bump stocks. They are completely legal.

I think someone is feeding her this in order to swindle it from her. 

What say? Is there a place to call, Web site to go to research this further?

you mean the barrel of these at things I saw at woolworths when I was a kid was illegal?   The barrel was also half full of Mak90's.. so.. theres that.. :-0

Not illegal. Inland produced them for the military, so that is partially correct, but the military surplused these out decades ago. You can fashion a bumpstock off your thumb and belt loop, so that thinking makes EVERY firearm "illegal". 

What COULD be illegal would be the M2 carbines as they were select fire. Those would require a stamp and all the hoops to through the BATF to aquire. They're also extremely rare and would be worth a crap ton of money. As it is, M1 Carbine's have been going up in value the last decade. I still want one. 

This may be a state thing. Nationally, there's not a rule against M1s, and not a rule saying you need any paperwork for such a weapon. And it's the bump stocks themselves that aren't allowed, not guns that could theoretically have one attached. If it is stolen, that would be trouble, but the fact that the manufacturer doesn't sell to civilians does not rule out the possibility the military later sold off the gun when they went to something newer.

It might be a select fire M2. That makes more sense. You'd need a Class III. She said it "was worth $5,000," so that might explain why. What do you do if you are in the possession of a "machine gun" without paperwork from your deceased husband?

If it is an M2 it is worth more than $5,000.  Owning it without the correct paperwork may be illegal.  By paperwork I mean the paperwork that lets you own a fully automatic weapon.      

If it is illegal in your state, get it out of the state. Don't destroy it.

If it is operational, has all of its parts and isn't a cosmetic nightmare, it's probably worth $1000. If you're saying it is a paratrooper model with a folding stock, it's worth at least $2000.

https://www.gunbroker.com/All/search?Keywords=m1%20%20inland

Oh, oh, oh.

The ammunition used in that is straight walled. It's really comparable to a .357 magnum carbine.

M1's are not illegal, unless they're specifically barred by the state. Hell, CMP sells repatriated ones that they buy FROM the US Government. So if they're illegal someone better stop the US Military and BATF from distributing them.

Bump stocks themselves are now banned by the ATF however the weapons they could have been retrofitted to are not nationally restricted. I don't know of any M1 bump stocks manufactured prior to the ban however. They were mostly AR-15 toys.

That said, if it is an M2 there should be a crank arm (selector) on the left side of the weapon on the opposite forward side of the ejection port. Skip to 6:54. The embed didn't work quite right.

I honestly don't know what you do with found unpapered automatic weapons. I will tell you that when they're registered they are worth signifigantly more than $5k. In general, you can't touch a registered automatic weapon for under $10k these days.

My guess is yes - someone is trying to swindle her out of the gun.

If it is an M2 without the NFA paperwork, then there is a chance it'll get destroyed if it wasn't registered prior to the 1968 amnesty, but there are ways to go about it. This video may help.

If it is an M1 and semi-auto, then whatever she has been told is 100% inaccurate. 

Semi-auto M1 carbines are federally legal.  Maybe a local or state law against them.   

  If its a full auto M2 with no NFA paperwork she needs to talk to a licensed class III dealer about moving forward.  Possibly a path to papers.  Then she can sell it for $5K.  Otherwise its scrape.    ATF has no sense of humor as the Branch Davidians found out.

People brought full auto stuff home from the Viet Nam war and other wars that have been sitting in a closet for years.  Those veterans are getting old and passing away. The families discover it and don't know what to do.      

Nowadays the military searches all the people coming back from war zones for weapons that are illegal in the US.   

The days of taking home that cool Thompson M1A1 are long gone.

Appleseed said:

It might be a select fire M2. That makes more sense. You'd need a Class III. She said it "was worth $5,000," so that might explain why. What do you do if you are in the possession of a "machine gun" without paperwork from your deceased husband?

Find a Class III dealer and bring it them for evaluation and advice.    I suspect finding one like that is a legal gray zone.  It was illegal to possess.  The wife was ignorant of the possession but now possesses it.   She finds out its illegal but once she is enlightened she then is knowingly in federal violation of a strick liability law.   But she was guilty before she found out.   Strick liability does not require "mens rea". 

jharry3 said:

The days of taking home that cool Thompson M1A1 are long gone.

I sure wish my dad had brought home his Thompson from WWII.  I had an uncle who absconded his Colt 1911 from the Navy.  He sold it for $45.        

The guy from the "Forgotten Weapons" YouTube channel did a video about this kind of situation (assuming it's an M2). Well worth watching, especially in the "owner deceased and no paperwork" situation. And yes, from memory it does involve contacting the ATF.

Inland made the most M1 Carbines of all the manufacturers, somewhere north of 2.5 million which is over 3X the number of the next most common Winchester made M1s.  Unless it really is an M2, which I highly doubt, it's a run of the mill most common, least valuable M1 Carbine.  That's not to say, it's not worth something, like Bobzilla said they're all appreciating in value.  In good condition, with decent rifleing, not too banged up stock intact, cartouches visible, and parts matching, it's a $800-$1100 Carbine.  If it were a rarer IBM, Sagninaw, National Postal Meter, Underwood, etc. it'd be worth more.

If it does turn out to be an M2, easy to check, it'll have a selector switch on the side of the receiver like this:

If it is miraculously an M2, then it's worth A LOT of money, and is still potentially legal, assuming it's already on the NFA registry, it's perfectly legal for heirs to inherit NFA items.  The ATF will be able to tell you if it's on the registry or not, if it's not, they'll collect it from you.  As long as you're doing your due diligence to determine its legality and registration status, there's no reason to fear legal ramifications from the ATF.  Said by a guy that whole heartedly believes the BATF is an ancillary agency that should have died with prohibition.

If it is an m2 lose it in a tragic boating accident.

If it's an m2 it's probably worth many times 5k. Full auto stuff is stupid expensive.

Inland afaik was a fairly generic maker of m1s, they made a lot. I'm not sure how they think it's stolen.

As for bump stock.....that's stupid but the current political climate makes people terrified by that. What state are you in?

Brief reading says that it's illegal to hunt with an M1 in Ill-annoy. 

Because it's somehow more deadly than any other semi auto huntan riffle

Grizz said:

Because it's somehow more deadly than any other semi auto huntan riffle

No, because its so lacking in power its probable the game would run away wounded and die a lingering death instead of the quick, clean kill you get with a proper hunting cartridge.

.30 Carbine ammo is not a powerful as 9mm Parabellum. 

In reply to jharry3 :

Yep.  The carbine was designed to be a behind the lines "support troops" weapon.  Cheaper to build and less bulky to carry around than the M1 Garand and easier to shoot accurately than a .45 1911. 

Gawd I hope M1 Carbines aren't illegal. I inherited one legally purchased military surplus. Have the purchase record when my dad bought it around 1960 along with a military surplus M1945 pistol. Through a gun dealer from Anniston Army Depot. It may not be legal to use for some otherwise legal circumstances, like the hunting mentioned above but otherwise legal to punch holes in paper. Don't know of any bump stocks for it, can't see why you'd want one anyway. Now the full auto M2 version would be illegal without it being properly registered. No doubt there are ways to do this, would be expensive and time consuming. Might also involve finding a sympathetic ATF person. One that just don't say no to everything but will work with someone trying to do the right thing legally.

Knew M1 Carbines were going up in value but never bothered to look it up. Thanks for posting that value site. Didn't realize they were that much. Going to have to have a talk with my insurance now.

In reply to wlkelley3 :

The NFA registry closed in 1986.  Since that time, the number of full-auto guns available for civilian ownership has been essentially fixed.  If a gun is found that didn't make it into the registry then it will likely be destroyed. But as mentioned in the video I posted earlier, there are ways to keep at least some of it from getting completely destroyed.  

So, should l have her contact the ATF? 

Just came here to parrot what all the others say.

• M1 (semi auto)s are not illegal unless some weird local or state thing
• M2 (select fire aka fully automatic) illegal in all states without proper paperwork and tax stamp, illegal in certain states unless you are a dealer or manufacturer.

In my mind easiest course of action is to do the following:

• Secure it - make sure it is empty and has a trigger lock especially if it is in a home with children or where children will be present.  Ideally in a safe, but at the very least make sure 110% it is empty and secure.  Don't talk  too much about it, dont show it off.
• Identify what it is.  If its an M1 - keep it, give it to an heir that will appreciate it and not sell it for drug or video game money, or sell it after getting 2 or 3 estimates, since some people will take advantage of someone who doesnt know what its worth. 
• If its an M2, I would go to a lawyer who specializes in NFA.  They are pretty easy to find on any of the big gun forums by asking around "I have a generic question and need to talk to a lawyer about NFA" or do some google searching and I am sure there are a few relatively close by.  Don't contact the ATF, don't go to your local gun store or even worse a chain and start asking questions.  Don't show it to Uncle Bob who has a friend, and don't let it leave the possession of a trustworthy, quiet individual.  Explain the situation and let the lawyer advise you how to proceed.  As others have stated, full autos are worth a ton compared to regular semi autos.