say I buy a rack grade (rack grade= pretty busted up) M1 carbine from the CMP. how hard/expensive would it be to have a smith put a new barrel on it? would there be a ton of fitting involved, and are such replacement barrels even available?
very few if any of them left... http://www.thecmp.org/m1carbine.htm only inland, and its price of $495 which is nearly the same of those of rack grade doesn't exactly inspire confidence.
inland is cheapest because they made, by far, the most carbines. All the others have a "collector's premium" attached to them. I wouldn't sweat the lack of a massive price difference; I'd celebrate it.