the lowest US grunt on the ground had access to a semi-auto rifle as soon as they could be made and issued, the great M-1 rifle and no axis country did that. my late uncle was with the 11 airborne in the phillipines and he said semi auto rifles saved his life along with men he fought with, the m-1 carbine-m-1 rifle, the thompson full auto was also a prized item there.
Holy Moly... M1 Carbine!!
- Thread starter ghbucky
- Start date
If you will share a partial serial number the original maker can be determined, if the barrel is different manufacturer it probably was added after the war and old stock from all makers was being used up in the rebuilding program. Inland did not supply barrels to the free parts program but did help Saginaw in the early years. Also even though your rear sight ( a milled unit not stamped) covers the name with a flash light you should be able to make out enough to come up with the name.
PS: These rifles were made to shoot and are basically bulletproof so don’t lock them in the safe to gather dust. I have twelve of them and all get shot from the Oct 42 Inland to a 5mil Inland.
From your photo looks like the S/N is assigned to Inland Div of GM
PS: These rifles were made to shoot and are basically bulletproof so don’t lock them in the safe to gather dust. I have twelve of them and all get shot from the Oct 42 Inland to a 5mil Inland.
From your photo looks like the S/N is assigned to Inland Div of GM
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Carbines made up a great deal of the firepower in the pacific campaign where its light weight ire power and compactness in jungle and closed situations allowed it to excell. Certainly it did not have the knock down of the M1 but it never was intended to.. The carbine soldiered above and beyond expectations.
Dfariswheel
New member
The Carbine was intended to be a more effective replacement for the 1911 pistol.
It was to be issued to rearward echelon support troops, and also to officers and crew served weapons crews like machine gunners and mortar crews.
Combat troops discovered how handy and fast to use it was, and the 15 round magazine was a great selling point.
It served perfectly in WWII in Europe and the Pacific, and again in Vietnam.
It didn't serve to well in Korea, although it was heavily issued in M1 and M2 form, simply because it was never intended to be used at the longer ranges common in Korea.
A telling point on the Carbine as a combat arm: It was the favorite weapon of Audie Murphy who probably saw more hard combat in WWII then almost any other soldier, and had the medals to prove it.
And, the Carbine with soft point sporting ammo still delivers the goods today as a home defense weapon.
It was to be issued to rearward echelon support troops, and also to officers and crew served weapons crews like machine gunners and mortar crews.
Combat troops discovered how handy and fast to use it was, and the 15 round magazine was a great selling point.
It served perfectly in WWII in Europe and the Pacific, and again in Vietnam.
It didn't serve to well in Korea, although it was heavily issued in M1 and M2 form, simply because it was never intended to be used at the longer ranges common in Korea.
A telling point on the Carbine as a combat arm: It was the favorite weapon of Audie Murphy who probably saw more hard combat in WWII then almost any other soldier, and had the medals to prove it.
And, the Carbine with soft point sporting ammo still delivers the goods today as a home defense weapon.
I would say "adequately" rather than "perfectly" in WWII, etc.
Nothing is perfect for every situation.
One of the carbine stories that impressed me as a teen was one that one of my neighbors told. He had been a CB in the Pacific, and used the M1 carbine.
His crew was working putting in an airstrip on an island that had been declared "secured". (can't remember if he said which one, though I know it was well after Guadalcanal)
They had a sniper problem. In the top of a tree, he would shoot, then when they shot back, he would duck behind the tree trunk. Their carbines couldn't get him, and while the sniper didn't hit anyone, he was putting holes in the thin parts of their bulldozer and kept them from working for most of an afternoon, until a Marine BAR man showed up and dumped a magazine of AP into the tree. Rifle hit the ground, dead sniper hung on the end of his tether.
One of the guys I used to work with had been a telephone lineman in Korea. He loved the M1 carbine, it was light, and he happily admitted, he never had to shoot anyone with it. He did, however really gripe about the winter. When winter came they took away his carbine and made him carry an M1 Garand, which he hated due to the weight.
Yes, Audie Murphy used and was said to like the carbine. Makes sense to me, especially considering he was not a very large man.
ghbucky: I carried a M1 Carbine some in 1968 & 1969 and also in 1971 & 1972 in Vietnam. I really learned to enjoy carrying that little Carbine and I trusted mine with my life every day I carried it. It was defiantly a causality producer, no dought about that. I never had any problems, with any of the M1 Carbines I used and carried. And I never felt under armed carrying one of them, in Combat in Vietnam. And now I am getting Old and My M1 Carbine is never very far out of hand after dark. And I still have complete compendence and trust in my old M1 Carbine 50+ years later.
ken
ken
In the early part of the war, M1 Carbines were churned out and handed to just about anyone who rated one. Remember, as a replacement for the 1911, the M1 Carbine went primarily to the same types who would have rated a 1911 pistol (cooks, truck drivers, officers, NCOs, rear area types, etc) while the M1 rifle went to the infantrymen. We started WW2 with Springfields and Enfields and a few M1 rifles, and the M1 wasn't fully deployed until 1943-44. We handed any rifles we could to the troops who needed a rifle. Later in the war the lines blurred a bit as street fighting took the place of large fields. A lot of people get their ideas of what was issued from movies, and movies are notorious in their overlooking details. In Korea, there were a lot of M1 Carbines, but a lot of troops liked the extra energy of the M1 rifle. My uncle (1st Marine Division) was issued an M1 Carbine, and he dropped it and retrieved a M1 rifle at the first opportunity due to the ranges involved where they were fighting.
I don't pretend to be a military/M1 Carbine Historian.
But I'll make a generalized statement. If you job was "Infantry Rifleman" most of the time you could do your job best with the full sized battle rifle,such as the Garand.
But it might be that if you are a Platoon Leader,or RTO, or a number of other serious combat jobs,you are most effective focusing on another roll besides rifleman.
You still need an effective weapon to fight with.
Somehow the folks doing the fighting have a good idea of what will serve best.
Sometimes that was the M1 or M2 carbine.
But I'll make a generalized statement. If you job was "Infantry Rifleman" most of the time you could do your job best with the full sized battle rifle,such as the Garand.
But it might be that if you are a Platoon Leader,or RTO, or a number of other serious combat jobs,you are most effective focusing on another roll besides rifleman.
You still need an effective weapon to fight with.
Somehow the folks doing the fighting have a good idea of what will serve best.
Sometimes that was the M1 or M2 carbine.
Looks like a nice example! 
I picked up a number of carbines over the past couple of years. Of course, I waited until they were going for close to $1K to decide to finally pick one up.
There is a lot of info on them on the web if youre looking to chase what you have down, reload, etc. Ive found some good info here.....
https://thecmp.org/sales-and-service/m1-carbine-information/
http://www.uscarbinecal30.com/manufacturers.html
Of the 5 Ive picked up, all of them were about 65-75% function wise, give or take. They shot OK, but I was having a lot of constant stoppages. Two things got them up to about 95% or so.
One, ditch the GI mags and get some of the new made Korean mags. They are readially availabe and cheap. $12 or so for the 15 rounders, a couple of bucks more for the 30's. Not sure if you can get a chocie, but some of the 15 rounders do have hold open followers in them. I have both, and they work.
The other thing I had to do to all the guns I have, and that was rebuild the bolt. New extractor, ejector, and all the springs. Numrich/Gun Parts has everyting you need, and they also have the tools to strip the bolt.
https://www.gunpartscorp.com/
Once I swaped out the bolt parts, and mags, reliability has been much better and I rarely get a stoppage now. If and when I do, its usually one of the few USGI mags I kept and use when I shoot thats in the gun when it happens.
One other thing I ran across with all of them was, the rear sights had been knocked out of their staking, and the sights were loose. I even had one fall off the gun the first time I shot it. If you look close, you can see where the sight was originally staked in the dovetail, and if the dimples dont line up, youll want to move it back and restake it.
The CMP has a couple of articles on the sights and how to deal with getting the elevation to match the number settings on the rear slider. Assuming yours dont match up.
One of the reasons I never got into these when they were dirt cheap was, the ammo never was "cheap", even the surplus stuff, and it still isnt.
If you reload, its a LOT cheaper, and the round is easy to load for. The original loading was 15 grains of 296 with a 110-grain FMJ. Its basically a max load, but and the gun functions and shoots well with it.
Ive chrono'd that load out of mine, and its running just under 2000 fps.
Starline has brass for it, and it seems to hold up OK to regular loading, assuming you can find it.
One thing that really sucks about the carbines is, they throw brass everywhere and anywhere, and with no rhyme or reason. Recoveing brass can be a PITA.
If you dont reload, you may want to start, as, once you start shooting the gun, youre just going to want to shoot it all the time.
I picked up a number of carbines over the past couple of years. Of course, I waited until they were going for close to $1K to decide to finally pick one up.
There is a lot of info on them on the web if youre looking to chase what you have down, reload, etc. Ive found some good info here.....
https://thecmp.org/sales-and-service/m1-carbine-information/
http://www.uscarbinecal30.com/manufacturers.html
Of the 5 Ive picked up, all of them were about 65-75% function wise, give or take. They shot OK, but I was having a lot of constant stoppages. Two things got them up to about 95% or so.
One, ditch the GI mags and get some of the new made Korean mags. They are readially availabe and cheap. $12 or so for the 15 rounders, a couple of bucks more for the 30's. Not sure if you can get a chocie, but some of the 15 rounders do have hold open followers in them. I have both, and they work.
The other thing I had to do to all the guns I have, and that was rebuild the bolt. New extractor, ejector, and all the springs. Numrich/Gun Parts has everyting you need, and they also have the tools to strip the bolt.
https://www.gunpartscorp.com/
Once I swaped out the bolt parts, and mags, reliability has been much better and I rarely get a stoppage now. If and when I do, its usually one of the few USGI mags I kept and use when I shoot thats in the gun when it happens.
One other thing I ran across with all of them was, the rear sights had been knocked out of their staking, and the sights were loose. I even had one fall off the gun the first time I shot it. If you look close, you can see where the sight was originally staked in the dovetail, and if the dimples dont line up, youll want to move it back and restake it.
The CMP has a couple of articles on the sights and how to deal with getting the elevation to match the number settings on the rear slider. Assuming yours dont match up.
One of the reasons I never got into these when they were dirt cheap was, the ammo never was "cheap", even the surplus stuff, and it still isnt.
If you reload, its a LOT cheaper, and the round is easy to load for. The original loading was 15 grains of 296 with a 110-grain FMJ. Its basically a max load, but and the gun functions and shoots well with it.
Ive chrono'd that load out of mine, and its running just under 2000 fps.
Starline has brass for it, and it seems to hold up OK to regular loading, assuming you can find it.
One thing that really sucks about the carbines is, they throw brass everywhere and anywhere, and with no rhyme or reason. Recoveing brass can be a PITA.
If you dont reload, you may want to start, as, once you start shooting the gun, youre just going to want to shoot it all the time.
I took one of my ten remaining Carbines out yesterday, after sighting my night vision rifles I began to bang away with the neat Winchester Carbine. She did not skip a beat emptying four WWII vintage magazines without incident, I was regularly ringing the steel targets at 80 and 100 yards.
I once collected the M1 Carbine accumulating close to fifty of them and then I got the Colt SAA bug and sold and traded firearms for many Colt’s. The ten Carbines left will remain as long as I do..
I once collected the M1 Carbine accumulating close to fifty of them and then I got the Colt SAA bug and sold and traded firearms for many Colt’s. The ten Carbines left will remain as long as I do..
It is finally in my grubby mitts!
I've never touched one of these before, but at first touch I'm amazed with how handy and light it is. I can see why these are popular.
It came with 20 rounds that look to be in good shape, and what with the situation in finding ammo and reloading components, it may be a while before I can do anything about getting (or making) more.
I'm on the fence about leaving these rounds alone and considering them as part of the package or shooting a few of them because I really do want to shoot this beauty.
I've never touched one of these before, but at first touch I'm amazed with how handy and light it is. I can see why these are popular.
It came with 20 rounds that look to be in good shape, and what with the situation in finding ammo and reloading components, it may be a while before I can do anything about getting (or making) more.
I'm on the fence about leaving these rounds alone and considering them as part of the package or shooting a few of them because I really do want to shoot this beauty.
Unless the rounds are dated, wartime production, which could be considered collectible, ammo's ammo.
I try to get at least "a" box of period ammo for vintage guns, as I like the old packaging and labels, but I've also shot some 40-50yo ammo, and never had any trouble with duds or hangfires.
I try to get at least "a" box of period ammo for vintage guns, as I like the old packaging and labels, but I've also shot some 40-50yo ammo, and never had any trouble with duds or hangfires.
Have owned several M1 carbines, but am not a historian by any means. My understanding is the M1 was designed for the 15 rd mags, while the M2 was designed to also use the 30 rounders. To get my M1 carbine to reliably hold the bolt open on 30 rd mag, needed to install a bolt catch that originally came with M2's. Yes it works on both, but seems to have been originally installed on the M2.
https://www.fulton-armory.com/magazinecarbine30roundnew.aspx
https://www.fulton-armory.com/magazinecarbine30roundnew.aspx
There seems to be two functions of a hold-open follower on most guns. Firstly, to indicate that the magazine has run dry when shooting. Secondly, to allow for removing the empty magazine to be removed and a full one placed in the gun while the bolt is still open. So my question is: Do those hold-open followers on the 30-round magazines somehow hold the bolt open when the empty mag is removed as on a 1911 et. al.?
The follower in the 30 rd mag can not function at all when the mag is removed. The mag catch acts in conjunction with the 30 rd follower when the mag runs dry to hold open the bolt. Removing the empty 30 rd mag allows the bolt to snap forward. The M1 carbine has a manually operated bolt hold open pin on top/rear of slide to hold open the bolt slide/bolt. At least on the carbine currently owned.
Does the M2 have a hold open device that operates with the 30-round mag hold-open follower?
M2 mag catch. Click on the link provided, and look at wording immediately below pic of mag. When i got into shooting M1 carbine, wanted to use 30 rd mags. If memory serves, the regular M1 mag catch would not reliably catch on the 30 round mag follower reliably, if at all. Also had problems with feeding from the 30 rd mags. Some may want to get into the semantics of what is the correct term is, but apparently the mag catchs were redesigned starting with the M2 for 30 round mags. They easily retrofit to M1.
For my M1 carbine to reliably lock back when fired to empty, and reliably function with 30 rd mags, needed the 30 round mag follower AND the M2 mag catch. Easily googled, but Fulton Armory appears to contradict itself on 15 rounders
https://www.fulton-armory.com/magazinecarbine15roundnewfultonarmory-2.aspx
For my M1 carbine to reliably lock back when fired to empty, and reliably function with 30 rd mags, needed the 30 round mag follower AND the M2 mag catch. Easily googled, but Fulton Armory appears to contradict itself on 15 rounders
https://www.fulton-armory.com/magazinecarbine15roundnewfultonarmory-2.aspx
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False on both accounts, look at the light rifle program from start to finish
It was ALWAYS intended to be a primary weapon
It was NEVER intended to replace the M1911
Yet this myth continues on, just like the 30 Carbine proof winter coats and the "My grandaddy smashed his Carbine against a tree/jeep/tank after he had to use his .45 to stop the charging Jap/Kraut/Macaroni that wouldn't stop after an entire mag from his Carbine" stories.
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