Bavarian CMP carbine with all Inland parts

Hi,

Jim here, author of the BavarianM1Carbines.com website and the researcher who took on the project. I've been getting a number of inquiries the past few weeks related to carbines purchased from the CMP auctions lately that have Bavaria markings. Glad you asked so I can include some answers here.

The carbines being auctioned by CMP this past year were a 2nd shipment of returns to the U.S. Army by Austria. This 2nd shipment was the leftovers Austria rounded up. Many were incomplete carbines to varying degrees. Some were not serviceable. Some were complete but were in need of service. Happens every shipment to some degree but this one had the leftovers Austria had.

The armorers did what they armorers do. They inspect for safety then grade them using CMP protocols. If a carbine needs a different stock to make it a service grade, then it gets a different stock. Rack grade parts are held for use on rack grade carbines having service grade parts. The CMP armorers build functional carbines. Replacement parts are readily available.

Most of the armorers know little about carbines and which parts would be "correct" for a particular manufacturer and serial number. But a couple of them have taken an interest and have the knowledge it would take to reconstruct a carbine using the right parts. Not what they normally do, but I've seen it done. Usually it's only if it needs a couple parts to make it "correct", not an entire rebuild.

All of the carbines sold by CMP that have Bavaria markings came from the returns to the U.S. Army by Austria. All of the carbines used by Austria that have Bavaria markings were purchased and used by the Austrian Gendarmerie. The Austrian Gendarmerie religiously stamped the initials of the land/state gendarmerie to which the carbine was assigned along with a 4 digit number, together becoming their inventory numbers, into the bottom of the trigger housing.

As for numbers stamped or etched in various parts, most, but not all, of the Austrian gendarmerie carbines have some somewhere. What numbers were used, how many of them and the parts they were placed on varied by land/state and time period.

Before going to Austria, most of the Bavaria Forestry Police carbines have part of the serial number on the stock, handguard, slide, trigger housing and bolt. Including those in Swabia. I own one of them too.

Upgrading parts to a adjustable rear sight, barrel band with bayonet lug, rotary safety, M mag catch, etc varied from one agency to the next in Austria. A bit more common at least some parts were upgraded with the Bavaria Forestry police.

I've been monitoring the carbines up for auction and seems like most from the 2nd shipment with Bavaria markings have had parts replaced. The owners who have e-mailed me, about 5 or 6, all of them have had parts replaced from what Bavaria and/or Austria used.

Your trigger housing not having the gendarmerie markings indicates to me it's a replacement most likely done at CMP. Possibly to fill a void of what wasn't with it when they received it. If it is absent any numbers on any part I think it likely at least some of the parts were replacements.

So, that it has what are considered all correct for your carbine tells me someone at CMP built it that way.

Under Orest the policy was not to build "all correct" carbines. Just replace or repair what it took to make it safe and all service grade or all rack grade, etc. Carbines that couldn't make it to rack grade were disassembled for their parts.

I don't know what the policies are under Orest's replacement.

Jim

I have a CMP Austrian return Bavarian Rurual Police. The receiver is marked BRP, the bottom of the trigger housing is marked LGKST with a four digit number. No other markings like one would expect. I thought it wasn't correct and after reading Jim's Bavarian website and this thread, I now think it is o.k. Great information. Would be cool to see some pics of something from the current CMP release.

Without taking things completely apart again, it appears that the bolt, extractor, firing pin, trigger, sear, push-button safety, and hammer are blued. I'm not sure which are supposed to be blued and which are supposed to be parkerized.

I just bought a CMP Rockola Bavarian. It has Bavarian Rural Police on the rail. There marking ever where of the last 4 digits of the S/N and also has tiny Flaming bombs. The Tracking shows its coming tomorrow, but have all the pictures. I have the GB page where you can see every picture. This is my first and been reading Jim ' s Website about Bavarian. Are you suppose to leave these alone and not change out any parts. It's a Select Grade and what the difference in grades from CMP. and is very nice. The CMP Paperwork is from 2009 and the owner said he has not tried to change anything on it. It has a NPM Stock and I have a Nice Rockola Stock should I leave it like that or can I change the Stocks. TIA

I not changing it cause its impossible...but the Stock is different. That's one thing that's not numbered unless I missed it. I like it for what it was and I didn't buy to correct it. I just wanted to know if people change out parts on these.

It has those same markings, but your Bavarian Rural Police looks a little
better, there some scratches on mine where it says Bavarian Rural Police.. when I pick it up tomorrow (if he calls) I will post pics.

Here are some photos of the inland. Sorry about the quality; they are just phone shots with a flash.

The Barrel is a Undated Rockola....but it falls right around '43-'44. and it blued like most of the Carbine. It also has a Type 2 BB.

A little history of the return of the carbines used by Austria and a few things at CMP.....

The process of turning in carbines started at the land/state agency they had been issued too. The Steirmark gendarmerie crated theirs up, as did the other land/states separately. Whether they sent them to the gendarmerie armory in Vienna or straight to the Austrian Bundesheer I don't know, but the Bundesheer ended up with all the U.S. Carbines used by all the Austrian gendarmerie, Bundespolizei, Zoll and the Bundesheer themselves.

In 1994 the U.S. importer INTRAC purchased over 7000 carbines from Austria and imported them into the USA. The carbines they received had been used by the Bundesheer, Bundespolizei, the Austrian gendarmerie in the land/states of Salzburg and NiederÖsterreich, and the gendarmerie HQ in Vienna. after selling most of the first shipment (wholesale to Centerfire Systems and Tennessee Guns) INTRAC purchased the remaining carbines Austria had (over 8000). But before they could import them the Clinton administration implemented a policy change within the Dept. of State that blocked the import of U.S. military weapons purchased or provided to other nations as military assistance.

Austria retained the carbines INTRAC had wanted to import.

Euroarms in Italy purchased over 3800 of these U.S. Carbines from Austria, all has been used by Zoll and have their markings.

Austria returned over 7000 carbines to the U.S. Army in 2008 who passed all of them on to CMP in December 2008. Included were carbines used by the:

Bundesheer
    no Austria markings
        some had hang tags labeled BMfLV (Bundesminister für Landesverteidigung - Federal Minister for National Defense)
Bundespolizei
    no Austria markings
Gendarmerie land/states of:
    Kärnten (Carinthia)
        LGK K
    OberoÖsterreich (Upper Austria)
        LGK OÖ
    Steiermark
        LGK ST
    Tirol
        LGK T
    Vorarlberg
        LGK V

Keep in mind many of the carbines used by the gendarmerie in Austria had been purchased direct from Bavaria 1955/56 and also have their German markings.

As the Democrat political party took control of all three branches of U.S. Government in January 2009, CMP anticipated challenges to their continued existence given the current political climate and their past experiences with the Clinton administration in the 1990's. The end result of that experience resulted in the retirement of the DCM and the birth of the CMP.

The decision was made to finish the carbines they had and end the carbine program at CMP until the political winds changed. The armorers worked on the first shipment of the returns from Austria from February through July or August 2009. Sales began in September or October of 2009. In the meantime CMP had received an additional shipment of carbines Uruguay returned to the U.S. Army. After processing these CMP ended their Carbine program. The remaining carbines were sold at auction. The head carbine armorer retired with the remaining armorers working on the M1 Garands.

In late 2013/early 2014 Austria returned approximately 1300 more carbines to the U.S. Army who passed them on to CMP. These were leftovers that had not been crated with the others due to their need for repairs, service, parts, etc. They were from the same Austrian agencies as the first shipment.

Given the quantity along with the lack of carbine armorers, their work area/tools etc, CMP elected to auction this second shipment. They had a couple armorers with the knowledge and experience to work the carbines who were working the Garands. Historically the person who handled the auctions worked the auction carbines. If needed, assistance was obtained from other armorers.

When the carbines from this second shipment from Austria first appeared on the CMP auctions they had not been graded. They started with the ones that required the least amount of work, and auctioned them as is. As an example, here's one I bid on and obtained in June 2014. The hang tag identified it as having been used by the Bundesheer.

CMP Auction of M1 Carbine used by Bundesheer

At some point they began grading them again. My guess is this happened as they got to those requiring parts, repairs, etc. But just a guess. Those listed without a grade I'm sure they safety inspected. SOP.

Jim

I also noticed the tapped hole drilled in the top of the front sight. I wonder if this was something done to address a loose front sight. I don't think the Austrians or Bavarians had access to much in the way of repair parts. I have seen roll pins used to hold the front sights in place instead of the normal front sight pins. I have seen unusual repairs done to sling swivels. Many of these repairs were complex and took much more time and effort that replacing with a spare part. Maybe they didn't have access to the front sight keys to keep the front sight from wobbling. The front sight could have been taken off, drilled and tapped, and a set screw used to tighten up a loose fitting front sight when a replacement key wasn't available. Anything similar to that key available in post-war Germany would have been metric in dimension wouldn't have worked well. Bet it is more than even chances that the thread size of that hole is metric and not US.