Another Riverbank Armory/George Liakos victim

I purchased a round "Inland" bolt from Riverbank Armory/George Liakos and after 300-400 rounds the right lug sheared completely off, damaging the receiver and deforming both locking lug recesses. After the incident I closely compared the bolt with original USGI Inland bolts and the bolt he sold me appears to be a fake. Google searches regarding his companies show a 10+ year history of selling fake/humped stuff.

Backstory - Saginaw S'G' USGI M1 Carbine. In late 2020 I was shooting my carbine and the right lug of my USGI flat bolt cracked and slightly deformed the left locking lug recess of my receiver. At this point I had put about 2000 rounds through my carbine. I had a gunsmith laser weld the small receiver lug recess deformation and re-profile the recess and I began hunting for a replacement bolt. In January of 2021 I purchased this round "Inland" bolt from Riverbank armory. I installed this replacement bolt and checked headspace.

Luckily no one was seriously hurt. My friend was shooting at the time and the lug bounced off his forehead and left a small superficial cut. We were all wearing eye-pro, as always. Ammo was Tula steel cased, the cases and primers showed no signs of over-pressure.

It has since came to my attention the bolt I purchased from Riverbank was most likely a reproduction part, marked to imitate a USGI Inland bolt. The font/stamping depth of the IO marking do not match an original Inland bolt.

I spoke with George Liakos over the phone, owner of Riverbank Armory. I provided him pictures and he told me "I don't sell fake bolts" and he denied all responsibility for the damage. After seeing decades of forum posts I'm shocked that he still has 4+ stars rating on Google for his business Riverbank Armory, located in Riverbank, CA.

It may have been cast before machining, I didn't see any leftover casting marks on the bolt.

The "IO" Inland markings don't match any pictures of legit USGI Inland bolts I've seen online. The font and depth of stamping is different.

I'm considering it. He advertises it as an "Inland" bolt. Tomorrow I'm going to search his local court records to see if anyone else has sued him. I did a brief search over the weekend and didn't find any civil suits against him personally but I have not yet tried party searches using his business names.

Also he's certainly going to see this posting. I posted this on M1 Carbine facebook groups and he saw that, I searched the groups for his name but didn't find him, he must be using an alias on Facebook and I'm certain he's on here as well.

But you would lose a lawsuit. Any trial hearing would reveal the receiver already suffered a similar incident and subsequent repair. You might win enough to recover the loss of the bolt cost.

I also wouldn't personally shoot steel cased ammo in my Carbines. Personal choice.