The M1 Carbine: an inspiring gun in an uninspiring round

Guns Magazine, July, 2008 by Mike "Duke" Venturino

Well gents, my fabled good luck in finding exactly the gun for which I'm currently on a quest has kicked in again. This time it was an M1 Carbine, but not just any M1 Carbine. What I wanted was one still in World War II battle dress meaning it had no bayonet lug, had the L-shaped flip-up peep sight, so called flat bolt, etc. Furthermore, I didn't want just any such M1 Carbine. After all they were produced in no less than 10 plants. I wanted one made by Winchester, the firm that developed the M1.30 Carbine in the first place.

Knowledgeable gun guys all said, "Good luck!" I did find one listed on an Internet auction site. Its starting price was $2,000, precisely 100 times what I paid for my first M1 Carbine. Or rather I should say what my father paid for it, because you see, I was only 15-years old at the time. That was back in 1965 when the Director of Civilian Marksmanship (DCM) was selling off government surplus M1 Carbines to NRA members.

My Dad had no interest in guns and only joined the NRA to satisfy my craving for an M1 Carbine. I have no recollection how someone as young as I living in the coal mining fields of southern West Virginia even heard surplus M1 Carbines were available to NRA members. But I did and in my mind I just knew life forever after would be wonderful if only I had one of those DCM M1 Carbines.

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In good time it did arrive, and was an Underwood marked one. Underwood being the well-known typewriter manufacturer turned arms producer during WWII what with typewriters being classed as "nonessential" and military firearms being high priority. To the best of my knowledge, most of the M1 Carbines sold as surplus in the 1960s had come from various arsenals where they had been "rebuilt." The post war rebuilding consisted of adding bayonet lugs, fully adjustable rear sights, and so forth. I was ecstatic to get my M1 Carbine but got a dose of economic reality the first time I bought some factory ammo for it. For that reason my .30 Carbine shooting wasn't prolific, but it is probably a safe bet owning that little gun without being able to afford to shoot it much directed me down the path to becoming an avid handloader.

The history of the M1 .30 Carbine is beyond interesting, it is fascinating and some parts of it are awesome. Some logical minds in the US military's hierarchy realized the average soldier couldn't hit squat with the Model 1911 .45 ACP pistol, and the determination was made to replace it with a mild-powered, lightweight, carbine. That was early 1941 just before the United States' entry into WWII.

New Concept

Whereas many countries' military forces already had carbines, almost always they were merely shorter, lighter versions of their standard infantry rifle. Their chamberings remained full power. The United States took a different tack. Their carbine was going to be a totally new firearm and chambered for its own specific cartridge. The little rimless .30 caliber round was based on Winchester's line of WSL (Winchester Self Loading) cartridges. In truth, it was fairly puny as far as military cartridges go, with a 110-grain FMJ bullet traveling at just under 2,000 fps from an 18" barrel.

When the government initially asked for manufacturers to submit prototypes, one specification was it be selective fire--capable of both semi- and full-automatic function. Somewhere along the way the full-auto part was dropped, but was resurrected post World War II resulting in the M2 Carbine.

Winchester's last minute submission won the tests and they were granted the contract. However, since they were up to their ears making M1 Garand rifles also, the US Government bought full rights and put nine other companies to work making them. The awesome part spoken of above is that collectively between late 1941 and mid-1945 a grand total of 6,221,220 M1 Carbines were made! This information comes from Bruce N. Canfield's book A Complete Guide To The M1 Garand And The M1 Carbine. From that source, I've put a list of M1 Carbine manufacturers and the percentage of total production each firm accomplished.

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M1 Carbines didn't get into the hands of combat troops until late 1942 or early 1943, but then they came in a flood. Despite whatever theater of operations vintage photographs come from, it's rare to see American World War 11 combat troops without M1 Carbines. Actually the same is true of Korean War photographs, and they were by no means rare in Vietnam either. Stories abound about the little .30 Carbine's bullets failing to stop enemy soldiers. No doubt they are true. But still it must be realized the M1 Carbine was designed not as a frontline fighting rifle, but as a replacement for handguns. No doubt also many of the enemy soldiers not stopped dead in their tracks with .30 Carbine bullets would have been missed altogether if shot at by poorly trained troops using Model 1911s.

All such aside, my new Winchester M1 Carbine is a dandy. My good friend, the extremely M1 Carbine knowledgeable gunsmith Tom Sargis tore down my new find to its bare essentials and came to the conclusion it is still original to how it left the Winchester factory in mid-1943, except for one small part. That, plus the fact somebody along the way lightly sanded its stock. Since all American made M1 Carbine ammo has used non-corrosive primers, the barrels on the majority are still bright and shiny despite being at least 60-years old.