hunting for heirlooms

Backstory: My late father was an avid fan of the m1 carbine, contributor and member of the carbine club. He founded a business in Southeast Texas from 1993 until 2004 in which primarily was restoration and repairs of USGI carbines starting in the late 90's. Later he subcontracted assembling new commercial carbines for other companies. Based off of this information, more than half of you surely know who I am. At his peak, his collection was nearly 275 M1 carbines, from original finish unaltered specimens to completely restored, fresh parkerized with stocks restored without any alteration of manufacturers markings or cartouches, including careful reassembly, firing and sighting in. From the mid 90's to early 2000's I often accompanied him to various gun shows in the Houston area as a child to sell these re-arsenaled M1 carbines, which included an armory tag identifying make, vintage, serial, internal components and component manufacture and a target stapled to the back showing how the gun would group. Utilizing an IBM typewriter he would type out further information at the bottom of the tag, containing nuances of the specific carbine. I have no records as to how many were restored, But i do know that of the 1000 armorer hang tags ordered by the local copy shop (dated march of 1993) less than 50 still remain. There's also a possibility more were ordered, and many guns sold to walk-in visiting friends or customers received no tag, as one had not been generated yet. Estimates of the commercial carbines assembled over a period of about 7 years exceed 12,000. This was done at its peak with about 7 employees dedicated in less than 1500 square feet of work space.

Collection Circa July 2002.

When he passed, June of 2005, His collection had shrank to around 114 M1 carbines. His best friend, who shared the collection of carbines for over a decade, bore the burden of selling off this collection. The brunt of this was achieved from August of 2006 to December 2007. I was 16 years old when he passed, and in short order enlisted in the armed forces following my high school graduation. I made no claim to any of the guns in this collection... To be honest, growing up and helping after school picking up, cleaning the brass and reloading carbine ammunition on the Dillon 550, and degreasing parts covered with grease and cosmoline in stinky wax paper, and assembling trigger housings until fingers bled, day in and day out contributed to having no interest in collecting carbines. I never had any interest in learning about them let alone collecting. As teenager and young man, my only interest was the AR-15. I wasn't having to assemble them all day long 

Unexpectedly, his best friend recently contacted me asking if i was free to visit and that he possessed some old paperwork I would want. I was working a booth in the NRA convention in Dallas. I told him i would be there as soon as i returned after the convention. We met up and had sandwiches at a local diner, and he gave me all of the old paperwork with the spreadsheets detailing the serial numbers, pictures and disposition of (some) of the collection. He had two remaining carbines that had never sold, because they were in an unfinished state of restoration when my father passed away. A Saginaw S.G. and Quality HMC, both missing front and rear sights and components of the trigger housings, as well as firewood for stocks. At first, I took this only as a sign that I had two projects that I need to be complete. As i began to read online the correct parts to finish the assembly..  some unintended consequences manifested. I became fascinated. That AR15 I loved so much, has so much owed to the carbine. If not for the Detachable magazine, light weight, short overall length and barrel and How about the M3's night vision utilization, or collapsable stock of the M1A1 paratrooper leading the direction of modern weapons into the future. It doesn't get any of the credit it deserves. 

Memories long forgotten flooded back sweeping me with emotion. I hated these guns for years, and blamed them to stealing away precious time I had not gotten to share with my family. I was just immature and didn't see I would have shared this passion and interest decades ago with him. All his books that had been given to his friends, all of the thousands of parts sold to L&S and Numrich and Sarco, the 50 gallon drums of .30 carbine brass sold as scrap. What was I thinking!

I quickly ordered a copy of War Baby 1 and 2, Followed by books from reisch, canfield, harrison, larson. I was reading at a dizzying rate. I almost ordered a war baby III until i remembered that Larry had sent one to us autographed many years before. Suddenly it was clear. I have a mission, not just to finish these M1 carbines, but I need to find these treasures cast to the wind. I began my hunt around 8 weeks ago, and have located nearly 40 of the 114. Unfortunately, most of these were sold to collectors who have since passed on from this world, and others who because of health reasons were forced to sell off entire collections as well, some even to the general public. I know this isn't something that is going to happen overnight. I also know, that this is not a journey i will complete without reaching out for help.

I was recently sent the link to a Rock Island Auction listing from early this year, for his 6 mil. Rockola. According to the data sheet I have, between its sale and its listing at RIA, it had the rear sight changed but the stock and other components were unaltered. This brought a lot of interest, and sold for a premium. RIA listed it as a 97% original finish but, In their defense, they probably couldn't tell it had been reparkarized 20 years ago. He poured his heart into all his restorations. 

So now, friends, we hunt. Here's what i am looking for. (Serial numbers listed at the bottom.

If anyone has a line on any of the following USGI tools at a reasonable price, i am very interested.

USGI Front sight removal tool. I have a very good reproduction of one, but it has none of the manufacturing stampings on it. If it wasn't for finding original ones sold not long ago on the milsurps forum, i would have believed this one WAS USGI.

USGI Front sight Installation tool

USGI Rear sight installation and removal tool

USGI Barrel wrench

ANY OTHER USGI ARMORERS M1 CARBINE TOOLS, please contact me.

There were also M1 carbine magazine racks for 15 round magazines and for 30 round magazines. These were sold or given to a member of the carbine club that participated in the 2007 Carbine competition in Alabama. I have no contact information for this gentleman, but I am very interested in finding these and making an offer to purchase them if they are available. He made these for his collection of magazines, which took him many years to put together.

Any help that any of you are willing to give, i would very much so appreciate. I have talked to and met a great many of you in the last few weeks, including some who may have known me as a child. It's been an absolute pleasure talking to all of you, and your help and support has been overwhelming.

The Serial numbers I am looking for are as follows. Even if a carbine is found, and the owner is unwilling to sell it, I would at least like to pursue them until they are tracked down. I am not interested in guilting or pressuring a prideful owner out of a carbine that has found itself a new home and become an heirloom for another family. 

These are the 30 of which i have assigned the highest priority to locate.