1911 & M1 Carbine: Going strong?

[Faulkner]

Here's a picture that a newspaper reporter took of me a couple of years ago. It was my day off when I got a call on my cell phone from dispatch that a on-duty officer was in pursuit of a armed suspect not far from my home and was asking for backup. With most of my gear always in my take home patrol car, I grabbed my duty belt and vest and headed out to help.

Later, as I was standing on the side of the road I got out my M1 carbine in M1A1 configuration. A newspaper reporter from the local paper came up to ask me a few questions about what was going on (none of which I would answer, I don't like talking to reporters), he then asked "what kind of new fangled assualt rifle do you have? I've never seen anything like that before." I told him it was a M1 carbine, it was designed over 60 years ago and used in WWII and the Korean War. Amazingly, he then asked, "are ya'll allowed to shoot people with 60 year old guns?"

Although my picture didn't make the paper the reporter was nice enough to email the picture to me.

[JimF4M1s (Deceased)]

Show him a 1911 and say:

No, I use my 90 year old Pistol.

[imarangemaster]

Got to love the press. When I was in Investigations at the Sheriff's Office working sexual assault cases, the press regularly mis-quoted me or gave credit to Highway Patrol credit for my arrests. They had a "thing" about the Sheriff's office. As I say, got to love the press.

BTW, Nice M1A1! I had an M1A1 stock on my trunk gun for awhile.

[phil441]

Faulkner, that's actually a great picture. Bluejeans and home shoes underneath the Sheriff's issue raincoat and hat. It just kinda says, "just getting the job done."

Thanks,
Phil

[jmoore]

I was talking to a guy at the Benning AMTU armory. He said that the main problem with the M855/SS109 is the short barrel. He said it works well (yawing and fragmenting) out of the 20 inch barrel. Out of the 14.5 M4 barrel, the velocity is insufficient past 75-80 yards to reliably yaw OR break up and fragment. The 5.56mm Open Tip, 77 grain MK262 Mod1 (from Black Hills) that they developed for the SAW works very well out to 150-200 yards even from the M4. It is an easy fix, but he says the brass is fighting it.

Which fix is easier, reissuing the 30 Carbine cartridge or making the Mk262 Mod 1 the standard? Which would we rather see?

[INLAND44]

BTW, PRVI of Serbia now makes a hunting/personal defense round for the AK/SK. It has a round-nose, soft-point bullet - looks like the .30 carbine on steroids! This ammo is at Widener's. A guy on the AK forum already dropped a deer at 80 yds with it. I have ordered a few hundred for goblin defense.

[imarangemaster]

Which fix is easier, reissuing the 30 Carbine cartridge or making the Mk262 Mod 1 the standard? Which would we rather see?

For a full power rifle or even M4, as much as I love the .30 carbine, the MK262 Mod1 77 grain OTBT 5,56mm is far more versatile. Out of a 20" it is extremely disruptive at 300 yards and more. Even out of a 14.5 inch M4, it zaps at 150 to 175+ yards, yaws and breaks up.

A nice little M1 carbine with an M1A1 or modern folding stock would still be a good PDW, though. The M4s, especially with all the tacticool stuff start weighing 8 lbs and are more cumbersome.

[imarangemaster]

BTW, PRVI of Serbia now makes a hunting/personal defense round for the AK/SK. It has a round-nose, soft-point bullet - looks like the .30 carbine on steroids! This ammo is at Widener's. A guy on the AK forum already dropped a deer at 80 yds with it. I have ordered a few hundred for goblin defense.

With my Saiga AK, I use 122 grain HPs and SPs from Barnaul. I have seen some 200+ lb wild pigs that were shot with them. The damage was amazing! The Ruskie open tips have the energy to penetrate, but really fragment and make horrendous wounds. Even with the FMJ, the Yugo M67 flat base style bullets starts to yaw withing 4 inches, where the Russian BT FMJs tend to go about 12+ inches before yawing.

The 30 carbine needs a SP or HP bullet to maximize. I was impressed by the penetration of the carbine in the "Infantry weapons and their effects" video, as well as the rapid yaw of the FMJ in gelatin to maximize the FMJ design.