Why did American soldiers spend three wars trying to replace the M1 Carbine with anything more powerful they could lay their hands on?

The HORRORS of M1 Carbine

Why did American soldiers spend three wars trying to replace the M1 Carbine with anything more powerful they could lay their hands on? Was the rifle just too weak? Or is there a slightly different part of the story that you’ve never heard of? Well, that’s what we’re going to show you today. The story of the M1 Carbine began when the US Army recognized a simple problem with their new rifle just before the Second World War.

The M1 Garand was an excellent rifle, but it was also too heavy and awkward for the soldiers who weren’t supposed to see direct infantry combat so often. The full-size M1 caused all sorts of problems for support troops like staff personnel, truck drivers, ammunition carriers, and the thousands of others that formed the backbone of a modern mechanized army.

The full-size rifle was basically more of a burden than a benefit. But they also wanted to arm them with something more than just a pistol as a sidearm. This was because of the danger of German blitzkrieg tactics where rapid advances of armor repeatedly overran positions behind the front lines.

So it would be nice if soldiers who weren’t supposed to face combat now had something better than a pistol to defend themselves. So the idea was that ammunition carriers, machine gun crew members, mortar crews, and rear echelon troops should be equipped with a lightweight shoulder weapon. The official request for a new light weapon had already been evaluated in 1938 and deemed unnecessary at the time.

But after Germany’s invasion of Poland, they gave it a second look and approved it by June 1940. It had to fire in semi-automatic or select fire mode and not exceed £5 with a sling. But the select fire mode was eventually dropped as the rush to get them into production outweighed everything else. The rifles had to use a new 30 caliber cartridge developed by Winchester.

It roughly matched the energy output of a 357 Magnum, which sounds decent on paper. But when you compared it to the Garan’s 306 Springfield, the carbine round was significantly less powerful, producing just 36% of the Garand’s energy at the muzzle. Since it was never meant to be a frontline combat rifle, this was considered enough at the time, but time would show just how wrong they were.

Just to see how absurd the development was, take a look at this for a second. Winchester didn’t participate in the first US Army carbine trials because they were busy developing a different rifle, the Winchester G30. That rifle had originally been designed by Ed Browning as a semi-automatic project. But when Browning died in 1939, Winchester brought in David Marshall Williams to continue the work.

This is the man later known as Carbine Williams, and you’re now going to see why. By 1941, this redesign resulted in a lighter prototype known as the M2 rifle. It reduced the weight from about 9 12 lb to roughly 7 12 lb. But it still didn’t meet what the US ordinance department wanted. They demanded something much lighter, about 4 12 lb, and they gave Winchester a generous deadline of 13 days to present a new design for the next trial.

Williams believed the requirement was unrealistic and left the team. However, Winchester engineers decided to try it anyway. Instead of designing everything from scratch, they combined existing parts like a trigger housing from a Winchester model 1905 rifle, a modified operating rod inspired by the Garin system, and the shortstroke gas piston concept they already had.

Working under extreme time pressure, they assembled a functioning lightweight carbine prototype within that 13-day deadline, which is what ultimately evolved into the M1 carbine. Seeing that the design was actually possible, Williams rejoined and helped a more refined version to be developed. But this doesn’t mean that the problems would end.

After solving a feeding issue, but not solving a cycling issue, the rifle was tested at Abedine Proving Ground for 3 days and outperformed every other rifle. Everything was great until the bolt broke. Inspection showed the failure was due to bad metal, not the design itself. But Winchester again had a super realistic deadline of only one day to replace the bolt or be disqualified.

But on top of this impossible time, the rifle wasn’t allowed to leave Abedine. So the Winchester team worked overnight at their factory with no blueprints, making a new bolt entirely from memory. Unable to test it, they brought the bolt back, not knowing if it would work, but it did, and they won the contract by unanimous decision.

The rifle’s official designation became the M1 Carbine. Now, it was time for production. Since the number of rear echelon troops would always be higher than frontline troops, the production demand was enormous, and many unlikely manufacturers with no previous gun making experience joined in to meet demand.

Computer companies like IBM and jukebox makers like Rock Ola were some of the many unlikely firms drawn into production. So by the war’s end, they collectively made over 6 million M1 carbines, which made it the most produced American small arm during the Second World War. That’s compared to about 5.

5 million M1 Garands and about 1 and a3 million Thompson submachine guns. So what happened when it finally went to war? And how were the shortcomings of this new cartridge realized? usually in the worst possible moment. The M1 carbine made its war debut in Europe, and soldiers at first loved it. The comfortable recoil and the 15 round detachable magazine gave them far more firepower than a pistol while still weighing just over 5 lbs, so it quickly spread beyond its intended role.

The rifle made for support troops was soon given to infantry officers, paratroopers, artillery observers, and many other frontline soldiers. Anyone who needed mobility loved its compact size and actually preferred it to full-size battle rifles. And for soldiers like paratroopers who needed an even more compact variant, the folding stock version called the M1 A1 was made.

It was basically a standard M1 carbine with a sidefolding wire stock and a wooden pistol grip being just 25 in long when folded. But the stock wasn’t locked in the open or closed position as you might expect. It was actually held in place by a spring-loaded cam which made it quick to deploy but somewhat wobbly during extended firing.

The M1A1 was heavily used by paratroopers in Sicily in 1943 and they typically carried it in a padded scabbard hanging from the pistol belt with a strap to secure it to the leg. However, many skipped the leg strap because as you can probably imagine, a rifle strapped to your thigh upon landing isn’t quite the best idea.

So they simply tucked the carbine behind their reserve parachute instead. In the Pacific, soldiers and guerilla forces operating in heavy jungle with only occasional enemy contact generally praised the carbine for its lightweight, short length, and accuracy at close ranges. Its non-corrosive primer ammunition was extremely valuable in the Pacific climate where the corrosive primers used in 30 ought six weapons created a huge maintenance headache.

However, soldiers enthusiasm for the new rifle quickly faded after their first real combat use. Many started swapping their M1 carbines for garans whenever possible. And the reason is the carbine hitting power wasn’t exactly what they expected. Reports from soldiers, especially those serving in the Philippines, said that it couldn’t stop the charging enemy even with multiple hits.

They questioned the weapon’s penetration and shooting power, seeing that Japanese soldiers shot with it just kept coming at them. Now, this could partly be explained by the Japanese military’s distribution of quote unquote focus enhancing tablets, similar to what the Germans were using at the time, if you know what I mean.

But the problem was seen too often to be either a coincidence or an isolated case. So, what was the deal with it? You see, the roundnse full metal jacket bullet would go clean through targets rather than tumble or create significant wound channels. The round would pass right through without expending its energy effectively, leaving the enemy still capable of fighting or at least living for long enough to cause you problems.

It was confirmed that the carbine had killing power, but not enough stopping power. Soldiers who were shot would most likely eventually die from their wounds, but it often took time before that happened. And knowing that they’re dying, they’d usually use that time to pay you back for shooting them, right? And then just imagine how it affected soldiers who are now fighting like in those dreams where you can’t punch or run like you’re moving through water, but this time with the real risk of dying instead of waking up. The European

campaign actually created a real split in opinions. Many praised the carbine and its lightweight design, while others looked at it as more of a toy than an actual rifle, with many veteran stories, like one who claimed he shot four rounds into a charging German from his carbine without stopping him.

Another said he threw it away after his first combat and replaced it with a Thompson just a few days after landing on the Normandy beaches and ended his campaign with that Thompson instead. Experienced frontline troops started outright rejecting the carbine and replacing them with M1 Garans whenever they could while all the time bitching to the army about the weapons shortcomings.

So the army responded by introducing the M2 carbine in late 1944. Though this was more because of the Germans widespread use of automatic weapons and only partly because they gave a damn about their soldiers frustrations with the wrong caliber for the job. The M2 now had a fully automatic rate of fire of about 750 rounds per minute and came with a new 30 round magazine, but actual production didn’t start until April 1945, far too late to make any difference in the Second World War.

The most technologically advanced variant was the M3 carbine, an M2 fitted with a mount for an infrared sight. It was developed by the army in 1943 when the Japanese began infiltrating their lines at night and causing chaos, and it was fielded in 1945 during the invasion of Okinawa. About 150 M3 carbines were deployed, giving American soldiers the ability to see Japanese soldiers at night, even in complete darkness, and using tracer rounds to identify targets.

A team of two or three soldiers was needed to operate the weapon and provide support since the system required the operator to carry a 30 lb battery pack for the whole setup to work. It said that it accounted for 30% of Japanese losses in the first week of the invasion and this would become America’s first combat use of night vision technology.

Fast forward to the Korean War, the Select Fire M2 Carbine had largely replaced the submachine gun in American service and became the most widely used carbine variant. But Korea would expose serious problems with the weapon as the harsh winters created conditions that wre havoc on all weapons. And the carbine was not an exception.

Quite the contrary, only worse. The carbine operated sluggishly in subfreezing weather, and depending on how cold it was, it would need anywhere from 5 to 20 warm-up shots before it would fire on full automatic. It was also found that 95% of the time the target was actually dropped at less than 50 yards compared to the 300 yard range the army had originally specified.

The most infamous controversy involved widespread reports that 30 carbine rounds failed to penetrate the quilted winter gear of Chinese and North Korean soldiers. Even the most respected company commanders said that about 30% of their carbines either wouldn’t shoot at all or were sluggish in battle. Because the M2 was made for fully automatic fire, it was just more sensitive to weather conditions.

In hot weather, dust and moisture caused problems. While in cold weather, frost and freezing temperatures affected it more than any other weapon in the American infantry arsenal. Some of the things causing these problems were weak return springs that lost elasticity in sub-zero temperatures or standard military lubricants freezing and thickening.

The carbine’s short stroke tapet system designed around a lower power cartridge had essentially no margin at all. When cold lubricant added friction and cold propellant reduced gas pressure at the same time, the carbine simply stopped working. The M1 Garand also suffered malfunctions in cold conditions, but not nearly as much.

The Marines learned that a swift kick on the operating rod generally took care of it when the bolt froze, and that was the end of it. The Garin’s long stroke gas piston system generated way more bolt energy, giving it the mechanical margin to overcome thickened lubricants. But the biggest problem went far beyond mechanical failure.

The main reason men lost confidence in the carbine was when they would put a bullet right in a Chinese soldier’s chest from 25 yards and he would just flinch and keep coming at them. Some soldiers swore they had hit men three or four times and still not stopped them. Some units even issued standing orders for carbine users to aim for the head rather than center mass, desperately trying to find a way to make the weapon work.

Some accounts suggest that Lake City carbine ammunition produced in the late 1940s had velocity figures that barely made specification under normal conditions, let alone inus 35° F. The 30 carbine ammunition was loaded with WC820 double base ball propellant, which loses roughly three times more velocity for each degree of temperature drop than the single base extruded powder used in 306 ammunition for the M1 Garand.

So with 103°ree drop from testing temperature, the already modest energy output was now genuinely too low. Another thing was that the carbine was usually given to support troops with little training in small unit tactics and even less combat experience. Administrative and support personnel suddenly found themselves in ambushes and close combat situations for which neither they nor their weapons were prepared.

And the dislike for the carbine didn’t stop with American soldiers as even captured Chinese soldiers who were also issued captured American M1 and M2 carbines shared the same view on its insufficient stopping power. But they had what they had as the development of a new universal rifle was ongoing. So they simply had to wait. The M3 Carbine with the improved infrared sniper scope that had a longer effective range of about 125 yards continued to see service in Korea, but it still required the heavy battery pack.

So, they were used primarily in static defensive positions to locate troops attempting to infiltrate in darkness. In total, about 20,000 M3 systems were made before they became obsolete. As the war continued past the desperate first winter, reports of carbine performance improved.

troops developed specific cold maintenance procedures and learned to strip all lubricant from weapons in extreme cold, but the front had stabilized by then, and the carbine was now being used as a defensive weapon. So, the question of whether the weapon actually improved, or was it now just being used as originally intended, together with lower expectations from troops, remains unanswered.

The M1 Carbine then arrived in South Vietnam with US military advisers beginning in 1956 and was issued extensively to South Vietnamese soldiers. The US provided them with some 800,000 M1 and M2 carbines and they were the most widely issued small arm during the early stages of the Vietnam War.

By the war’s end, it was estimated that a total of 1 and a half million M1 and M2 carbines were left in Vietnam. Interestingly, its compact size and lightweight proved ideal for Vietnamese troops with an average height of around 5 ft. And they were even reluctant to exchange their carbines for garans. In jungle warfare, both sides favored mobility over firepower, which was the trade-off the carbines designers had intentionally accepted.

Some even modified their carbines by shortening the barrel and stock for even more compact use in jungle fighting. Over time, however, the SKS and eventually the AK-47 with its 60% more powerful 762x 39 mm round would replace the carbine and become the dominant weapons used by the Vietkong. Carbines were being replaced in American service by M16s starting in 1964, and by the 1970s, they were generally out of service.

So, was the M1 carbine really too weak for war? Modern ballistic testing has pretty much debunked the infamous frozen clothing myth from Korea. The Boxo Truth, a well-known firearms testing resource, conducted a test specifically addressing this legend. They folded terry cloth towels into eight layers about 1 in thick when compressed, soaked them, and froze them solid until they were stiff as a board.

Standard 30 carbine ball ammunition penetrated easily through the frozen material and then continued through seven gallons of water, equivalent to approximately 21 in of ballistic gelatin or human flesh. For perspective, the FBI standard considers 12 in the minimum penetration necessary to reach vital organs, and the 30 carbine penetrated almost twice that depth after passing through the frozen fabric.

But there’s more to the story than that. Marksmanship degradation under stress is a wellocumented combat phenomenon where troops believe they hit their targets when they have in fact missed. So were complaining soldiers just missing under stress. It turns out the real problem was that the 30 carbine full metal jacket round was too fast to behave like pistol rounds like the 45 ACP which is a large slow bullet that would crush tissue and create wide permanent wound channels.

But at the same time, it was also too slow to behave like true rifle rounds, where high-speed pointed bullets begin to yaw, turn sideways, and sometimes fragment, creating much more destructive wounds. As a result, the 30 carbine usually passed straight through the target, creating narrow wound channels that didn’t reliably cause rapid incapacitation, which matches exactly what soldiers described.

But change the ammunition, and the story changes completely. A hollowpoint bullet is designed with a small cavity in the nose. When it hits soft tissue, that cavity fills with fluid and forces the front of the bullet to expand outward. Instead of staying narrow and slipping through, the bullet mushrooms, increases in diameter, and slows down inside the target.

That means more energy is dumped into the body rather than exiting on the other side. The wound channel becomes wider, tissue damage increases, and the likelihood of quickly stopping a threat goes up significantly. Law enforcement agencies are legally permitted to use expanding ammunition. Military forces, however, are generally restricted from using such bullets in international warfare under the 1899 Hague Declaration, which prohibited projectiles designed to expand or flatten easily inside the human body.

So there’s no M1 carbine going back on the battlefield for