M1 carbine discussion

[jeffalgol]

Was looking at my m1 carbine today and a couple of questions came to mind and I was wondering what others people perspectives are on a carbine. Other than there light weight and fun to shoot, what about practical uses? Is a .30 carbine good to hunt small game? Is it a decent home defense? Let me know your experience with one and your thoughts on it.

 

[Dfalt]

Ballistically speaking .30 Carbine is roughly equivalent to .357 Magnum, so anything .357 can do .30 Carbine should be able to do too. That said, I'm not sure what the availability of .30 Carbine looks like these days or if you can even get anything other than ball ammo for it.

 

[jeffalgol]

Ballistically speaking .30 Carbine is roughly equivalent to .357 Magnum, so anything .357 can do .30 Carbine should be able to do too. That said, I'm not sure what the availability of .30 Carbine looks like these days or if you can even get anything other than ball ammo for it.

Never actually tried to look for Anything other than ball. But I might start browsing around since you brought it up. What's the main differences between the two calibers?

 

[Dfalt]

Never actually tried to look for Anything other than ball. But I might start browsing around since you brought it up. What's the main differences between the two calibers?

Well for starters .357 magnum is a popular revolver/levergun cartridge with a wide variety of loadings both factory and hand loaded while .30 Carbine is almost exclusive to the M1 Carbine. There are a few specialty guns including at least one revolver I'm aware of chambered in .30 Carbine but you don't see them very often. .30 Carbine doesn't have the same variety of factory loadings as .357 magnum but you can find FMJ, soft point, and even defensive loads if you look around (at least according to the search I just did on Ammoseek). 110 grain seems to be the only bullet weight available.

I use to hunt deer with an M1 Carbine when I was a little kid but I never got the chance to kill anything with it so I can't speak from experience on it's effectiveness as a hunting round, but I'm sure there's someone on here who has and would know more about that than I would.

As for .30 Carbine as a defensive round, the M1 Carbine was popular with the military and civilians using it in that role up until surplus dried up and it was phased out for other more commonly available options. The one caveat is that the mags aren't always reliable, especially if you go bigger than the standard 15 round mags the military used.

For practicality's sake I say just get something in .357 but if you want an M1 Carbine they're good little guns and definitely not a bad pick.

 

[Wooddux1]

Been loading for carbine for years. CMP in Oxford has some ammo and csrbines from time to time. The prices have skyrocketed over the past few years, even the universal carbines are bringing g 6 to 750. Ball ammo is about all that is out there now.

 

[OldScool.22]

The 30 caliber Carbine was derived from the old Winchester 32 WSL

 

[OldScool.22]

Will the .30 caliber M1 kill a deer, Yes I killed a 6 point when I was in my early 20s. Should you dear hunt with the M1, Probably not there's too many better choices. As far as small game like coyotes It is great inside a 100 yd. As far as home defense it was used quite successfully in 3 different wars. As far as being practical Collectors have driven the prices up So high that there are many other better options on the market. This World War II gun in an aftermarket stock is quite accurate at a 100 yd. (30 caliber carbine and 357 magnum for comparison.)

 

[Drcrimson]

I’m a fan of the m1 carbine. Very easy rifle to shoot and it was the next step for my son when he graduated from a 22.

The ones from the WW2 era are highly collectible

 

[jeffalgol]

Will the .30 caliber M1 kill a deer, Yes I killed a 6 point when I was in my early 20s. Should you dear hunt with the M1, Probably not there's too many better choices. As far as small game like coyotes It is great inside a 100 yd. As far as home defense it was used quite successfully in 3 different wars. As far as being practical Collectors have driven the prices up So high that there are many other better options on the market. This World War II gun in an aftermarket stock is quite accurate at a 100 yd. (30 caliber carbine and 357 magnum for comparison.) View attachment 13054

I didn't know they made a aftermarket stock for the m1.

 

[OldScool.22]

Yes and a lot of different configurations mostly out of the late 1960s and 1970s. Most of the ones I have were found on ebay.

 

[OldScool.22]

All of the aftermarket stocks I have seen were made for the GI model trigger group, Most of the later commercial model M1 had a slightly different trigger group, But the ones like the universal firearms You can change it out and put a GI trigger group on them.

 

[RaySendero]

The standard length of pull on a M1-30 carbine is just over 13 inches.
Which can be short for men, but, coincidentally, makes it about right for a lot of women.
Plus it is quicker/easy to learn to aim/shoot accurately than a handgun.
(This ease of learning is by one of the original military training purposes for it.)

 

[CrazyBoykin]

My late father deer hunted with an M1 Carbine in Arkansas, but some states consider the cartridge not potent enough. Dad made a jig to hold the cartridge and made "dum-dum" rounds with a file so the ball ammo would expand. He killed a lot of deer with his WW II era Inland Division Carbine.

 

[Bobby in LA]

Was looking at my m1 carbine today and a couple of questions came to mind and I was wondering what others people perspectives are on a carbine. Other than there light weight and fun to shoot, what about practical uses? Is a .30 carbine good to hunt small game? Is it a decent home defense? Let me know your experience with one and your thoughts on it.

I have an old WWII and a modern repo. Both shoot well but I don’t shoot the old gun anymore.
Trouble with any mags over 15 rounds.

 

[RaySendero]

Well...I also killed a deer with the 30-M1.

Was using that Federal factory soft point with the small hollow hole in tip.
Shot was broadside double lung at 35 yards.
Deer ran over 100 yds.
Entrance hole was bullet size - there was no exit hole.

I stopped using it for hunting - I didn't give the 30-M1 a second chance since I had better rifle options.

 

[OldScool.22]

I have a couple of universal carbines in 256 Winchester magnum. ( This is a 357 magnum necked down to 25 caliber, It uses the same bullet as the old 25-20 ) This bullet is outstanding on Coyotes.

 

[Glassman256]

Just going to put this out there...my opinion...any military weapon that's in any war ...if it's made for wars and combat...it will kill a deer. ....I've killed a lot of deer with different cal. Military weapons...so if it was made for wars..it kills deer and most everything it comes in contact with...just my military veteran opinion...

 

[J G BEAVERS]

My grandfather hunted with an M1 carbine for many years. We spent alot of time looking for the deer he had shot. Yes it will kill deer but there are alot of beter options for deer hunting. I own one and love shooting it and does exactly what it was intended to do but deer hunting is not it's strong point.