As my father was a wounded veteran of WWII, I've always been fond of the tools used by our boys to defend our liberties and give us the chance at a future where we could let it all go to Hades in a handbasket the way we have. I knew the rifles and sidearms, the machine guns, the aircraft...even some of the ships (never was a big "boat" guy). Over the intervening years, I've had the opportunity to work with some of those old warhorses and recently got to work with a "war pony"...the diminutive 30 caliber M1 carbine.

A friend brought me the piece to evaluate: his late father had been a physician in the mountains of the northern California area and had carried the war-era carbine in his small private plane for emergencies. By my friend's guesstimate, the rifle might not have been fired since the '60s or 70s but was thankfully rust-free and seemed eager to play. As he'd already given the rifle a good scrubbing (and picked up 50 rounds of PPU ammo), we were close to being able to get started. While cleaning the stock, he'd found an old "SG" cartouche, identifying the carbine as built by Saginaw Steering Gear (a division of GM). A crack in the stock under the barrel band was glued and allowed to cure before the party started.

As with a lot of wartime firearms, the trigger pull on this specimen is utilitarian at best. I didn't bother with my trigger pull gauge but I'd guess the weight at 4-5 lbs...light enough to be able to effectively manage the "three stage" trigger (i.e. "umph, umph, pow).Stapling a target in front of my pistol backstop (65 yards from my bench), we promplty learned that the rifle shot a full foot high at that range with the 110 grain FMJ stuff. Once you figured where to hold, you could keep my 100 yard swinger entertained easily. Still, some sight changes were in order. We ordered an adjustable rear sight unit from Kensight, and also got brass, dies and bullets headed our way.

Replacing the rear sight was easy enough (once I got the old one out of its dovetail...it had really taken root) and I sighted the piece with the FMJ ammo and the rear sight in its lowest position. Better: the rounds plunked into the target 7" above POA. As I'd loaded five rounds to test with 14 grains of 296 and 110 grain Sierra Pro-Hunters, I hoped for the best and squeezed off three of the rounds. A cute little 1" group appeared just right of center and 3 1/2" above POA. Now we're talking!

There's still some more tinkering to do with this "war pony" yet but I'm developing a bit of grudging respect for it. You see, my Dad (who cussed his issue Garand for its weight and recoil) cussed the M1 carbine even louder...after one he was carrying decided to become a single-shot during the middle of a firefight! The 30 Carbine was seen as a replacement for officer's sidearms and in that role it probably wasn't too bad!

Very cool. I love to shoot the one my grandfather had… fun little guns!

A long time ago, I traded a Marlin 30-30 for a 30-06 Eddystone Arsenal. I hunted/shot with it until I wore the barrel out. Had it re barreled by a prominent gunsmith. It’s never shot as well as it did. Or maybe I don’t.

Those old '17 Springfields were something...Alvin York didn't have to work too hard to make his rep as a sharpshooter!

Svelte they weren't, though...

Gave my Rockola to the oldest nephew a few years ago. Killed a few deer with it and he killed his first deer and to date his first and best buck with it on his first hunt when he was 9 years old. That one is a good shooter as well.

Y’all’s experience killing deer with a 30 carbine is solid proof that where you hit ‘em is FAR more important than what you hit ‘em with! As my late father would have observed, “It don’t take that much to kill one of these deer…”.

A truly classic military rifle that makes you scratch your head wondering why anyone would think this is an ideal battlefield cartridge? All I know is that in the movies, the carbine was the radio man's faithful friend! LOL

I've have very little experience with the rifle or cartridge. Similarly to your story, a year or two ago, a friend brought me a carbine & a box of shells & asked if I could get it sighted in. It had a foggy little scope on it with a clunky single-point mount. Of course the scope was loose. I tightened everything up & sighted it in. It was great fun to shoot & that old rifle never missed a cycle & was surprisingly accurate!

I don't know if its been done, but the .30 carbine looks like it would be an ideal cartridge for the AR15 platform. Maybe the slight rim is a problem. Seems like a .300 BO alternative(?)

Having never had one apart before, I was stunned when I understood the way the barreled action and the stock are joined...everything I know about rifles SCREAMS that there's no way this "hooked breech and barrel band" bedding combination can shoot consistently. And yet, multiple first person reports (including this one) suggests that it can. Go figure...

It's my understanding that the .30 carbine package was never really planned as a "battlefield" cartridge, but something for officers (or maybe radio men!) to carry in place of sidearms. Some of that makes sense to me: the war-era 1911s lacked a lot from a shootability perspective: with almost nonexistent sights, miserably short triggers and generous tolerances. Hitting at 25 yards under pressure was likely difficult; switching to what amounts to a PCC would double the effective range.

That said, I kinda wonder how much real difference that would make in a fight. If the tipping point of the engagement rides on the OFFICER'S ability to hit at 50 versus 25 yards, maybe things have already gone badly and it's time to consider calling in a fire mission on your own position!

I had one re-imported from Korea a few years back and it was a lot of fun -- when it worked -- but was pretty worn out.
I've heard it said that in spite of its unimpressive ballistics, the Germans were really loathe to be shot with one.

I don't think that it was ever intended as an 'ideal battlefield cartridge', but rather as a replacement for a pistol. The round is essentially a long 9mm Luger round, and very useful for the ranges the M1 Carbine was intended for (up to about 50 yards), but could still provide accurate fire at longer ranges, which would at least make the Germans have to duck behind cover.

My Dad carried an M2 most of his time in Korea. He was a lineman on the front lines and the issued M1 was a lot extra weight when loaded with tools and wire and such keeping up lines along the front. He then traded it to someone else when he left there for a Garand to turn in. Typically he carried it with 2 30 round mags taped so when one emptied drop out flip over and insert close the bolt and ready for 30 more with a few other mags ready to go as well. He said it never let him down when needed.

That's a great story!

My Dad's experience wasn't nearly as pleasant. His unit came ashore at Normandy about three weeks after D-Day and the fighting had moved well inland. Like most other GIs, he was lugging his issued Garand and hated both its weight and its recoil (he always had a very low recoil tolerance). A guy from supply would catch up to them every day in his Willys jeep for resupply...and Daddy spotted the carbine in the jeep's rack. He said it took multiple attempts over multiple days, but he finally got the driver to trade him the carbine for his Garand. "I'll hold this for you so we can trade back when you're ready". he said. "Nothing doing" was my Dad's reply, "This is the gun for me!".

Later that day, his group started taking fire from a farmhouse and he raised the carbine and fired one shot. Jam. Take cover and clear the jam. Fire, Jam. Repeat. He said he finally got down in a deep tank track filled with muddy water and rinsed the action out enough for it to fire more-or-less regularly. By the next day, he was ready for his heavy, bucking Garand back!

Great thread, sir!

They are cool little rifles and very handy to carry.
Recoil is almost like a 22

Both Inland Manufacturing and Khar Auto Ordnance make new carbines
I have a new production Inland

https://www.inland-mfg.com/Inland-Carbines/M1-1944.html

https://shopkahrfirearmsgroup.com/auto-ordnance/long-guns/m1-carbine/

A lot of our troops that carried them in battle in the winter of 1944 ditched them for Garands though.
The little carbine round was not good at penetrating the thick layers of clothing the Germans wore unless it was at very close range.

McBride Music & Pawn on the Denton square used to keep about 50 M1s in stock back when they could be bought for 100 bucks each and I probably bought 30 or 40 of them from there. People who claim that they wouldn't penetrate heavy clothing don't have a clue. I heard the same thing and decided to test for myself by using GI Surplus Ammo and a tight bundle of clothing about 1 ft thick. The bullets would pass completely through the clothing and still had enough power to blast through 3/4 inch plywood and a 2x4. We're talking a Full Metal Jacket bullet with more muzzle energy than a 44 Magnum. I suspect that when someone wearing heavy clothing was shot you missed the man and simply hit their clothing and the bullet passed on through or people just missed entirely and blamed it on the cartridge. I think they used h110 powder in the GI loads and I've noticed that the GI Ammo does not like cold weather at all.

I learned from hard experience and lots and lots of testing that assuming the gun is not worn out the key to accuracy in a M1 carbine is how well the rear lug fits to the stock and the action.

This statement certainly has the ring of truth to it. I'm frankly amazed that they shoot as well as they do with their breech kinda/sorta hooked in at the rear and the barrel sandwiched between the fore-end and the handguard and held by a barrel band. A Rube Goldberg design if ever there was one...