Original American Issue M1 Carbine Steel Oil Bottle by International Silver Co.

United States issue carbine oiler, made of steel, was produced as the standard maintenance accessory for the United States Carbine, Calibre .30, M1 and M1A1 of the American armed forces. This American military small arms maintenance item is a cylindrical steel bottle of narrow tubular construction, parkerised in a grey finish consistent with US Army ordnance production of the Second World War and post-war period, with a threaded cap at one end and a plain closed base at the other. The oiler was designed to be stored in a dedicated recess cut into the right side of the M1 Carbine’s walnut or birch stock, where it served the dual function of containing lubricating oil for field maintenance of the carbine’s moving parts and bearing surfaces and simultaneously securing the rear of the carry sling by retaining the sling through the stock recess. The bottle is stamped on the base with a manufacturer’s contract marking “IS” for International Silver, providing a means of dating and attributing individual examples within the wartime and post-war production run.

The United States Carbine, Calibre .30, M1 was standardised on 22 October 1941 following a competitive trial in which the Winchester Repeating Arms Company’s design was selected, the weapon being conceived to address a specific doctrinal requirement identified by the US Army Infantry Board in 1938 for a compact, lightweight defensive weapon suitable for issue to support troops — artillerymen, mortar crews, radiomen, engineers, and other specialist and rear-echelon personnel — who found the nine-and-a-half-pound M1 Garand rifle too cumbersome for their operational roles but for whom a pistol provided insufficient range and firepower. The resulting carbine, chambered in the dedicated .30 Carbine cartridge, firing a 110-grain full-metal jacket bullet, weighed approximately five and a half pounds and proved enormously popular with its users for its light weight and manageable recoil. Over six million M1 Carbines were produced during the Second World War by ten different manufacturers, including the Inland Division of General Motors, Winchester, Underwood, IBM, Rock-Ola, and others, making the M1 Carbine the most produced small arm in American military history. Each carbine was issued with the oiler as a standard component of the weapon’s accessories, the bottle being of sufficient importance to the weapon’s function that its placement within the stock was incorporated into the carbine’s basic design from the outset. The oiler remained in issue with the carbine through the Korean War and into the post-war period until the M1 Carbine was retired from US Army service in the mid-1960s following the introduction of the M16 rifle.

Manufactured in steel with a parkerised finish consistent with United States Army ordnance small arms accessories production of the Second World War and Korean War periods, this example provides a well-preserved representation of the standard issue M1 Carbine oiler as carried by American servicemen across all theatres of the Second World War. M1 Carbine oilers are collected as examples of American Second World War ordnance accessories, small arms maintenance equipment of the US Army and Marine Corps, and original field accessories of the most widely produced American military firearm of the twentieth century.

Dimensions Approx. 61mm length x 11mm diameter

Condition Good, with some wear to the finish but otherwise in good functioning order