Posted on 03/22/2018 11:06:30 AM PDT by Elderberry
The Mini-30 failed to impress us on several levels. Covered in the video is its awful reliability, mediocre accuracy, lack of versatility, and high cost.
http://www.tactical.center/ruger-mini-30-vs-ak-full-review_a87a0d60f.html
One of my former bosses drove trucks in Vietnam. He carried an M1 and an M3 grease gun in the cab.
Maybe mine was $15 too...that was 55 years ago! Whatever it was we’ll never see the likes again.
My experience couldn’t be more different. Accuracy isn’t great on either the 30 or 14 but it’s a carbine. It’s not supposed to be a tack driver. That said I could reliably hit moving beer cans at 40 yards with stock sights. When I bought one back in the 90s it was half the price of an AR15, and I shot well over a thousand rounds of various surplus ammo through it with hardly any jams.
We have an M1 carbine anniversary issue made by Israeli Arms. I love shooting it.
Perhaps you should chat with former Marines who fought in the jungles of the Pacific during WW2 using the M1 carbine, unbeatable in the bush.
Yes.
I bought an M-1 Carbine on my return from Desert Storm (a couple other guns too, but this isn’t about them).
From a pawnshop in Fayetteville, NC, which had an indoor range.
A weekly box of ammo fired over sights which resembled those of the M16A2...
...was enough to allow me to qual Expert with my issue rifle.
When I was ordered overseas in 1992, I took my guns to my parents to hold for me. My dad had fired the M1C in the USAF and had fond memories. He wanted to keep it when I came back, but having no handguns I was determined the M1C would be my home defense arm.
I found another one and gave it to him for Christmas 1996. After he died in 1999 I got it back, and being in some economic straits I sold my first one to a relative, who still has it.
Fun little gun. Too bad about the tippy canoe...
One factual error- while the AK 47 was indeed encountered in Vietnam, the more likely one seen in the hands of NVA and Vietcong would be Russian and Chinese SKS’s. Kinda like the spitfire getting credit four winning the battle of Britain, when in fact the hurricane was far more numerous.
CC
I'm not sure how the BAR gunners were equipped. IIRC, the LMG crews carried pistols as their personal defense weapon. I've seen re-enactors kitted out that way, for certain. Makes sense, given the chore of carrying the LMG, tripod, ammo belts, etc - not easy with a slung rifle.
I've seen a video of an M1 Carbine rebuilt with a custom .357 barrel. It seemed to be an early proof-of-concept test, not fully sorted out. It did seem functional, though.
The wildcat cartridge that should've been developed for the carbine back in the '60s was a critter known as the .30 Kurz - basically a necked-down version of the German Stg-44 cartridge. The 8mm Kurz is the same length as the .30 Carbine cartridge, so magazines would be adaptable. By forming the brass to fit a .30 caliber projectile, the carbine barrels could simply have the chambers reamed to take the bottleneck cartridge.
I suspect that there were pressure problems with that conversion, which is a shame. Had that worked, it might've changed the course of military planning away from the 5.56.
Great Photo!
Thanks.
Used to have an Iver Johnson M1 carbine.
They're handy little rifles.
Would like to get one of the ones the CMP with be releasing.
Oh...and a Garand too!
The first Winchester .223 rifle looked like an M-1 carbine. It was rejected by the army.
Do any of you experts here have experience with the modern reproduction M1 carbines?
I bought a Universal copy of the carbine around 1978. K-Mart was having a “Dutch Auction” where they reduced the price every week until it sold. I waited a while then bought one.
Mine was a serviceable gun, shot just fine tho their reputation was that you would get a much better gun buying a used surplus one.
My carbine started out life as a Universal Carbine 256 Ferret. It was chambered in 256 Win Mag, which is a 357 case necked down to 25 cal.
I bought it used and it had too much pressure on the gas system and the extractor was ripping chunks out of the rim. I tried to get it fixed to no avail, so I picked up a GI barrel for it and I think I only had to change out the bolt.
Shoots good now.
Years ago someone was converting them to 45 Win Mag, but they were plagued with receiver cracks.
As I recall from my youth, you are right: about 1950+ fps and 950+ ft-lb at 18”.
ETO: G.I.’s Dream.
PTO: G.I.’s Nightmare.
Germans were not berserkers in a charge.
I love the M-1 Carbine.
It was designed for officers, non-combatants like cooks, et cetera. It was for people who neither needed nor wanted to lug around an M-1 Garand (or Thompson) - half the weight - and who did not need great range, but would need something with more accuracy and capacity than a Colt M-1911. (I think the lieutenant in Combat! carried one.)
David Williams designed the de facto prototype (with/for Winchester?) in prison (convicted murderer) - chronicled in “Carbine Williams” starring James Stewart (1952). This is one of several patriotic bio-pics with onetime Brigadier General Stewart.
The selective M-2 Carbine came later.
My dream Carbine would have a lengthened comb and a 20” barrel (which I once saw advertised): better fit for an adult male, and better ballistics, since the cartridge is actually listed for a 20 inches.
As is, it is an excellent choice for a medium-small woman: light and handy, with modest recoil.
The cartridge is a tweener: slow supersonic, 110 gr. I think it might benefit from a lighter bullet (100 gr.) for flatter trajectory. I think a real problem is the blunt, short bullet, needed for magazine feed: too fat and dull a shape.
Since so many were made by so many manufacturers, quality varies considerably in my opinion - as well as attachments like iron sights (milled versus cast).
I know Ruger Blackhawk and Thompson-Center Contender both chambered for it, since it is hot for a handgun round.
(My father got one after WWII.)
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