IAI Liberty Armory 5.7 Johnson

Thanks much for the pics and the info. Now I just need to find time to put together the rest of the Liberty Armory page. Been tied up on the infrared scope pages. But, I'll get to it in the not to distant future.

Thanks again

Jim

Thanks much, Blue heeler.

Are there any markings on top of the receiver behind the rear sight?

I've been collecting serial numbers of the various commercial carbines I've seen over time. Larry Horner at Liberty Armory created a few custom s/n's for people he knew and EX prefix s/n's for his experiments. But most of the carbines with the Liberty Armory markings have had the M888-R prefix s/n's used by iai. Without the iai markings.

Those for the 22 ML model in 5.7mm Johnson that I have seen so far have been in two groups: R207665-R207804 and R211470-R211599. Some have the iai name, a few have the Liberty Armory name. None have had the earlier IAI markings or s/n's.

When the owners changed their company name from Israel Arms International to iai American Legends in January 2002 they stopped using the IAI marking (s/n's up to R206663). All thereafter have the iai marking (lowest I have is R206782). The few iai carbines I have info on when they were sold retail have all been after January 2002.

When iai closed, a bunch of their receivers and parts were left with several different contractors. Including Time Precision in CT and Larry Horner in TX. Both used some of the receivers and parts to build carbines they sold.

Time Precision sold off their iai/IAI surplus to Classic Carbines, who also used them to build carbines. Those sold by Time Precision and Classic Carbines retained their iai/IAI markings and s/n's.

As far as I know, the carbines sold by Larry Horner have all had the Liberty Armory name. There were dozens of parts and receivers left over when Horner died in 2005. They included receivers with markings and s/n's of the various company names used by the people at iai over time. These were sold to an outfit in Houston who has since sold them to another company. Some have ended up in the collection of Larry Ruth, author of the War Baby series on the carbines.

Larry Horner was a member of The Carbine Club. He was well known and respected by many other members. He knew what he was doing with the carbines he built. He was before my time. Something happened the final year iai was in business that produced a bunch of iai carbines with various issues. I think Horner was no longer doing it for them.

Jim

Blue heeler,

A couple years ago I was in contact with Larry Horner's son. He indicated he was going to share info and pics of his dad's work and Liberty Armory. He never followed thru with anything. I left the Liberty Armory name in the list of manufacturers on the commercial carbine website with the "coming soon" in hopes of encouraging him should he change his mind.

I only have pics of two of the Liberty Armory carbines and a not overall or detailed pics. But the only differences between them and the IAI/iai carbines are the markings and the finish.







Any chance you wouldn't mind sharing pics of yours?

Thanks much

Jim

Edited by sleeplessnashadow - Feb 25 2022 at 11:12am

When you become invested in reloading for the 7.62x33, you will discover that you can make a better round than the standard 110-grain loading. Of course I think the round is very good for what it does and was meant to do, but it can be improved. It will never be a 5.7 Johnson, but ballistics can be improved. 2500fps and 1300 foot-pounds of energy is not slouchy. Looking for alternative loadings and calibers is an ever-going subject of discussion. I’ve done a bit of it myself.

Any of these,