Thinkin' about a project

a Gun Project, that is.

I've got a new rear sight on my old Ballester Molina, but the front sight issue is requiring serious contemplation. The one I got won't work - at least not with the tools and workspace I currently have - and I may need to order another. So that's on hold.

But...

we know I intend to pick up an Inland M1 carbine via CMP (go there now so you can get one too!) very soon.

My trusty old Plainfield, with which I can shoot 25 yard groups and cover them with a thumbnail all day long, is begging to become...some sort of exercise in sly humor. As we know from this image:

I already slapped a RamLine black composite stock on it, just for shits and giggles.

Now, you people know I love my M1 carbine, and I think all of you need one, and I think every child between 8 and 12 needs one, and every adult who's never fired a rifle needs one...

Then I found THIS.



Well, huh. That's a damn accessory rail for an M1 carbine.

Now, I ain't never had me no "accessories." When I went Iraq, they gave us M4 carbines, and that was it. No AimPoints, no ACOGS, no EOTechs, no lights, no vertical forward grips. Nada. And you know what? The M4 works just fine without those things. Not saying that some folks (especially those who routinely operate in darkness) don't find them useful, but suffice it to say - I needed my M4, I used my M4, and it worked just fine with iron sights.

So, I'm not doing anything to my AR at this point. I can work that iron sight system with all of Hell falling down around me (let's hear a big "thank you, US Marine Corps!"). I'll take some convincing to switch to anything else.

But I'm willing to learn....

So, I'm thinking, since I'll soon have a real GI carbine to shoot and teach on and hang on the wall, I may as well really screw with the Plainfield. The Ultimak rail system (about which I've heard good things, and which is pictured above) can be had for under a hundred bucks.

Now...about the optic to put on it. I really really like the EOtech concept. I think it's a great system for the application - that is, getting rounds on target real fast, real close. But man, even the cheap one is 300 bucks. I might be able to buy used for a little less...

But geez...I paid $175 for the carbine (and put another $150 in Abby-hours into it).

I'd love a cheap ripoff to decide if I like the concept enough to try the real deal on my AR. But it's hard to pick one. Any of y'all got any ideas? Something similar in ergonomics and function (I know the quality won't be the same) so I can see if it's a concept I want to drop money on?

Plus, then I'd have an uber-tactical M1 carbine. And that, in and of itself, strikes me as cool in an amusing sort of way. Kinda like a 90-year-old woman who's good with a switchblade. Yeah, it's funny. But do you really want to try to mug her?