M1 carbine
 

I wanted one of these for some time, finally gave in. It's a wonderfull mixmaster: National Postal Meter reciever, IBM barrel, and Inland trigger assembly. I got to shoot is for the first time today and I think I found a new favorite toy!
Marc

Marc, I started collecting Carbines before I got into Lugers. They are nifty little rifles for sure. Congrats! Enjoy..

They are fun little guns....an M1 Carbine was the very first rifle I bought the day I turned 18!

Only one rifle better, the M1 Garand

No matter what folks say, I would never want to be shot at with an M1 Carbine :)

I love em

Ditto all above coments, the first gun I always reach for when I just want to plink.....and with about 38k rounds I sure not to run out of ammo soon....

Very nice.

Purchased a lot of carbine parts at a gun show last weekend. Only one carbine in the whole show but lots of parts.

The myth that they are underpowered is just that, a myth. I got into it one day with a buddy who insisted he would be better served with a .45. We took an M1 Thompson and my M2 Carbine out to a field and placed an M1 steel pot out at 50 yards. After a burst from each gun, the Tommy merely dented the pot and every carbine round that hit it went clean through.
Nuff' said....

Looks good! The carbine is my favorite little rifle as well! I have a Saginaw with an Underwood barrel. I found it at a gun shop about 20 years ago.
It has an Elmer Keith inspection cartouche.
The M1 rifle is a CMP gun. A '43 Springfield with a '46 dated barrel.

Now my carbine looks lonely. I think it needs some friends.
Marc

Yes, those two are very happy together!
I don't shoot the Garand much any more, it takes too long to clean!:rolleyes:

Need to get an M1 and keep it, sold 'em all time went by, however bought an M1a years ago, had the Navy NM it and would not sell it for anything......

Heh, I have the bug too. Started with a 1911. Then found a M1 Garand in a used bin at the LGS. Cabela's was the source for my M1 Carbine, it was a Plainfield Machine post war civilian but just as tasty and a lot more affordable at $300. I also picked up a Springfield M1A and a Springfield M1903-A3 to round off the collection.

Congrats on your carbine purchase. These rifles have been a favorite of mine for more years than I care to admit to. I purchased two in the early 1970s, and still have them. As "father time" effects my shoulder joints, I find that the 30 Carbine round is much more comfortable to shoot than the 30-06 round. I wish I would have purchased an M2 Carbine back when they were relatively inexpensive.....but I didn't.

Back around 1960 I was a medical officer stationed at the Norfolk Naval Base. As an eye doctor, it was in my power to provide personnel with prescription sunglasses mounted in nice gold aviator frames. These were normally reserved for aviation personnel, but I often stretched the rules and issued them to non-flying types. In appreciation, I often found very nice gifts on my desk, such as nice goatskin leather flight jackets, 1911A1 pistols, an occasional Luger or Nambu, etc. It so happens that nearby was a facility run by a Chief petty officer which did nothing but destroy M1 carbines by cutting them up with torches. I took good care of this Chief, his crew, and his family, and like clockwork every few days he left a couple of mint carbines, many in the original cosmoline, in my office. He also gave me many 600 round sealed cans of ammo. All these carbines were not considered worth much, maybe twenty bucks apiece, so they were often traded for other things we needed in our clinic, such as twenty pound tins of coffee, cigarettes, and once I even got my jeep overhauled. Who would have thought???

Can you post a pic??? What is the significance of the Keith cartouche???

The M1 carbine has never much interested me (although I presently have three Enfield carbines)....But I did love my M14 in boot camp back in '69-'70 (last year Parris Island had recruits qualify with them, I believe)...And later built up an M1A from a used M14 'parts kit' and a semi-auto receiver...Really liked that; hated to part with it... :(

I'm not sure it would photograph well. (And it's buried pretty deep in the safe, that photo I posted is old.)
It's "O.G.E.K" with a box around it stamped on the buttstock.
There's no real significance, Elmer Keith, developer of the .357, .41, and .44 magnum cartridges worked as an inspector at the Ogden, Utah arsenal during WWII. I have no idea if the stock is original to the gun, it's probably not as most carbines were rebuilt after the war. It might add a couple of bucks to the value to a collector, or not. He inspected a lot of rifles during his time there.
I just think it's kinda neat. :)

My Speer Reloading Manual states that major D. B. Wesson (of S&W fame) designed the .357 magnum in 1935, but although I have read several articles & one book about Elmer Keith, I did not know he was an inspector at that arsenal during WW II.

I've always enjoyed his exploits and his anecdotes, but like all such stories, they get better the more they're told... :D

I had a newly made Auto Ordnance M1 back a few years ago. Those newly made ones look great but performed poorly. Major problem was accuracy: a gun of this size could not even compare with a pistol at 50 yards, and its bullets flew everywhere. I bought it NIB.

No experience with WWII ones yet.

WW2 originals are very accurate, even with the original GI flip sight.

Keith worked on developing the cartridge, Wesson contributed as well.

I've fired a lot of GI carbines and they were all pretty accurate, even an Israeli import with a barrel like a sewer pipe! :)

Some years back, someone made a lengthened .357 and IIRC called it the .357 Maximum...And someone else lengthened *that*, and called it the .357...something...

I think that S&W made some revolvers to handle the new extended .357 magnum cartridges, but there were concerns with erosion of the chambers...

Anyone know whatever happened to these super-.357 magnums???

The .357 Maximum is still being used by a select few of followers. Mostly Single-shot reloader type guys. Over on some of the other gun forums there are guys reaming out handi-rifle chambers to .357 Maximum.

What was that wildcat M1-carbine cartridge?
I'm thinking 5.7 Johnson maybe?

Coincidentally, this came with a batch of collector ammunition recently. The box is full and in mint condition.

I was forced to carry a M2 my 1st few months in RVN-wimpy POS.
All our CIDG guys had them.
Charlie had them.

I was next to a guy who took a through and through carbine hit to his shoulder.
He said he felt nothing but his arm was numbed for a couple minutes.

Just not really effective as a combat weapon fom my experience.

The carbine was never meant to be a front-line combat rifle. The original idea was to was to develop a light rifle that was more effective (more accurate, greater magazine capacity) than a pistol that could be carried by support and rear-area troops.
Although once in the field it ended up up being issued to many other troops in all conditions.

Reports from Korea were particularly critical of the carbine where it performed poorly in the cold weather and was in many cases ineffective against the heavy winter clothing worn by the Chinese troops.

It was criticized again in Viet Nam where it was issued in large numbers to ARVN troops and was found to be ineffective in jungle conditions where the .30 round was incapable of penetrating the dense undergrowth.
However, it was probably "handier" in those same conditions than the much longer and heavier M14 that was the standard rifle until it was eventually replaced by the M16.

Although in hindsight it wasn't a great combat weapon, its small size, mild recoil, and magazine capacity are exactly what make the M1 Carbine a great "plinker" and a fun rifle to shoot now! :)


And Vlim, that's a great box of ammo! I've only ever seen pictures of them in books.

I consider it a good in-house defense gun due to it's size weight and 15/30 round mag capacity.

We always had carbines and Garands, and 03A3s around the house. The old man used to "find" 20 gallan drums of ammo for them. Never did find out where it actually came from, but it was always there. There wasn't much money around, so it couldn't have cost him much. Looking back he was probably trading stuff from work for it.

If you wantd to go shooting Sunday, you had to find time on Saturday to load magazines and enblocks or you were left behind.

M-1 Carbine and Audie Murphy
 

The M-1 Carbine was the weapon of choice for Audie Murphy during WWII. It suited his smaller frame.

(And that is also the reason it was popular with many asians. The M-1 Rifle was frequently a little too big for them to handle comfortably.)

Audie was the most decorated American soldier during the war.

He is credited with killing 241 German soldiers during the war, most/many with the M-1 Carbine.

He personally stalked and killed 7 German snipers with it.

His book about his experiences during the war, "To Hell And Back" is well worth reading.

The company in which Murphy served started out the war with 235 men, and by the end of the war, only Murphy and a sergeant were left out of the original 235 men.

As I recall, the maximum effective range was originally listed as 300 yards.

bought an auto ordinance for 400 . pretty much junk. jammed every round the stock was poorly fit . but a buddy gave me an original sprinfield stock with the flaming bomb cartouche wich made the experience worthwhile.

All of them will jam if the bolt/receiver area is too dry. Synthetic lubricants on the bolt, lug, roller, rod, etc. will often completely solve any jamming problem.