(Not that I'm volunteering to get pasted by a .30 Carbine SP or HP round - NYPD detectives and other US cops apparently swear by the things... ;>)
True enough, so far as light/short barrelled [16 inch or less] carbines go. I'd certainly prefer an M1/M2 carbine to virtually any 9mm SMG or machinepistol, including the much-praised H&K MP5 buzzgun. Among those who agree are the Israeli Mishmar HaEzrachi civil guard/ police auxilliary, who use the carbine in both full stock and folder version variants in their daily duties, though there are certainly plenty of older M16A1 rifles and Uzi SMGs around for such purposes if it was believed they were the best pick for the job. Likewise the Israeli kibbutz I visited in '82 had 20 carbines in their armoury, the first weapons to be chosen by those heading out on night watchman duties.
Too, during my studious tour of the spas and cathouses of exotic Southeast Asia from 1968 to 1970, I ran across more than a few folks who most certainly preferred the .30 carbine for their personal defense to the shorty M16 version XM177E2 then available. Availability was certainly one reason, and the limitation of the 20-round M16 magazine was another. But the carbine was and is still popular with those who go in harm's way and have any sort of choice about what they'll have in hand when the bell rings.
The real shortcoming of the M1/M2 carbine is the 110-grain G.I. ball ammunition, and results with Winchester hollow point or Federal soft point loadings usually offer mush more effective results; I'm particularly grateful that the fella who shot me with one in 1977 was using French GI ball ammo and that he'd sawed the barrel down about flush with the foreend. Similarly, on 12 August 1967 a Tennessee sheriff and his wife were ambushed by four hoods in a stolen Cadillac on a back-country road, resulting in the death of the sheriff's wife, the ruination of the sheriff's face, and an eventual saga of ruin for those involved in the attempted assination that culminated in a string of *Walking Tall* movies. So far as I'm aware, the stolen Memphis police carbine that was used by the gunman was never recovered, but of those involved who eventually fell to gunfire, only one was killed with a rifle.
What's really needed: for design engineer Tom Burzinski, who gave us the effective Winchester Black Talon, PMC StarFire and Remington Golden Saber hollowpoint bullet designs, to work up something equally useful for the .30 Carbine.
