What is my M1 Carbine worth?

Ten prime contractors built more than six million of these during the war, most of which were rebuilt at least once afterward. Which maker built yours, and whether the parts still match the period, is where the value sits.

Made 1942–1945.

No page can price your gun, and one that offers to is guessing. What this does is show you which one you have — because that is where the money is.

How to tell which one you have

Read the maker's name on the receiver behind the rear sight.
Check whether the parts are correct for that maker and period, including the stock, sights and barrel band.
Establish whether the rear sight is the early flip type or the later adjustable one.
Look for import marks, which indicate a gun that left the country and came back.

The versions that change the number

Version	What it means for value
Inland and Winchester 1942–1945	The largest producers. Winchester guns generally carry more collector interest.
Scarcer contractors 1942–1945	Several firms with no previous firearms experience built these, and some produced far fewer than others.
Arsenal rebuilds post-war	Reassembled with mixed parts and often refinished. Honest history, and worth less than an all-correct gun.
Commercial post-war carbines 1960s–present	Later civilian manufacture, and not the same thing as a wartime gun at all.

What actually drives the price

The maker, and how many that maker produced.
Whether the parts are correct for the period or arsenal-mixed.
Original stock and finish, and whether it has been sanded.
Import marks, and any documentation of how it came home.

And the two that apply to every gun on this site: do not clean it, and keep the box and papers. Removing original finish is permanent, and on the right gun the packaging is a real part of the total.

"It is a carbine, they are all the same"

Six million were made by ten different firms and then mixed together during decades of rebuilds, so the common ones genuinely are common. The scarcer contractors and the guns that escaped rebuilding are a different market, and telling them apart is a matter of reading small markings rather than looking at the gun.

Mine has a different maker's name on some parts. Is it a fake?

Almost certainly not. Arsenal rebuilds mixed parts across makers as a matter of routine, so mismatched parts are the normal condition rather than the exception. It reduces the value against an all-correct gun and does not make it a fake.

Getting a number for yours

Send photographs and we will tell you what we will pay for it. We buy nationwide — a single firearm ships to us prepaid and insured, and for a collection we come to you. More on what separates one military surplus rifles from another.

Other military surplus rifles models

M1 Garand · Mauser K98k · Mosin-Nagant · M1903 Springfield · Luger P08