M1 Carbine

[Drandraufdrueber]

Hello all,

I am just curious if you also think the M1 Carbine was pretty unnecessary, given that there were the Garand and Sub machine guns like Thompson and Grease Gun.
I mean,if I had the choice, I would always go for a real rifle or for an automatic weapon.. So what was the reason to introduce the Carbine?
alaaf,
DrDrDr

[John W. Howard]

Hello Dr:
The carbine had an intermediate-power cartridge which gave it more range than the .45 caliber Thompson and Grease-Gun, but much less than the M1 Rifle. It was smaller and lighter than an M1 Rifle and thus ideal for mortar crewmen, machine-gun crewmen, and officers. It gave officers a little more reach than their .45 Colt 1911's. All-in-all it was a good weapon which filled the gap between pistol cartridge machine-pistols and a full-power rifle. Best wishes.

[Deiter Hollenstein]

The catch with the carbine is that it didn't really inspire confidence in those who had to use it. It was an interesting theory, but just didn't hold up that well in practice.

[John W. Howard]

Hi Dieter:
Are you referring to the power of the carbine's cartridge, Dieter? I know it would not inspire a great deal of confidence in me!! Best wishes.

[Tom Houlihan]

It may have been anecdotal, but I remember reading somewhere that the M-1 carbine was supposed to bridge the gap between a short ranged pistol, and a longer range rifle, but failed to do so.

[Deiter Hollenstein]

Hi Dieter:
Are you referring to the power of the carbine's cartridge, Dieter? I know it would not inspire a great deal of confidence in me!! Best wishes.

Yeah, that was part of it. That was one reason you saw the M2 version come out in time for Korea. It seems the only way they could think of to improve the design was to make it full-auto.

And yes, Tom, that was part of the reason for the design of the carbine. I suspect another reason was to cut down on the ammo consumption of the sub-machinegun as opposed to the carbine. I believe the tactical reality ended up being situations where if the enemy got close enough to you to use the carbine, you really wanted to put a lot of rounds at them becase they were close. If they were farther away than that, you usually had time to get an M-1 or find someone who had one.

[Rodger Herbst]

I kind of think of the carbine as the start of the assult rifles that came into service in the German military also. The average rifle range was about a 100 yds. in combat, who needed a rifle that could shoot a 1,000 yds. beside a sniper? With a smaller cartridge you could carry a lot more ammo.The M1 carbine was put in production pretty fast and it didn't have all the kinks ironrd out,but i think they were on the right track,i think the Germans came to the same conclusion,why have a Mauser that can shoot a 1,000 yds. when the average infantry man dosen't very often shoot that far,so asmaller cartridge shorter range and rapid fire capability and i think that all assult rifles have that capability as compared to the M1 Garand the Enfield and the Mauser. I carried both,a M1 Garand and a M1 carbine,mine was made by the Rockola Juke Box company,i'l never will forget that.

[ak74u]

sorry for necro posting. Chindits with M1 Carabine

[Nordwest]

I remember a friend from the 1970s, he had a fully automatic version of the M1 Carbine, with a foldable stock (german: "Klappschaft").

What is the accurate designation for this M1 version...?

BTW, this M1 was found in the late 1960s in a german garbage place. (german: "Sperrmüll")


Michael

[Tom Houlihan]

I carried both,a M1 Garand and a M1 carbine,mine was made by the Rockola Juke Box company,i'l never will forget that.

I saw an M-1 carbine one time that had been manufactured by IBM. I thought that was the ultimate "International Business Machine!"

[Schultz]

Nordwest it is the M2 version in full auto a good friend of mine owns one with the paratrooper stock as well.


Schultz

[ak74u]

Sorry for even more necro posting, Para @ Arnhem

[Nordwest]

Thanks, Schultz!

Grenadier der Waffen-SS mit erbeutetem US-M 1 Karabiner

Source: bpk


Michael

[phylo_roadking]

Here in Northern Ireland, the M1 Carbine remained a common issue to the Royal Ulster Constabulary right up into the late 70s alongside the Sterling SMG. It was replaced with the Ruger Minical when eventually they just wore out. Was chosen to replace the previous-issue SMLE - for a POLICEMAN!!! - because the smaller, dinkier size was more acceptable to members of the public when poked up their noses at checkpoints LMAO

phylo

[ak74u]

Thanks, Schultz!

Grenadier der Waffen-SS mit erbeutetem US-M 1 Karabiner

Source: bpk


Michael

Battle of the Bulge, that same photo-series has germanys most photographed soldier holding a browing hi-power and smoking some american sigarets