The M1A1 Carbine in combat

Walter Rego said:
I looks like the G.I. on the right in the second picture is holding some kind of large caliber revolver doesn't it ?
Click to expand...

My eyes riveted on that revolver too. Wonder what it is?

Great photos! Love Carbines in all variations and love to see them in World War II photos.
 
Odd things happened supply wise in the Pacific, I've seen photos of Marines with them in the past. Didn't really stop to think about it at the time. Where they got them would be interesting.

OSS also got some, dropped them with teams into Vietnam to help the Vietminh and some went into the ETO in weapons drops.

I've also seen photos of them in the field in the Phillipines during the liberation. They weren't common, but there were airborne forces there, and once again, odd supply things seem to have cropped up.

They were supposed to go to officers, heavy weapons crew, radiomen, etc in airborne and (I think) gliberborne units. Burgett mentions a friendly fire death owing to one in one of his books. Since the stock doesn't lock, it isn't the most useful thing. For those interested, Choate finally got the concept right in recent years.

M3 greaseguns weren't officially replaced for issue until the adoption of the M4 carbine. Some went with tankers to the Gulf War. Some are still in inventory in that tin foil looking paper stuff, usually with a mag pouch, couple mags, and I think you have to screw the barrel in. They were cheap to make and had a long service life.
 
No telling how many of those I have been close to and never picked one up.
Nowadays, armed with the knowledge of them, it would be an honor to have one that went to war and came home. Funny how we focus on some things and leave other things alone. Maybe I'll cross paths with one some day and get a chance to own and shoot it awhile...Hope the owner likes S&Ws.
 
I only have five left. (Rockola, Inland, Quality, Underwood, Postal Meter) I had 13. I wish I hadn't sold the other eight as they are too hard to replace now. To understand carbines you just about have to have a degree in Carbineology. Lots of stuff swapped around. Some made all the parts, some only a few with other borrowed parts. To figure out what is a "correct" carbine can be mind boggling. I carried an Inland with two 30 round mags clamped together as a patrol rifle for several years. If you can shoot one they're just as good as the AR type patrol rifles. So are AK's, probably just not as politically correct.
 
John Masters's books show them carried by British officers in Burma in WWII, but the normal wooden stocked variety.
 
My FIL was an Army Corps of Engineers in WWII, traveled all over the PTO.
He had one and was not impressed. I remember his story of hitting a sniper in a tree and it not stopping the sniper.

Overall, it's a nice weapon, just lacking power.

I showed him my Mini 30 in his later life and he looked at it and with the increased power over the .30 carbine round, he agreed it would have been the perfect caliber. Too bad it wasn't introduced in time.
 
I was in college working part time at a LGS. I ordered a Carbine from the agency that preceded the DCM. I paid $17.50 for it delivered by Railway Express to the local depot in Reno. I picked up the package and went to the gun store to open it. We all gathered around as I opened it. The second my Boss saw it he said, "Wait, a minute." He carefully brought it out of the package and said, "Would you look at that? It is a M2 Carbine!" We all took a good look at it while he called the local BATF. The local agent came down and we all had a good laugh. He took all the pertinent information and the carbine. He said, "I will take care of this and make sure that you get your M1 Carbine." In about two months a package arrived at the gunstore addressed to me. In it was an all but new M1 Carbine by Winchester with four new magazines also in the package. I foolishly sold the carbine about two years later.
 
I passed one up back in 1991 for $135. Dumbest gun screwup I ever made.
 
I had a "Frankenstein" carbine once. Back in 88-I was paying on one to give to my dad for Christmas. Well, he passed away in August--was several more months when I realized I was making payments. I went to the guy selling it to me-fully expecting it to be sold and money lost) I explained what happened and he said he still had it-had figured something bad had happened-and he let me finish paying on it-no harm no foul.

Boy that carbine was fun to shoot.
 
My first deer rifle was a M1A1 my dad bought through the NRA for $15. So much for 'assault weapons' only having one purpose. ;)

Sorry to step on some toes of it's supporters, but it was an under powered and, at least in the case of mine, very inaccurate and undependable weapon. One of my step brothers has it now and I don't miss it in the least!
 
I remember a M-1 carbine that had a folding wire stock that folded underneath the gun like a Schmeisser sub gun. It also had a cone shaped flash surpressor and I thought it looked pretty cool at the time 25 years ago. Anyone know if these were military issue?
 
"I had a "Frankenstein" carbine once."

Assuming you mean a Carbine with mixed parts, most of them are, and even more are not original WWII manufacture. A few makers of carbines during WWII were mainly assemblers of parts from other makers, and the great majority of WWII carbines were completely overhauled after WWII with new sights and bayonet lugs added, and often new stocks. The Army was not concerned about keeping parts together during overhaul. Occasionally one runs across a "duffel bag special" from WWII which is completely original, and those are rarities.

An interesting aside, most of the carbines arsenal-overhauled after WWII were "mothballed" by sealing 20 at a time in large metal cans. Can you imagine the value of a sealed storage can full of carbines were one to turn up today?
 
Tom S. said:
My first deer rifle was a M1A1 my dad bought through the NRA for $15. So much for 'assault weapons' only having one purpose. ;)

Sorry to step on some toes of it's supporters, but it was an under powered and, at least in the case of mine, very inaccurate and undependable weapon. One of my step brothers has it now and I don't miss it in the least!
Click to expand...

That is correct to an extent but, the important thing is, they are fun as hell to shoot.
 
DWalt said:
"I had a "Frankenstein" carbine once."

Assuming you mean a Carbine with mixed parts, most of them are, and even more are not original WWII manufacture. A few makers of carbines during WWII were mainly assemblers of parts from other makers, and the great majority of WWII carbines were completely overhauled after WWII with new sights and bayonet lugs added, and often new stocks. The Army was not concerned about keeping parts together during overhaul. Occasionally one runs across a "duffel bag special" from WWII which is completely original, and those are rarities.

An interesting aside, most of the carbines arsenal-overhauled after WWII were "mothballed" by sealing 20 at a time in large metal cans. Can you imagine the value of a sealed storage can full of carbines were one to turn up today?
Click to expand...

Mine was an Iver-Johnson??? had a bayonet lug and a few other military parts-the rest-not mil. I had to sell it shortly after I got it-to help a bit with expenses due to dad's funeral. I was able to take it out a few times before it had to be sold. I knew why my dad liked them so much, I fell in love with the: "Bride of Frankenstein."
 
DWalt said:
Occasionally one runs across a "duffel bag special" from WWII which is completely original, and those are rarities.
Click to expand...

I'm fortunate enough to have acquired one such M1 carbine - as issued during WWII. This one walked in off the street as I was entering a large gun show. I examined it carefully - it's a Standard Products example, and amazingly, most of the parts were actually made at Standard Products in Port Clinton, Ohio. Even the magazine has the correct marking. It appears to have been made in early 1944. These are indeed exceptional rarities today. The price asked was reasonable (about 20 years ago), and I snapped it up before it could get to the gun show floor. It's featured in my 101 Classic Firearms book.

John

M1CARBINE-II-1280_zps6d4b3e07.jpg
 
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