M1 Carbine in .357 magnum

x westie

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Would the M1 Carbine been a more potent weapon had it been chambered for the .357 magnum cartridge,....the .30 carbine always seem to be dogged with controversy over the stopping power of the 110 grain fmj bullet....stopping power i understand is about the same as a .38 special,....what are you thought on this,.....
 
Barnes lists the military load as having a muzzle energy of 955, and 357 loads are typically in the 500 range. Barnes does list one 357 load at 935 ft lbs but that is associated with a muzzle velocity of 1785 fps, which I suppose could be a rifle loading. From this info, the 30 carbine looks to be on a par with the 357.

The 38 special is much weaker ...
 
M1 Carbine

Years back, in the now-defunct GunSport magazine there was a neat conversion for the M-1 carbine. You replaced the barrel with a .375 barrel and used 7,62 military cases, resized to .38/40 WCF with a .375 expander plug. So you had a rimless .38/40 using .375 bullets.
The gas housing was used and the new barrel fitted to it. A new gas hole had to be drilled also. The ballistics were quite impressive and the unaltered 15 round magazine held eight of the new rounds.

A friend tried this conversion about ten years back and on the sixth or seventh shot the action failed, and we're not sure just what the cause was.
The barrel was not damaged and he still has it. IIRC, the receiver cracked but my memory is a bit fuzzy.

I may still have the magazine article. It was an interesting conversion.
 
If they had only made the carbine

in .45ACP. the idea was to replace the pistol for people not nomaly issued a rifle. The M2 version would have made a great submachinegun.
 
"...stopping power..." Stopping power is a fictitious figure created by pseudo-science. No cartridge, 'full' sized rifle cartridges included, will produce 100% guaranteed one shot stops every time. Especially a ball round.
The nonsense about the Chinese quilted coats in Korea stopping the .30 carbine is just that. Mind you, it might have taken two rounds to put a hyped up Chinese troopie down, but down he did go.
In any case, the heaviest .357 bullet has 388 ft/lbs of energy at 100 yards. A 110 grain .30 carbine bullet has 600 ft/lbs at 100 yards and 373 ft/lbs at 200 yards.
 
The M1 carbine was often refered to a autoloading .357 cal rifle. If the fmj ammo is unsatisfactory than use hollow points. Many people complain about the lack of stopping power for the .30 carbine round yet a 9mm smg is ok . The .30 carbine was not intended as a full powered battle rifle. If the .30 carbine is compaired to the 30-06 than it is underpowered. The .30 carbine was intended for ranges up to 300 yards which is most combat distances.
 
lever had some in 7.62x25 by accident the were NOT marked as that caliber and could have been nasty.......

the story was ww2 the allies air dropped garands and carbines to the chinese to fight the japs war ends and the civil war breaks out 30 carbine amoo used up fast no resupply guns in short supply best option is to convert cals
 
I saw one of those carbines that were converted to 7.62x25. It had a bore that looked more like a sewer pipe. It was obvious that corrosive ammo had been used and then not cleaned properly.

It took a lot of work and time to get the piston nut freed up then get the piston out so all of the rust could be cleaned out. What a chore. Personally, I don't think it was worth the effort, the bore just didn't warrant it and because the only factory ammo available is corrosive, it means a complete takedown after every shooting session.
It did operate reliably though once everything was cleaned up, as much as it could be without replaceing parts anyway.

CanAm, why don't you pick up an inland or Iver Johnson replica or a grungy shot out US milsurp and rebarrel it? Probably be further ahead, unless your looking for a collectors piece. bearhunter
 
I'd love a 7.62x25 M-1 carbine...

As it stands, the .30-carbine round had good perfomance (the stories of poor penetration of Korean winter clothing have been much debated, but also have been cast into doubt by various balllistic tests).

The 7.62x25mm, however, has been shown to be able to penetrate military attire far more armoured than mere fabric shirts...
 
Make sure the barrel's 18.6, that would make a great plinker - probably give a 10/22 a run for the money AND be more fun to shoot.
 
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