Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters 30 M1 Carbine

My old Inland could be counted on for 2" at 50 yards. Best results were with 110 grain cast bullets and H-110 powder. I don't think I ever targeted it at 100 yards so can't attest to its accuracy there. I will say that a more fun gun to blast empty soup cans at backyard distances was never invented. Were I to step back in time to join the boys slogging across France I would ask for a Carbine instead of a Garand- for the same reason many of them favored it: ease of carry.

In the jungles of Mindanao, circa 1943, guerrilla leader Wendell Fertig requested 12 gauge riot guns to arm his "troops". Buckshot was a grim reaper in close quarter ambushes. The submarine commander who was taking his order for the next supply shipment from Australia pointed out to him that it wasn't weight so much as space taken up by the goods in the hold of the sub- a case of 10,000 rounds of .30 Carbine would take up as much space as a few hundred 12 gauge shells. Fertig looked at him and said he would take what he could get the most of, so .30 carbines and their ammo it was.

Yes, but will it penetrate quilted winter clothing?

I’ve never seen a pig with a quilted winter coat on. 😉 I worked with several old plumbers that said that they shot several guys with winter clothing that kept on coming. They preferred the 06 even though it was heavy. Most every older man in the early 70’s was a war vet. Some would talk about it, some not. Those guys hated those guns that shot nails in concrete.

That's coolish. What do it do for you?

DD

PS: First CF rifle I ever shot was a M1 Carbine on Guam in '63. Was at a base range and some of the real live USAF peeps were trying to qualify. Scored better than about half and the range officer was merciless about them lettin' a kid whip their butts. Still makes me smile.

One of dad's friends hunted pigs on the rock with a Carbine. He had to shoot every one of them at least once.

Should have used a .45-70 - could have gotten by with less than once.

Naw, he didn't believe in gang bangs.

Young buckaroos call that a twofer or threefer.............

I just point and shoot. Probably Minute of my fishing pond.

http://thecmp.org/competitions/cmp-national-matches/national-cmp-games-events/m1-carbine-match/

This is shot a 100 yds. at an SR-1 target, which has a 3.35" diameter 10 ring.

Mine's a stock issue Underwood with no tweaks. The operating rod rattles but at 50 yards off a good bench rest it shoots centered to point of aim and will usually put three shots inside an inch with Hornady "Critical Defense" 110 gr FTX ammo, PPU 110 FMJ or handloads with 15 gr of 4227.and Sierra 110 SPs. At 100 around 4" off a bench is the best I can get with it.

As a side note Lt. Col. John George, a match quality shooter, in his NRA published book, "Shots Fired In Anger", said it was his favorite rifle when he was with Merrill' Marauders in Burma due to it's light weight for jungle combat and relates several instances when he used it effectively. He wrote, " The cartridge was powerful enough to penetrate several thicknesses of helmet and to perforate the plates of the Japanese bullet proof vests, which would only be dented by .45 auto slugs. It was flat shooting enough to have practical accuracy at more than two hundred yards."

I am just glad I haven't needed to use one in a crises. Mine shot best with the barrel band only in loose contact with the hand guard. Two to Six inch groups at 100 but did take several deer with it. Winchester 110 hollow points worked best.

On one of my Inlands I installed an Ultimak rail to replace the upper hand guard and initially put a tube type red sight on it. I hit a crossing cottontail at about 25 yards a few years ago (it wasn’t his day 😊). Last year I replaced the tube sight with a Leupold Delta Point. The last time I shot it at 50 yards with a reduced load using a FMJ and IMR 4756 it put 5 shots in less than an inch with the same POI as my normal loads with a 110 R-P soft point and 14.5 grs of Win 296. With my old eyeballs I didn’t bother to try it at 100 yds.

One reason I like the .30 Carbine is the certainty of Multi-MOA precision. Over thinking or little thought gets about the same result, a smile.

Yes, it will, but if you're already half dead from frostbite, you may not immediately feel it.

I had a $1400 Fulton Armory M1 Carbine awhile. It would put the Corbon DPX 100gr into 1.5" at 100 off the bench. I carried it around as a truck gun awhile. I finally sold it off for another project. No...I did not recover my money, ha, but I got enough to justify the sale... I had a $450 IMI that shot "as well as that Fulton Armory" did! I gave it to a relative who...til this day...swears he gave it back to me. He didn't.

My father liked the carbine in the Pacific. He once was in on the killing of a big Jap Imperial Marine ( dad said he was at least 6 feet tall) the Jap was a sapper that some guys had cornered in a patch of woods. They asked my dad to "block" as they routed him out. My dad said he hit him several times, could see the dust flying off him ( around 100yds) as he was running. A closer guy got him with a Thompson. Dad said that Jap had wrapped his body tight with wound clothe strips from his pelvis to his armpits. He was shot all the heck, but still able to run. Had a big satchel charge with him. One of the rare times my dad ever told me things like that.

Funny thing about the M1 history is that a lot of folks reference the Korea experience, layers of clothing etc. The gun had a much longer history in Nam, primarily but not limited to the ARVN use of the weapon. The Vietnamese were commonly referred to as dinks by Allied troopers, not so much as a denigration but a simple reference to their size. They are of small stature, mostly around 5' - maybe 5'4" and I'm being generous. The Koreans/Chinese/Japanese folks are full size; in every respect equal to the average Caucasian. Point of all this ramble? Heavy clothing was and is a non starter in SEA, the people preferring to carry ammo rather than a heavy weapon. The AK weighs in around 8,8# loaded, the M-16 (7.5# loaded) was about a pound lighter and the M1 Carbine (5.8# loaded w/sling) another pound lighter still. Little people liked the Carbine, or so they said. Killed little people just fine in the jungle. They also had the M2 variant as well. Rat-a-tat-tat... There was precious little long range rifle fighting in that war, high precision was not necessary. Quick, nimble and reliable is the mantra in triple canopy jungle...

Pity the Northerners, lugging a gun and ammo load that was at or greater than 10% of their body weight down the trail, up the hill, down the hill, over and over again. Kinda like all GI's toting the famed BAR, no?

I carried and used an M16A1 on tour #1 with a Win. Mod 12 as backup. Toted another for part of tour #2 and finished off the last half of that with a CAR15. Had a brief time during '71 that I carried a M3. Those things are a hoot, particularly if loaded with tracers. Not terribly useful in my opinion, but good for laffs and chasing monkeys thru the tree tops. Had I been a ground pounder it would have been my last choice of all the aforementioned.

My Plainfield will do minute-of-coffee can at 100 yards, offhand. More or less, depending on if I tied one on with the boys the night before

It was purchased by my grandfather. He was a career California Highway Patrolman, and my grandmother insisted he buy it during the Watts riots in Southern California, in case things got sporty.