Original Item: Very Few Available. These are genuine U.S. Military unissued surplus M1/M2 carbine stock sets. The hand guards are what collectors call "low wood", and some are also ventilated steel. Each stock is in very good condition with no damage, cracking or anything that would make it a reject from the military. We only have a handful.

The M1 carbine (formally the United States Carbine, Caliber .30, M1) is a lightweight, easy to use semi-automatic carbine that became a standard firearm for the U.S. military during World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War, and was produced in several variants. It was widely used by U.S. and foreign military, paramilitary and police forces.

Use in WWII: the M1 carbine with its reduced-power .30 cartridge was not originally intended to serve as a primary weapon for combat infantrymen, nor was it comparable to more powerful assault rifles developed late in the war. Nevertheless, the carbine was soon widely issued to infantry officers, American paratroopers, NCOs, ammunition bearers, forward artillery observers, and other frontline troops. Its reputation in front-line combat was mixed. The M1 carbine gained generally high praise for its small size, lightweight and firepower, especially by those troops who were unable to use a full-size rifle as their primary weapon.

In the Pacific theater, soldiers and guerrilla forces operating in heavy jungle with only occasional enemy contact also praised the carbine for its small size, lightweight and firepower. Other soldiers and marines engaged in frequent daily firefights (particularly those serving in the Philippines)
found the weapon to have insufficient stopping power and penetration. Reports of the carbine's failure to stop enemy soldiers, sometimes after multiple hits, appeared in individual after-action reports, postwar evaluations, and service histories of both the U.S. Army and the U.S. Marine Corps. Aware of these shortcomings, the U.S. Army, its Pacific Command Ordnance staff, and the Aberdeen small arms facility continued to work on shortened versions of the Garand throughout the war, though none was ever officially adopted.

While the .30 Carbine cartridge was less capable of penetrating small trees and light cover when compared to the .30-06 rifle cartridge, the M1 carbine itself was markedly superior to the .45 caliber Reising and Thompson submachine guns in both accuracy and penetration. Also, troops armed with M1 carbines could easily carry 2 to 3 times more ammunition than with other weapons. Lt. Col. John George, a small arms expert and intelligence officer serving in Burma with Merrill's Marauders, reported that .30 carbine bullets would easily penetrate the front and back of steel helmets, and the body armor used by Japanese forces of the era.