Excerpt from this Guide:
A brief history of
the M1 Carbine
The US Carbine, Caliber .30, M1 served as a
lightweight semi-automatic carbine for the US Military from July
1942 ~ the 1960’s. The M2 (selective fire and fully automatic) and
the M3 (active infrared scope system) are not covered in this Guide.
In 1941, the Ordnance Department requested that US firearm companies
and designers compete to develop a smaller and handier weapon for
service troops such as truck drivers, medics, and paratroopers. The
new .30 M1 cartridge was designed for an effective range of 300
yards using a round-nose 110 grain bullet. Most agree that the
effective combat range is about 200 yards.
Although Winchester was awarded the initial
contract in September 1941, the Inland Division of General Motors
turned out to be the largest producer of M1 Carbines. A total of
over 6 million M1 Carbines were produced by several contractors such
as IBM, Underwood Typewriter Company, and the Rock-Ola Jukebox
Company. The most rare are the Irwin-Peterson models with just over
4,000 produced.
At first glance, the M1 Carbine appears to be
smaller version of the US M1 Garand rifle. The M1 Carbine has a
different gas system, trigger mechanism design, and is fed by a
detachable magazine....
