M1 Carbine Costs in WWII

[Gil Martin]

The current issue of The American Rifleman has an interesting article about M1 Carbine costs in WWII. On page 50, there is a chart that lists the lowest cost manufacturer which was Winchester at $37.75 each and the highest which was National Postal Meter at $69.43. The author, Bruce Canfield, says the average cost per carbine was $48.03. The actual costs were:

Winchester Repeating Arms Co. $37.75
Saginaw Steering Gear Div.of General Motors $38.00
Inland Mfg. Div. of General Motors $39.60

International Business Machines (IBM) $42.39
Quality Hardware Machine Corp. $45.52
Underwood-Elliot-Fisher $47.82

Standard Products $53.79
Rock-Ola Manufacturing Co. $58.00
National Postal Meter $69.43

All the best...
Gil

[Adam Helmer]

Gil,

Excellent post; I just got my Rifleman yesterday and saw the article. Bruce Canfield lists the prices of Garands and Carbines in his fine book, " A Collector's Guide to the M1 Garand and M1 Carbine." Another Canfield book worth having is "U.S. Infantry Weapons of World War II."

Adam

[Dan Morris]

Man, modern contractors would blow that out of the water!
Course, then, I guess there was 'national effort'.....today, only$$$$$$$.
Dan