rem141,
Thanks for the reply! I was beginning to think that this gun was so rare and unknown that nobody had an opinion about it. By the by, the secret site is "Antiques & Art" - the Aplan's are great folks to deal with -
http://www.antiquesandart.com/welcome.htm
As an update on the carbine - I've nearly finished cleaning this gun - I've never had a gun so dirty - probably hasn't been cleaned in 50 years. Got some Black Hills ammo but it seemed that the mag spring was really weak. So I contacted Tom Hemphill and he sent me to Jim Peterson and with photos Jim came to some interesting conclusions.
First, the carbine is mostly original - excellent! Second the mag plug, mag spring, and follower are not - bummer! The plug is probably from a Winchester, but well-made, the spring is too short, and the follower is probably from a Model 14 - 35 caliber. The good news is that with a new spring this may all still work. I ordered a spring from Numrich. Tom and Jim are the best!
The front sight is pretty worn out and the ivory bead is mostly gone so I found a Lyman beach sight with a flip up globe and an intact ivory bead to replace it - should be here in a couple of days.
Other than that, I'm still working on the bore, which has no rust and less than a half-dozen very small pits near the muzzle but has a build up of powder fouling like you can't believe. Hoppe's No. 9 and approximately 50 patches later I'm still at it. The good news is that when I'm done the bore will be in the very good range at least.
I love this gun - the compact size coupled with 8-9 shots quick would be hard to beat in 1914.
John
