Musings on the M1 carbine

[jdh]

OK, here is a "musing" story that will make you cry. A buddy of mine worked for the Federal Bureau of Prisons, and passed this on to me.

The M1 Carbine was the official issue weapon, as were S&W 38spl revolvers. Every federal prison armory was stocked with both. In the early 1990's, the BOP switched to the 3 shot burst M-16 and a 9mm semi handgun.

Rather then offer the old guns to officers, or donate them to local LEO, all the M1 carbines and revolvers were collected, and cut up with cutting torches. Thousands of each. Prisons that had towers had mostly pre-64 Winchester model 70's in 30-06 with Weaver scopes. These to were destroyed. The Govt. PAID to have all 38spl / 30 carbine, and any other unauthorized ammo hauled away as hazardous waste.

Larry

In my 20 years and 8 days with the BOP that was by far one of the saddest events to occur.

A van pulled up in front of the armory, the perimeter patrol truck stopped about 50 yards away and the officer got out with his shotgun to cover the activity. While the inventory management specialist, captain, and one of the Associate Wardens checked serial numbers and watched them being loaded into the van a Lieutenant went to the welding shop to send all the inmate workers back to their unit and any staff members not assigned to the detail out of the shop. The landscape foreman pulled a chipper up to the shop and set it up.

The carbines were transported to the welding shop under armed guard. They were removed from the stocks and all metal parts pulled from the stocks which were then feed into the chipper. The welding foreman then proceeded to cut the receiver into three random shaped parts and the barrels about every 6 inches. All the cuttings and metal small parts were piled in piles and hammered with sledges. The scrap was collected and carried off site to an "secret" undisclosed location (the local national guard training camp) for disposal.

There was one that the armorer had held in reserve and never issued. A low serial number all matching, factory new Rockola. It was especially distressing to know the fate it suffered.

I was assigned one of the Pre-64 Model 70s for a short time before it was given the same treatment.

 

[shamelessinct]

Carbine

My father was in the USAAF in WWII and served in the Air Offensive over Europe, Normandy, the Battle for France and the Ardennes. He was issued an M1 carbine stateside and promptly worked the trigger pull down from 9# to 4#. They turned in the carbines when sent overseas and when reissued the same one by the numbers in England it had a 9# trigger again. The first thing he did after their planes began operating out of makeshift airfields in France was to report his carbine as a battlefield casualty and obtain a 1911 from a wounded noncom. In his opinion the 1911 was one reason he was able to return home in one piece. When he passed away 10 years ago I inherited 2 1911's and of all things, an IBM carbine.

 

[Mike7.62]

I have two. Both are reasonably accurate at 100-200 yards, are lightweight, reiable, and easy handling. According to Evans and Sanow in their book on shootings, the M1 Carbine with 110 gr SP's has a 95% one shot stop capability for hits in the torso. If I had to choose one weapon to carry around in combat, it would be an M14-but that's me. I would not however, feel undergunned and defenseless if all I had was an M1 Carbine.

 

[gregintenn]

Is there anywhere one can find a bayonet for an M1 Carbine at a reasonable price?

 

[norm]

Reply to Saxon Pig: We shot some water buffalos because a lot of guys were just onery. When we cleared the berm we were authorized to test fire weapons and if there was a buff around it sometimes got perforated.Not the way to win hearts an minds since they were probly worth more than the owners house. the "toony" aka platoon seargeant would settle up with money he carried for the purpose of pacification. We claimed accidental shooting and sometimes had to pay up ourselves.

 

[GLV]

My son's DCM Carbine purchased a few years

is an MOA gun with Federal AE ammunition. It was tagged 'tight muzzle' when it came in. Mine is 2.25, but I can't shoot like he can either.

 

[reddogge]

Years ago talked to a capt. in artillery who landed on Omaha Beach. I asked him what weapons he carried and he said a 1911 and that was it. He also said "I picked up an M-1 carbine on the beach because I thought it would come in handy and carried it all the way through the war and never shot it."

 

[Bell Charter Oak Holsters]

I have and have owned several. Awesome for it's overall size , weight and magazine capacity. In it's day boys, short of the Thompson .45 SMG it was the only gun I would have wanted for up close, in your face and let's get acquainted on a personal basis. Damn fine light rifle, damn fine design.

Cheers;
Lefty

 

[mg357]

I don't want to hijack or mess up the thread but i have written a series of by novels and my spy character uses an m1 carbine as one of his trademark weapons, the other is a S&W Stainless Steel revolver.

 

[mkk41]

Is there anywhere one can find a bayonet for an M1 Carbine at a reasonable price?

Depends on what ya want. Carbine bayonets are collectors items and depending on maker/vintage/markings/condition , they can get as expensive as the guns. The KA marked ones made by Korea for the guns we supplied them are the most plentiful and least expensive.

And there's lots of repro's.

There's usually some on Ebay and Gunbroker.

Surplus dealers like Sarco , Northridge , Numrich , etc.

 

[Road Rat]

In the early '60s the military got rid of the M1 Carbines. For a check for $22.00 they delivered one to my front door via the United States Postal Service.

I played with it for a few years and used it for plinking. I even bought a Lee Loader for it and rolled my own.

Then my brother-in-law decided he wanted it and my wife decided she had to have an antique coffee table and a trade was made. I never missed the carbine..........too light for real deer hunting, etc., and too heavy for shooting tin cans.

I always figured there was some political reason the military took it on.............heck, a .357 Magnum carbine would have worked just as well for a lot less money.

 

[M29since14]

A lot of guys bad-mouth them but I have never been able to get the various nay-sayers to part with theirs for any sort of "reasonable" figure. For a pathetic, under-powered gun, they seem to command a pretty substantial price.

My M1 Carbine is a pretty rough specimen cosmetically but it shoots very well. The only thing I don't like about them is that I don't own enough of them.

 

[Faulkner]

This is the bullet that really lets the .30 carbine round perform at it's best. I've taken a couple of whitetail deer, coyotes, and several wild hogs with a M1 carbine using the Winchester 110 grain Jacketed Soft/Hollow Point.

 

[JGR_LV]

Regarding the M1/M2 differences and the use of higher-capacity mags, the first thing I read when researching shooting my M1 was that 30-round magazines were bad news in a stock M1 because the original magazine catch wasn't up to the extra weight. The author said that the cure was to replace it with an M2 catch, which was more robustly built and would keep the mag where it belonged. Has anybody out there encountered this? For that matter, can somebody point out the differences between the two, so I can tell what I have? The carbine had two rather junky Korean 30-round mags, one with a broken spring, taped together with it when I got it, so apparently the former owner had used them. If the catch was apt to fail with the weight of one mag, you'd think two would be out of the question.

 

[sureshotbob]

The type IV mag catch marked with a M on the face for the 30 rnd. mags has a little leg on it to help support the mag.You can get the mag. catch and it takes a couple of minutes to change it out. A lot of the carbines that went through a rebuild after the war had the mag.catch and safety changed out. E/bay and a lot of surplus sites have them for about $20.00 or so. 4 out of my 5 carbines do'nt have or need it but I used 15 rnd. mags most of the time as my club has a 5 rnd. rule anyway.

 

[kimporter]

guess it was good enough it to put bugys siegel lights out!!

 

[Faulkner]

Seems like Malcolm X was killed with a M1 carbine.

 

[S&W Fan]

As a radio operator in WWII my dad was issued one (E4, 301 Signal Battalion, 3rd Army). He said he liked it because it was handy while bouncing around in a truck, getting in & out of said truck & just a "damn fun gun to shoot." He never warmed to the 1911, he was a revolver guy the rest of his life, but he also said he would pick one up someday. Unfortunately he never did.

 

[2152hq]

I have a Winchester made M1 Carbine. Non-import marked, no bayonet attachment on the bbl but it does have the adj rear sight. I don't know much about the different versions, but I take it that is a mid production style.
Nice shooter and fun to take out once in a while. A canvas case came with it too,,US marked along with a bunch of canvas mag pouches, magazines, 15rd and 30rd, even a big jar of WW2 era ammo.
I've worked the ammo supply down quite a bit.

I wouldn't feel undergunned w/it as a home defense weapon, or even deer hunting w/it again keeping my shots within 75yrds or so.

Are M1 Carbines on the bad gun hit-list in the Assault Weapon debate going on now?,,or are they too old fashion.
Maybe Andrew Cuomo will be coming to take it away.

 

[Joe Kent]

2152hq, they were on the most recent list put forth by the Chicago democrats here in Il. The list included over half of ALL rifles and shotguns and probably 75% of all handguns.