M1 Carbine for self defensive use

Since I mentioned that I scored an M1 Carbine in yesterday's post, I figured I would talk a bit about that tonight. For anyone not familiar with it, the M1 Carbine was a .30 caliber rifle firing a pistol like cartridge, feeding from a 15 round magazine, and it was meant to be issued to soldiers who couldn't work with the cumbersome M1, like truckers, artillery crews, officers, etc.


The carbine saw widespread use in the Second World War, the Korean War and early in the Vietnam war. It was very popular among paratroopers for it's light size. Along the way though, it attracted somewhat of a negative reputation, both justly and unjustly.

The first problem was a lack of stopping power. With .30 caliber ball ammo it fired a 110 grain FMJ at almost 2,000 FPS. With no expansion, it tended to overpenetrate. The bullet tumbled of course, and that would have caused a great deal of damage. The problem was, it would only begin to tumble after penetrating 20 cm (9 inches) of gelatin, or in this case, enemy soldier. By then it had probably already exited the enemy and kept on trucking. This became especially well known in Korea, when it was said that the round could not penetrate the thick down filled coats worn by Chinese infantrymen, or it penetrated without enough power to knock them down.

The second problem also became evident in Korea. The rifle had problems working reliably in the frozen climate there.

I've read firsthand accounts of veterans claiming to have seen down blowing out the back of a Chinese soldier's coat as he was shooting him, so I don't think penetration would be a problem, even if the round had slowed down to 1400-1500 FPS. The 7.62x25mm Tokarev pistol round at the same velocity is a fearsome penetrator and shreds Class II armour without a hitch. But if the round lacked killing power, then it would have exited the body of the enemy without dealing a lethal blow anyway, so I think the penetration myth is false.

One reason for the reduced stopping power and decreased reliability of the gun might be that ammo in stores from the Second World War had been loaded weaker because of the tropical climate in the Pacific Theater. This coupled with the cold in Korea could really be enough to slow down the round, and not give the weapon the power it needed to cycle the action properly.

So why do I think the M1 Carbine would be very effective for defensive use? It's rather simple.

No one says we need to use ball ammo. We can load it with whatever we wish.

Given soft point rounds, the bullet inflicts a very nasty wound. It mushrooms to .56-65 of an inch and makes a very large temporary cavity. Some pistols might do more, but they are not as easy to use as accurately, under stress...They are slower to aim, and slower to produce follow up shots.

A full sized rifle has the same problem, as does a shotgun. The rifle also suffers from overpenetrating. Rounds will go through the bad guy, through your house and God only knows where after that. The shotgun, loaded with buckshot, severly hampers your effectiveness at ranges past 25-30 yards or in making any shot where accuracy might be a factor.

The sights on the carbine are a very fast to focus aperture set, and the rifle has very little recoil, letting you fire multiple shots into the same target quicker than with heavier recoiling rounds.

I think an AR-15 would be about ideal, but if you don't have one, or you would like a piece of history, I think the M1 Carbine is fine for the job!



Here's the carbine firing a round into water jugs, in an image taken from the Box O' Truth website...I wouldn't want that going on inside my torso!

Well, at least someone finds me interesting...

Too bad it's the Government!

I knew it had to happen sooner or later I suppose. I think I have been red-flagged by Big Brother as a "person of interest".

I bought a non-restricted M1 Carbine (barrel lengthened a whole half inch to comply) and I tried to complete the transfer today. Usually this is really easy. Call, give my personal info, and the gun is mine.

Today they told me it had to be sent to the Surete (Quebec provincial police) for approval before it could be transferred, and they informed the gentleman I bought it from not to give it to me.

How did this come about? Well here's my theory.

In late November I sent off some money to buy a Tokarev pistol. The company I bought it from went on a month long vacation in mid December before my purchase was processed. Now, as of around Christmas a new law started being implimented. They wanna see proof of membership of a gun club before you can even take restricted firearms home now.

So, when the company went back to work in January, I ended up kinda screwed. The Surete called me wanting to know where my proof of membership was...I didn't know I would need to be a member of a gun club to buy the pistol. Why not? Because that was never a rule!

So the club I shoot at as a guest hasn't replied to my letters and I end up shafted, and shell out $130 to get a membership elsewhere. I get my card today, so I am a full fledged member.

Hopefully I can straighten this out tomorrow.

I'll tell everyone something right now though. In Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver and many more cities in Canada, criminals are buying unregistered illegal guns from other criminals. So when some kid ends up getting shot by some druggie, we can all remember they spent all this time looking into me and other gun owners with no criminal record, and over $1,000,000,000 has been spent to keep law abiding people in check.

Long live the Garand!

A poem I found that I would like to share with everyone.

Do you wonder why that rifle

Is hanging in my den?

You know I rarely take it down

But I touch it now and then.

It’s rather slow and heavy

By standards of today

But not too many years ago

It swept the rest away.

It’s held its own in battles

Through snow, or rain, or sun

And I had one just like it,

This treasured old M-1.

It went ashore at Bougainville

In Nineteen Forty-Three.

It stormed the beach at Tarawa

Through a bullet-riddled sea.

Saipan knew its strident bark,

Kwajelein, its sting.

The rocky caves of Peleliu

Resounded with its ring.

It climbed the hill on Iwo

With men who wouldn’t stop

And left our nation’s banner

Flying on the top.

It poked its nose in Pusan,

Screamed an angry roar

And took the First Division

From Chosin Reservoir.

Well, time moves on

And things improve

With rifles and with men,

And that is why the two of us

Are sitting in my den.

But sometimes on a winter night,

While thinking of my Corps,

I know that if the bugle blew

We’d be a team once more.

Type 97 to be imported this summer?

It's looking that way!

Some dealers have been talking about it on the CGN Forum and while it is not a sure thing yet it does sound promising!

The Type 97 is an export version of the PLA's current issue infantry rifle, the QBB-95, only chambered in 5.56x45mm. You can read more about them here and here. Supposedly, the rifle has already seen it's first action, with the Chinese contingent in Haiti.

It does look crude, but it's the only bullpup in town, and it's going to be priced to compete with other 5.56mm restricted class rifles, at hopefuly $600-$800 bucks. Half the price of an AR, and just maybe we can get a non-restricted version too...there is a longer barreled DMR version.

Great shooting on a shoestring budget

Hi all,

From having worked as a mod/admin on a few shooting forums now, I've seen and answered all kinds of questions. A lot of em are from people like me. Folks who would like to have a couple of guns around that shoot lots of holes in targets, and not their wallets. I appreciate tough, working guns a lot, since I find them more valuable than their price tags might suggest.

So here's just a few of my picks for guns that give you the most bang for your buck. These first four are made by Norinco in China, and are available from Marstar.ca



Tokarev Type 54: This is a Chinese copy of the Russian TT-33 Tokarev sidearm from the second world war. It features an eight round magazine and uses the hot 7.62x25mm round. It's a very snappy little bullet, and a great penetrator...Which has it's pros and cons. Like most Russian firearms, it's rough around the edges, but runs like a tank. The pistol sells for $180 and the ammo goes for $225 per 2280 rounds. You literally can't beat that in centerfire ammo.

The great 1911A1, in all it's glory. Maybe the bluing and machining isn't as pretty as a US made gun, but you can buy one and slick it up to custom specs and still equal the price of buying a new Springfield, etc. 45 ACP might not be the cheapest round in the world to shoot, but it sure is one of the most effective. The Norinco 1911A1 retails for $325

Another classic, the M14 battle rifle. This has to be the best centerfire rifle deal in all of Canada, and won't be around forever. These rifles are very comparible in quality to USGI rifles, and the only shortcomings I've seen on them are cosmetic. People have been workin all kinds of mods into them, or just shooting them out of the box. They seem to average 1.5 to 2 inch groups, but I have seen one shoot 1 MOA consistently with a simple gas port shimming. Marstar is expecting another shipment soon, but be warned...rumour has it this one might be the last. The M14 goes for $399

Departing from military firearms now, here's a Mossberg 500 Persuader. The tried and true Mossberg 500 shotgun is just as reliable and smooth as a Remington 870 or Winchester 1300. The Persuader model features a 20" Imp. Cyc. chamber and an 8 round magazine tube. You can get one at S.I.R. Mailorder for $275

Henry 22lr Lever Action: Everyone needs a good 22! Whether it's for pest control, teaching a new shooter, mastering your own technique or just having a blast, rimfires rock. For the same price, you can find a Ruger 10/22, but you have to cycle the action of a Henry to appreciate how smooth it it. Aside from the slickness and the classic styling, the wood is unbelievable. They are using some awesome cuts of walnut on these stocks. The only drawback to it is a chunkyish plastic front sight, but it can be replaced. Even with it on, it's a great shooter to within reasonable limitations of a 22lr with iron sights. S.I.R. Mailorder has these for about $280

By no means the only deals out there, these are a few firearms I find you can really have a good time with and be happy to own. Honourable mentions would include an SKS, surplus Lee Enfields and Mosin Nagants, and Ruger Single Six revolvers...But hey, might as well save those for another installment!

Jim Zumbo retracts stupid comment

If anyone here owns "scary looking assault rifles" I am sure they have been heckled for it. It's long been known that some hunters or shooters don't care for them, and probably wouldn't care when they are banned. They're duped into thinking the anti's are serious when they say they don't want to ban their guns.

Sometimes though, you see this prejudice in a place you really wouldn't expect it. Influential people in the gun lobby media. People who claim they support gun rights.

According to Jim Zumbo, if you own or use an AR-15, you're a terrorist...and he's dismayed that people hunt with them.

http://outdoorlife.blogs.com/zumbo/2007/02/assault_rifles_.html

Here's the highlights:

"I'll go so far as to call them "terrorist" rifles. They tell me some companies are producing assault rifles that are tackdrivers."

Um, Jim...Maybe before you compare thousands and thousands of North American shooters to jihadis, you should actually SHOOT ONE. The AR-15 platform is very commonly sub MOA capable. And if someone wants to shoot varmints with them, why shouldn't he?

Because it would offend people!

"As hunters we don't need the image of walking around the woods carrying one of these weapons."

"I say game departments should ban them from the praries and woods"

Let me break it down for you, Jim.

You're an anti.

If a person is legally able to buy one, take it where he wishes, and shoot whatever he likes with it, who are you to call for bans on anything?

Jim has since apologized, which you can see here, but the damage has already been done. Much like you can't call a round back down the barrel, no matter how much you wish you hadn't fired it, I suppose you can't call words back down your mouth either.

http://outdoorlife.blogs.com/zumbo/2007/02/i_was_wrong_big.html

His apology...too little, too late.

UPDATE:

Well what do you know...the Brady campaign has already started using that article in their fight against gun rights. It's been posted on their myspace account.

Good work, Jim.

FBI report on offenders attacking police

Here's a really interesting report the FBI has prepared regarding interviews with offenders who shot or shot at police officers. It's got a lot of info in it some of us surely already know, and some that will and should surprise us.

Some of the not so surprising info is that they prefer handguns, and out of 50 offenders interviewed, 49 purchased their handguns illegally.

What surprised me was seeing that the offenders might just fight more effectively than the police. Regardless of what your firearm is, or it's statistics we might love to quote, I think this proves well that your mindset is what truly matters in a crisis.

You can find the whole article at:

http://www.forcesciencenews.com/home/detail.html?serial=62

Here are a few parts I clipped that stood out to me.

"Nearly 40% of the offenders had some type of formal firearms training, primarily from the military. More than 80% "regularly practiced with handguns, averaging 23 practice sessions a year," the study reports, usually in informal settings like trash dumps, rural woods, back yards and "street corners in known drug-trafficking areas."

"Overall, the offenders practiced more often than the officers they assaulted, and this "may have helped increase [their] marksmanship skills," the study says."

"Or as one of the offenders put it: "[W]e're not working with no marksmanship...We just putting it in your direction, you know...It doesn't matter...as long as it's gonna hit you...if it's up at your head or your chest, down at your legs, whatever...Once I squeze and you fall, then...if I want to execute you, then I could go from there."

"The offenders were of a different mind-set entirely. In fact, Davis said the study team "did not realize how cold blooded the younger generation of offender is. They have been exposed to killing after killing, they fully expect to get killed and they don't hesitate to shoot anybody, including a police officer."

Tons of good info here, especially for our law enforcement first responders.