Bristoe.. I just checked the price of those Fulton rifles and goodness.. you can find yourself a decent authentic carbine for that price
Certainly one that hasn’t been abused anyway..
The authentic M1 Carbines can be had for about half of a Fulton Armory. But they're 80 years old and have been through a few wars and even more armorers. Most of the originals have seen so many repairs that they're constructed from a collection of parts.
From what I've read, the M1 Carbines originally were fairly dependable little rifles. But they've developed a reputation for sketchy reliability simply because most of them out there these days are about half wore out.
I wouldn't mind buying an original and restoring it to good working order. But some aspects of them are fairly finicky to work on and requires some special tools that are hard to find. (and costly when you do find them) Combine that with the fact that even a rode hard and put up wet original will set you back well north of a thousand dollars (and even then not knowing what it's going to need) and it gets tricky.
The Fulton Armory Carbines are constructed of machined, forged steel with high quality barrels,...and they're virtually new. The workmanship that goes into them is probably on par with the best manufacturers of the originals.
But they cost a chunk of change.
I located a decent looking original at a local gunship a few weeks ago for $1300. But who knows what an 80 year old war surplus gas operated rifle is going to need to make it a reliable shooter?
