How good was the Mi carbine? compared to other U.S. weapons in WW2, it was lighter than the grand M1 .Does any one know where I might purchase one ?
I own an early 50’s model(not for sale). Fun and cheap to shoot. Decent ROF BUT the round is small=no knock down power. The M1 was used in WW2, Korea and Nam. Invariably the complaint was opponents would fight on after hits scored. In combat I would take the Garand. Basically 30.06 vs .25cal.
As I said it is fun to have around. If buying for hobbyist use get one. If for defense your money is better spent elsewhere.
yah, a website about the parachute infantry noted that due to its low knock-down power that they were often “thrown away in disgust”, but im not sure which site that was
Donald Burgett also noted that M1carbines were “usually carried by radiomen, weapon crews and officers when no close combat was expected… we’d seen too many people hit with the damn little things and keep running”
*Mod note: Please take care to start threads in appropriate forums, the M-1 Carbine is a US weapon and thus is in one of the US forums…
As for the carbine, I think the stopping power issue came to a head in Korea, where the quilted winter uniforms of the Chinese PLA Volunteers, at greater ranges, often slowed down the bullet leaving insufficient stopping power. I’m not sure how widely it was complained about in WWII…
Check here, You have to jump through a few hoops for your first purchase but its well worth the effort, Or keep an eye out for adds in the locale paper.
http://www.odcmp.com/Services/Rifles/index.htm
Isn’t the .30 cal. ammo kind of pricey?
Glider infantry- go to you local Big 5 store they just got a batch of mil spec carbines. but the price is, ouch, $999 and as mentioned ammo is expensive.
The M1 Carbine was intended as what is now known as a Personal Defence Weapon: i.e., for non-infantry troops who needed something for self-defence. It was therefore seen as more of a pistol replacement than a rifle alternative (and was much, much more useful than any pistol).
In fact, it was so light and handy that it was used by infantry (especially in its full-auto M2 form) including, IIRC, Audie Murphy, the most highly-decorated US soldier of the war, who went on to be a Hollywood film star.
As you should all know:
- The M1 carbine is “spring operated”
- The design of the M1 carbine has nothing to do with the M1 Garand
- Fulton Armoury produced the M1 carbine in WW2
- The greater accuracy of the M1 carbine made it more effective than SMG’s in house-to-house fighting
So ends the Gospel according to Ironman!
Just checked out the M1 carbine at the Big 5 near my house…$1000 plus tax for a Korean war rebuild, Import marked M1 Carbine is way to much to pay. Go the CMP route…there non import marked and much cheaper and will go up in value much better than an import.
It was also the world’s first assault rifle… 
Actually, Tony, I don’t think the full auto, M-2 (submachine-gun!) version came out until after WWII, but I could be wrong. As did the 30 round magazine for it…
I once read the Germans prized capturing Carbines as it fit in with their close assault doctrine and you can see a few examples of this in photographs, especially during the Bulge…
The Germans liked them enough to use them instead of their Kar98k’s. Theres a couple of period photos of German soldiers using M1 carbines. I’ve yet to see a combat photo of a German using a M1 Garand.
[QUOTE=Nickdfresh;121732]It was also the world’s first assault rifle… :)[QUOTE]
isnt the stg44 the actual first, the carbine was made to be a light weight rifle, not assult rifle, i could be wrong though so correct me if so
[QUOTE=RifleMan20;121736][QUOTE=Nickdfresh;121732]It was also the world’s first assault rifle…
isnt the stg44 the actual first, the carbine was made to be a light weight rifle, not assult rifle, i could be wrong though so correct me if so
LOL I was joking based on statements Ironing Man once made.
You are correct to an extent, however, I believe a Russian/Soviet officer developed a reduced power cartridge automatic rifle years before, but it never saw any real service beyond field trials…
Someone can correct me if I am wrong. And the Carbine was considered a submachine-gun by the US Army in its selective fire model (M-2), so who am I to argue…
P.S.: The Italians and the Russians both designed assault rifles and the Russians used them in small numbers around WWI…
For a brief history of assault rifles and their cartridges, see: http://www.quarry.nildram.co.uk/Assault.htm
I’ve seen a few in books & the internet. On either the Feldgrau or the Axis History Forum web sites there was a thread titled Photographs of Germans With Allied Weapons or some such.
Interestingly when some German cousins of ours visited in the 1960s one of the Wehrmacht veterans told us the Garand was frequently used. As long as the ammo was available they would fire it rather than the “karbine” and the “tommygun” (I think he was refering to the Schmeisser machine pistol a earlier remark refered to only having that in his regiment and never having the newer automatic weapons issued).
Here is one collection of photos. have fun.
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?p=1066278&sid=706ad33ad0e53117a9869ae041ec0f36
Yikes, what’d they do to their forum?
Improved it.
I had a bit of coorespondence with the sysop during the change. He tweaked a item or two in response to my commnets, but no fundamental changes. Unfortunatly the current format is harsher on my eyes. Like the format here I now cant take more than 15-20 minutes before severe eye fatigue sets in. Also the colors match this forum so clsoely I now forget which I am on. 
Wow, they like using ebay as a very informative site