UGGH...I killed my carbine AGAIN

[cavalrymedic]

I was so proud of myself. I had welded the slide back together on my Universal M1 Carbine. I didn't know the things were so shabbily made when I bought it. I should have done my homework. The first time the slide broke, it was because of a stuck case that I tried to horse out of the chamber.

So, I welded the slide back together, filed and re-blued it and it looked better than it did before it broke.

I took it out to my buddy's range yesterday and fired some 120 grain boolits using 11.2 gr of IMR4227. I got about 50 rounds through it. I was SO SO SO happy. I took the advice of some good people here and made a dummy round first and kept shortening the OAL until it cycled perfectly and fed flawlessly from the magazine.

Then, the slide broke again. This time the bugger broke just a little ways away from the welds. what do I gotta do? should I have a machine shop MAKE a new slide for me? I bet that would be more money than a Universal is worth.

I know some of you are going to suggest I buy a real M1. I will. Someday. If you read my previous thread you will see that I have owned two real USGI M1s in the past until somebody decided that I had too much stuff in my life and stole them from my house. (B@stard prob sold them for <100 at some pawn shop)

Ho hum. just venting. If anybody knows where I can get a new slide for the Universal M1, please let me know. Numrich has been sold out for a while and no other slide will fit a Universal.:-?

[Gtek]

Please think twice about doing that again. The metal always breaks right next to the weld. Weld material very hard, OP rod material becomes very brittle on molten line. Normalizing entire area to red glow and wrapping for slow cool to ambient is the only shot. Sometimes we forget we are sticking are faces in controlled explosion area. SOMETIMES it goes the wrong way or the energy there of.
That is (one) of the weak links on that weapon. Buy another for parts.
Eyes and cheeks work and feel better when they are left where they are supposed to be. Please be careful. Gtek

[bohica2xo]

Try to find another part. There are several gun part companies out there, these guys have found me some tough to get parts over the years:

Jack First
Rapid City, SD
605-343-9544

You will need to call them, they have no online inventory - it would take a decade to list the parts on one wall there.

B.

[WILCO]

I tried searching for a replacement part, but as you know, they're hard to find.
You might just want to have a machine shop make one as Universal carbines are selling for $450.00 to $700.00 on-line. The slides were famous for cracking and are a major failure to the Universal carbine.

[cavalrymedic]

I got a PM from a fellow a few days ago. He told me he has a bag of Universal M1 parts that includes the slide and the bolt. He is going to get back to me soon if he can find it. He offered a really generous price and even if it's the wrong slide, I'll take it for the bolt as the universal bolt seems to wear out pretty quickly too.

Now, this may seem like heresy to some, so look away of you're squeamish. I have a notion to try a little surgery on a USGI surplus slide. If all other options fail and a machine shop is too expensive, I'm going to investigate using the operating slide from a USGI welded onto the slide block. It looks possible in theory. If this sounds like the act of a desperate man, it is. I love shooting M1 carbine. I have way too few guns to shoot to tolerate having my favorite out of service. I will try anything. I will incorporate Gtek's advice on slow cooling so the metal doesn't get brittle. I should have thought of that to begin with.