[SkyDancer]

At a gun show I was told that a 30carbine round is equivalent to a 357 magnum in hitting power.

[Joe 6-pack]

Out of the longer barrel of an M1 carbine, the .30 carbine round does compare favorably with the .357 or many other handgun rounds fired from a handgun length barrel...which should really come as no surprise. The M1 carbine was in many ways, the first “PDW,” designed for those personnel who would have normally been issued a sidearm only (i.e. mechanics, mortar crews, cooks, etc.)

[niteowl77]

The .357 Magnum out of a carbine-length barrel isn't the Hammer of Thor, but it does shade the same round out of a handgun, and based on my admittedly limited limited experience with the .30 Carbine round, I'd prefer the .357 if given the choice (especially for SD/HD).

I had gone to 16"-18" .357 lever-action carbines as my primary utility/HD/vehicle longarms and was quite happy with them until my aging eyes made their iron sights too imprecise. Installing rear aperture sights mitigated the problem somewhat, but I finally came to the conclusion that an 18" shotgun with an XS big dot front bead or a carbine with an Aimpoint Micro were better alternatives for this shooter on the downhill slope.

When I still get the longing for another Mini-14, I justify it by telling myself that a Mini with a Micro would be more compact than an M4 clone with a Micro, etc, etc. BUT... then where do I mount the weaponlight I now like to have on an HD/SD carbine or shotgun? Once again the Mini's limited modularity stops me.

If Marlin/FG could make a 16" 1894CSS (that wasn't a QC POS) with a 1" long section of integral picatinny rail on both sides of the barrel band, I'd gladly go back to a .357 carbine.

Mr. niteowl77

[riverrunner]

Well a 30 carbine 110 gr at 1900fps compared to 110 357 at 1400 to 1500fps what to you think