Date Of Mfg For This M1 Serial Number?

[p51]

Would anyone here know when a specific M1 was made fro the serial #?

The serial # is 321383.

Can anyone help me out on this?

[Ron Mills]

Welcome to the board. With that serial number, according to what I know and from Frank's book, it is technically an M1A1, rather than M1. M1's outta the crate stopped at around 259,000. Lowest M1A1 was around 265,000. Are the receiver and trigger frame numbers matching? It could be an arsenal rebuild.

 

The more we here on the forum know about the gun and it's markings, the better we can help you. You should get Frank's book, if you don't already have it, "American Thunder" (especially the new, expanded version). Dedicated to the Military Thompson. It answers a lot of good questions.

 

Again, welcome.

 

Ron

[jim]

If it's a Auto-Ordnance made gun it can definetely still be an M1. Also in Franks' book is the mysterious 320,000 serial number issue. Right in that serial number range the Auto-Ordnance built guns left the factory as M1's with most of the M1 features. One of my M1's is serial number 320,049 and it's got most of the early features and is marked "M1".

 

 

http://www.hunt101.com/img/223196.JPG

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Hawkeye_Joe]

Hello Lee, Glad you took my advise.. I think you will find the info you need here. Very knowledgeable bunch.

[Ron Mills]

Never mind.

[p51]

Oh, it's definitely an M-1, and is marked as such on the receiver. I can't get a copy of that book for now, is there any website that lists serial numbers by dates?

I'm still trying to find info on the date of mfg. Canfield's book says that the M1 was made from 1942 until 1943 when the M1A1s came out, but other than that, I have no clue of the timeframes involved.

Frankly, this has been a learning experience, as I had no idea the M1s were as different from the M1A1s as they were. I always though it was just the lack of ears on the rear site.

The M1 I have has been made into a display gun, made from parts of a torch-cut parts set, all welded into a mass that is ATF friendly (I'm not going to type for 4 hours to explain what was done with it, suffice to say that it has been confirmed as ATF acceptable). The good thing is that the rear-most torch cut was just forward of the markings on the left side of the receiver, so the nomenclature and serial #s are still very clear. I just wish the markings on the other side were complete as well, but it's still better-looking than most dummy guns. It's a LOT better looking (and LOTS heavier) than one of those IMA boat anchors.

And as for matching #s, I have no idea where to look on the lower...

And before some wise guy suggests for me to get a working one, I live in the People's Republic of Washington (state), so that's not an option. http://www.machinegunbooks.com/forums/invboard1_1_2/upload/html/emoticons/mad.gif

I also have an M1928A1 dummy gun built on an aluminum receiver. The lower has what appears to be a serial # on it as well, any way to check the dates on that number?

[gijive]

p51.

 

Unfortunately there is no way to determine the date the gun was made by the serial number. Those type of records probably didn't exist during WWII production and even if they did, no one has seen any record like that surface yet. Frank Iannamico and many others have done countless hours of research at the National Archives and other government record repositories and no one has found records that list the day to day serial number production.

 

You can only "guesstimate" the approximate month(s) of production by the serial number range and the monthly production numbers listed in Frank's book. M1's were produced in 1942 and 1943, so based on the number ( and depending on who made it, Savage or Auto-Ordnance) one can only guess at a production month.

[p51]

Here's a pic where I combined photos of both sides to show the markings. Not bad for a torch-cut set, huh?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v214/willysmb44/M1markings.jpg