M1 Carbine accuracy

[Bruce McAskill]

The carbine was designed to have an effective range of 300 yards and hit a man sized target at that distance with the force of a .38 SPL has at the muzzle. That would equal about 250 lbs. of energy. Not a lot by todays standards but back in the day it was adequate. So accuracy was the ability of the carbine to hit a minute of bad guy at 300 yards and to take them out of the picture. Might only wound them but they are no longer in the fight. Today with a good soft point round the carbine is even much more deadly.

Information

Warning: This is a relatively older thread This discussion is older than 360 days. Some information contained in it may no longer be current.

[DaveHH]

Read "Blackhawk Down" and hear what a failure the M16 was. The D Boys said that you could have multiple hits and the target would simply flinch and keep right on doing, to die later from the wounds. The M14 equipped D Boys would drop the bad guy with one shot every time..
The M16 was a killer in VN with the 55 grain bullet and 12/1 twist barrel. Add the green tip round and it just drilled holes in people. Undoubtedly hundreds of people shot with the M16 went down, but the overall impression was not good with the D Boys.

Step back with the carbine and thousands of enemy soldiers died after being shot with it. Audie Murphy used the carbine as his preferred weapon. He was a hunter of men and shot killing shots with that rifle. He liked 15 shots and the handy way the carbine could be used. On Iwo and Okinawa, the Marines used it to great effect and they were not rear area troops. It wasn't made as a replacement for the pistol, it was just another weapon, and a very popular weapon.