I've been wanting an M1 Carbine for years, so in typical fashion, I wait until prices skyrocket to get one!
This is one of the examples recently imported from Ethiopia by Royal Tiger Imports. I bought a "base" model which was supposed to be a run-of-the-mill Inland and wound up getting one produced by Standard Products with an Underwood barrel. I know next to nothing about these rifles, but piddled with it a little, getting the barrel snug in the handguard and the trigger down to 5 1/2 lbs., albeit a mushy 5 1/2 lbs.
I started with an inexpensive Lee mould just to see if it would shoot cast. I cast up a bunch of ACWW, applied some old brass Lyman checks and lubed them with TAC-1. Loaded over 14.0 grs. of H110 they averaged 1942 fps, which is just about what I wanted.
I finally found time to shoot some this evening after work and am pretty well pleased with the results. The first shot at 100 yds. hit just about dead center although an inch or so below POA. the next two went low right, followed by seven that clustered around the first shot. The whole group was about 5.5" - 6". Take away shot #2 and #3 and it's around 4". POI was 2.5" - 3" below POA.
I loaded ten more to try at my 200 yd. gong. Since POI @ 100 was low at the 100 yd. sight setting, I figured the 250 yd. setting would be appropriate for 200 yds. This 10 shot group ran about 9.5" centering around 6" below POA.
The rounds out of the left side of the magazine tended to jam, but I found if I held upward pressure on the magazine as I shot, they fed perfectly.
All in all I'm really pleased with the rifle and especially the fact that the first cast load I tried grouped almost as well as PRVI factory ammo. I'm thinking now I may look for a Lyman 311359 mold and an RCBS 30-115-SP.
35W