M1 Carbine

M1 Carbine

A “carbine” is historically a short light musket or rifle intended for use by mounted soldiers .

During the Second World War, the American GI was armed with the M1 Garand Rifle the big brother of the M1 Carbine . This heavy self loading rifle was described by General George S. Patton as :-

" The greatest battle implement ever devised "

He also praised the M1 Carbine . From a letter to his wife Beatrice penned whilst on ship heading to take part in the Torch Landings in Vichy French North Africa :-

“ The new carbine is a lovely little thing and very accurate “

The M1 carbine was one of America’s most popular and widely produced military rifles , serving the country from World War II through Vietnam. Not counting the M16, more M1 Carbines (and variants) were made than any other American long gun in history. Depending upon which vet you talk to, this neat little .30-caliber repeater was either the best or the worst arm he ever carried.

The M1 Carbine was developed in response to a requirement for a light, handy rifle to be carried by clerks, cooks, linemen, machine gunners, artillerymen and the like—soldiers who might have need of a longer range firearm than a pistol , but for whom the bulkier Garand might be inappropriate . Though initiated in 1938, the request was shelved until 1940 when America’s entry into World War II seemed probable .The diminutive M1 Carbine was the gun chosen by the government to fill that role .

It was designed by one of the most colorful firearms inventors of the 20th century, David Marshall Williams who was famously played by James “ Jimmy “ Stewart in MGM's biopic Carbine Williams . Williams formulated many of his ideas while serving a term in prison for second-degree murder of a deputy sheriff . This occurred whilst Williams was operating an illegal distillery towards the end of the prohibition era when alcoholic drinks were illegal throughout the U.S.A . After he was released, he went to work for Winchester and in collaboration with others came out with the new gun.

The final product was simple and robust. With a barrel length of just 18 inches, an overall length of three feet and a well-balanced heft of 5½ pounds, it seemed to have the word “handy” invented for it. Although the round didn’t have anything near the power of that of the .30-’06, within reasonable distances it had enough oomph to be a reasonably effective combat round . Reports of the bullets effectiveness seemed to be at least OK during World War II . Some troops during the Korean Conflict complained bitterly that the round just didn’t have enough power to punch through the quilted jackets worn by their Chinese adversaries in the sub zero temperatures typical of the battle of the Chosin Reservoir .

Production began in September 1941 with very few changes to Williams’ original design . One improvement was changing the magazine release button into a lever style one to avoid the problem of soldiers in the heat of battle inadvertently unloading the gun by confusing the mag. release with the safety catch .

After the unexpected Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor the U.S.A. quickly increased production by giving manufacturers other than Winchester contracts to supply whole guns or parts . These suppliers included many non-firearms companies including surprisingly even Rock-Ola a manufacturer of jukeboxes . By the end of the war, more than 6 million had been churned out to satisfy an enthusiastic demand by American and Allied forces in various theaters of operation.

Probably the most distinctive M1 Carbine variant was the M1A1 known as the Paratrooper intended for airborne use. This involved the replacement of the full-length stock with one incorporating a folding wire butt and rear-mounted pistol grip. This made the gun lighter , much more compact and easier to manage when jumping out of a Dakota .

A fully automatic version was developed in late 1944 known as the M2 . The gun looked pretty muck like the normal M1, with the exception of a selector switch and a special 30 round magazine . Cyclic rate of fire was a controllable 750 rounds per minute , taking less than three seconds to empty the magazine .