M1 Carbine in an intermediate caliber

[DaveHH]

Melvin's invention was ill timed, you could get surplus carbine ammunition for about 3-5 cents a round at the time, so what's the point?

I personally think that the M1 carbine was taken a step too far with the M2. It is a fragile design compared to say M16 or AK and I doubt that it could have held up well to prolonged use of a 50,000+ CUP cartridge. They were breaking with cases that were a bit too long. In actual field use the M14 and M16 were miles ahead in reliability and especially accuracy. The carbine did what it was supposed to do and did it well. The fact that after 6.5M were made there is still a huge demand for them and they are still shooting says a lot about their history.