September 30, 1965, San Antonio, Texas: Nearing the completion of Basic Military Training in the Air Force, my flight (USAF equivalent of a platoon, more or less) was ordered to the firing range at Lackland AFB for qualification with the M1 Carbine. Up to this point, my experience with rifles was limited to shooting .22s of a variety of makes, with no formal training. This was going to be a big day for me….
Early in WWII, with the advent of the Blitzkrieg in Europe, observers saw German paratroopers and vehicle-mounted assault troops penetrating the Allied rear areas, putting Polish, French, and finally British support troops in immediate danger. In 1940, the U.S. Army recognized the need for a light rifle (a Carbine) for use by support troops and NCOs to respond to this problem, although the primary weapon of the front-line infantryman would remain the M1 Rifle.
Solving the problem of making enough Carbines was accomplished by appointing eleven companies to manufacture the weapons, resulting in a total wartime production of over six million Carbines between 1942 and 1945. The M1 Carbine was produced in higher numbers than any other U.S. made firearm in World War II. All parts were interchangeable between makes, and all improved parts could be retrofitted to earlier Carbines.
The M1 Carbine weighs about six pounds with a loaded 15-round magazine, sling, and oiler. It is thirty-six inches long, with an eighteen-inch barrel.
Ammunition for the Carbine is a straight-walled cartridge case, carrying a 110-grain round nose fully jacketed 7.62mm bullet, with a standard velocity of about 1,990 FPS. Known as ".30 Carbine" ammunition, it has roughly the same power as a .357 handgun round. Effective range of the M1 Carbine is about 300 yards, compared with the 500-yard effective range of the M1 Rifle.
The Carbine has a one-piece wooden stock with a separate wooden handguard, held to the barrel and action by a barrel band assembly and a band spring. On early carbines, a simple "L"-shaped rear sight has a leaf for 150 yards and 300 yards, with no windage adjustment. A cotton sling was attached to a wire sling mount on the barrel band, and then threaded through an oiler that was carried in a notch cut in the butt stock.
Front Sight:
Rear sight with 150-yard aperture up:
Field-stripping the Carbine can be accomplished with no tools; the barrel band screw can be loosened with the rim of a cartridge if a screwdriver isn't available. Once the barrel and action are removed, the trigger group can be removed with a single pin (eased out of position using the recoil spring guide as a tool). The slide and bolt can then easily be removed for cleaning. You can't clean the barrel from the breech with a rigid cleaning rod, so it needs to be inserted carefully through the muzzle.
Trigger group assembly:
To me, the Carbine is a thing of beauty internally: the parts are simple, robust, and not too numerous. Tolerances certainly do not feel tight, although the thing does not rattle when it's assembled.
The Carbine is gas-operated: as it is fired, a port in the barrel allows enough gas to escape to operate a very short piston, which travels about three sixteenths of an inch (∼4.5mm) before it strikes the slide violently. The slide then travels rearward about 3" as it unlocks the bolt, which extracts and ejects the fired case and cocks the hammer. Moving forward powered by the recoil spring, the bolt strips the next round off the top of the magazine and chambers it before locking, ready for the next trigger pull.
Slide:
Gas Piston extended:
After firing 15 rounds, on early carbines there was no slide stop feature in the magazine, so the slide just went forward again. To hold the action open, the slide is retracted and a button next to the operating handle is depressed.
….now, back to Texas.
Under close supervision by the Range NCOs and coaches, we got a brief introduction to the Carbine, were taught some rudimentary safety and marksmanship, and then we went to the firing line. Using standard military 100-yard targets, we were given 10 rounds for practice, and then we fired 60 rounds for the record: 10 slow standing, 10 slow kneeling, 10 slow sitting, 10 rapid kneeling, 10 rapid sitting, and 10 rapid prone.
Carbine firing is "good sport", according to FM 23-7 ("Basic Field Manual, U.S. Carbine, Caliber .30, M1", dated May 30, 1942). It has very mild recoil, it makes a satisfying noise, and you can see the slide and bolt in operation. Other than in Carbine-only matches, I have never heard of M1 Carbines being used in competition. They are decent little short-range rifles, but accuracy requirements are minimal: according to TM 9-1276, it should place five out of seven consecutive shots within a special target that is about 16 inches wide at 100 yards, or a 4-inch target at 25 yards.
Magazine changes are accomplished simply by pushing a button on the side of the trigger assembly, the empty magazine just drops straight out, and a fresh one is inserted straight into the magazine well. A very easy firearm to handle, the Carbine quickly builds your confidence.
The Carbine I used for qualification had an adjustable rear sight, something that came along later in production. I remember this specifically because my coach had me fire five shots at the target, then he made a couple of quick adjustments, I fired five more and he said we were ready to shoot for record.
Of a total of 300 possible points I shot a 282, so I was awarded the USAF Small Arms Expert Marksmanship Ribbon, a source of some pride to me and probably three quarters of the rest of my flight....because about three quarters of the flight won the ribbon, too!
At the time, USAF marksmanship training did not even begin to compare with what was being taught to the Army and Marines. But it was enough for the E1's in Basic, enough to get us a little confidence, and enough to satisfy the requirements at the time.
After that day at Lackland, I never again handled or fired a Government-owned weapon during my entire enlistment, from 1965 to 1969. I went off to Computer Programming School at Sheppard AFB, but that's another story.
Chris
Early in WWII, with the advent of the Blitzkrieg in Europe, observers saw German paratroopers and vehicle-mounted assault troops penetrating the Allied rear areas, putting Polish, French, and finally British support troops in immediate danger. In 1940, the U.S. Army recognized the need for a light rifle (a Carbine) for use by support troops and NCOs to respond to this problem, although the primary weapon of the front-line infantryman would remain the M1 Rifle.
Solving the problem of making enough Carbines was accomplished by appointing eleven companies to manufacture the weapons, resulting in a total wartime production of over six million Carbines between 1942 and 1945. The M1 Carbine was produced in higher numbers than any other U.S. made firearm in World War II. All parts were interchangeable between makes, and all improved parts could be retrofitted to earlier Carbines.
The M1 Carbine weighs about six pounds with a loaded 15-round magazine, sling, and oiler. It is thirty-six inches long, with an eighteen-inch barrel.
Ammunition for the Carbine is a straight-walled cartridge case, carrying a 110-grain round nose fully jacketed 7.62mm bullet, with a standard velocity of about 1,990 FPS. Known as ".30 Carbine" ammunition, it has roughly the same power as a .357 handgun round. Effective range of the M1 Carbine is about 300 yards, compared with the 500-yard effective range of the M1 Rifle.
The Carbine has a one-piece wooden stock with a separate wooden handguard, held to the barrel and action by a barrel band assembly and a band spring. On early carbines, a simple "L"-shaped rear sight has a leaf for 150 yards and 300 yards, with no windage adjustment. A cotton sling was attached to a wire sling mount on the barrel band, and then threaded through an oiler that was carried in a notch cut in the butt stock.
Front Sight:
Rear sight with 150-yard aperture up:
Field-stripping the Carbine can be accomplished with no tools; the barrel band screw can be loosened with the rim of a cartridge if a screwdriver isn't available. Once the barrel and action are removed, the trigger group can be removed with a single pin (eased out of position using the recoil spring guide as a tool). The slide and bolt can then easily be removed for cleaning. You can't clean the barrel from the breech with a rigid cleaning rod, so it needs to be inserted carefully through the muzzle.
Trigger group assembly:
To me, the Carbine is a thing of beauty internally: the parts are simple, robust, and not too numerous. Tolerances certainly do not feel tight, although the thing does not rattle when it's assembled.
The Carbine is gas-operated: as it is fired, a port in the barrel allows enough gas to escape to operate a very short piston, which travels about three sixteenths of an inch (∼4.5mm) before it strikes the slide violently. The slide then travels rearward about 3" as it unlocks the bolt, which extracts and ejects the fired case and cocks the hammer. Moving forward powered by the recoil spring, the bolt strips the next round off the top of the magazine and chambers it before locking, ready for the next trigger pull.
Slide:
Gas Piston extended:
After firing 15 rounds, on early carbines there was no slide stop feature in the magazine, so the slide just went forward again. To hold the action open, the slide is retracted and a button next to the operating handle is depressed.
….now, back to Texas.
Under close supervision by the Range NCOs and coaches, we got a brief introduction to the Carbine, were taught some rudimentary safety and marksmanship, and then we went to the firing line. Using standard military 100-yard targets, we were given 10 rounds for practice, and then we fired 60 rounds for the record: 10 slow standing, 10 slow kneeling, 10 slow sitting, 10 rapid kneeling, 10 rapid sitting, and 10 rapid prone.
Carbine firing is "good sport", according to FM 23-7 ("Basic Field Manual, U.S. Carbine, Caliber .30, M1", dated May 30, 1942). It has very mild recoil, it makes a satisfying noise, and you can see the slide and bolt in operation. Other than in Carbine-only matches, I have never heard of M1 Carbines being used in competition. They are decent little short-range rifles, but accuracy requirements are minimal: according to TM 9-1276, it should place five out of seven consecutive shots within a special target that is about 16 inches wide at 100 yards, or a 4-inch target at 25 yards.
Magazine changes are accomplished simply by pushing a button on the side of the trigger assembly, the empty magazine just drops straight out, and a fresh one is inserted straight into the magazine well. A very easy firearm to handle, the Carbine quickly builds your confidence.
The Carbine I used for qualification had an adjustable rear sight, something that came along later in production. I remember this specifically because my coach had me fire five shots at the target, then he made a couple of quick adjustments, I fired five more and he said we were ready to shoot for record.
Of a total of 300 possible points I shot a 282, so I was awarded the USAF Small Arms Expert Marksmanship Ribbon, a source of some pride to me and probably three quarters of the rest of my flight....because about three quarters of the flight won the ribbon, too!
At the time, USAF marksmanship training did not even begin to compare with what was being taught to the Army and Marines. But it was enough for the E1's in Basic, enough to get us a little confidence, and enough to satisfy the requirements at the time.
After that day at Lackland, I never again handled or fired a Government-owned weapon during my entire enlistment, from 1965 to 1969. I went off to Computer Programming School at Sheppard AFB, but that's another story.
Chris