30 M1 Carbine
With World War II on the horizon, the U.S. Ordnance Corps saw the need for a more effective weapon for personnel normally armed with only a handgun. Issuing a light, compact carbine to company grade officers, engineers, tank and artillery troops was deemed to be the answer. With this goal in mind, evaluation of a number of designs began in 1941. Later that year, a Winchester model was formally adopted. Officially dubbed the U.S. Carbine, Caliber 30, M1, this handy little rifle served through World War II, Korea and Vietnam. Opinions on the carbine's combat effectiveness vary, but one fact remains - the M1 carbine was produced in greater numbers than any other piece of equipment designed by the ordnance corps, with the exception of the M1 steel helmet. During its service life, several government contractors produced approximately six million carbines. With the new rifle came a new cartridge the 30 M1 Carbine. Based on the obsolete 32 Winchester Self-Loading round, the 30 M1 is essentially a straight-walled pistol cartridge. Original loading specifications called for a 110 grain FMJ at 1,970 feet per second. Though suitable for its intended purpose, the 30 Carbine is inadequate for big game hunting. Generating around 900 ft. lbs. of energy with top loads, it is best relegated to small game, plinking or short-range varminting. Regardless, the 30 Carbine can be reloaded with good results and is a genuinely fun cartridge. Like most straight-wall rimless cases, the 30 Carbine headspaces on the case mouth. Therefore, we recommend applying only a modest taper crimp after bullet seating. As always, we strongly recommend the crimp as a separate operation after the bullet has been seated. Due to its limited capacity, only a narrow range of powders are suitable for reloading the 30 Carbine. We have found Hodgdon's H110 and the Winchester 296 to be two of the better choices for both accuracy and velocity.
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