.30 Carbine

.30 Carbine (7.62×33mm)
Type Carbine
Place of origin United States
Service history
In service World War II–present
Used by See Users
Wars World War II
Korean War
Vietnam War
Production history
Produced World War II to 1950s, present (civilian)
Variants M1 (Ball),
M6 (Grenade),
M13 (Dummy),
M18 (Heavy, High Pressure Test) 152gr,
M27 (Tracer)
Specifications
Parent case .32 Winchester Self-Loading
Bullet diameter 7.62 mm (nominal, 0.308 in actual)
Neck diameter 8.41 mm (0.331 in)
Base diameter 8.99 mm (0.354 in)
Rim diameter 9.14 mm (0.360 in)
Rim thickness 1.27 mm (0.050 in)
Case length 32.76 mm (1.290 in)
Overall length 41.91 mm (1.650 in)
Case capacity 1.3640 cm3 (21.050 gr H2O)
Rifling twist 1:20"
Primer type Small rifle
Maximum pressure 265.45 MPa (38,500 psi)
Ballistic performance
Bullet mass/type Velocity Energy
110 gr (7 g) FMJ 606.5 m/s (1,990 ft/s) 1,311 J (967 ft·lbf)
Test barrel length: 18 inches
Source(s): Winchester [1]

The .30 Carbine (7.62×33mm) is the cartridge used in the M1 Carbine introduced in the 1940s. It is a light rifle round[2][3][4][5] designed to be fired from the M1 carbine's 18-inch (458 mm) barrel.

History

Shortly before World War II, the U.S. Army started a "light rifle" project to provide support personnel and rear area units more firepower and accuracy than the standard issue M1911A1 .45 ACP caliber handgun, and weigh half as much as a M1 Garand rifle or the .45 Thompson submachine gun.

The .30 Carbine cartridge was developed by Winchester and is basically a rimless .30 caliber (7.62 mm) version of the much older .32 Winchester Self-Loading cartridge of 1906 introduced for the Winchester Model 1905 rifle.[6] The .30 Carbine uses a lighter bullet and more modern powder. As a result, it is approximately 600 feet per second faster and 27% more powerful than its parent cartridge. The .30 Carbine's relatively straight case and the rounded nose of its bullet led some to believe it was designed for use in pistols.

Marine with M1 carbine at Guam
WW II M1 Carbine with a magazine pouch mounted on the stock that held two spare 15-round magazines and 10 .30 Carbine rounds on stripper clip.

At first, Winchester was tasked with developing the cartridge but did not submit a carbine design. Other firms and individual designers submitted several carbine designs, but most prototypes were either unreliable or grossly off the target weight of five pounds. Maj. Rene Studler persuaded Winchester that the Winchester M2 .30-06 rifle, a design started by Ed Browning and perfected by Winchester engineer Marshall Williams, could be scaled down for the .30 Carbine cartridge.[7] The result was the M1 Carbine.

The M1 Carbine was issued to infantry officers, machine gun, artillery and tank crews, paratroopers and other line-of-communications personnel in lieu of the larger, heavier M1 Garand. The weapon was originally issued with a 15-round detachable magazine. The Carbine and cartridge were not intended to serve as a primary infantry weapon, nor was it comparable to more powerful intermediate cartridges later developed for assault rifles. The M2 Carbine was introduced late in World War II with a selective-fire switch allowing optional fully automatic fire at a rather high rate (850–900 rpm) and a 30-round magazine.

The M1 and M2 Carbines continued in service during the Korean War. A postwar U.S. Army evaluation reported that "[t]here are practically no data bearing on the accuracy of the carbine at ranges in excess of 50 yards. The record contains a few examples of carbine-aimed fire felling an enemy soldier at this distance or perhaps a little more. But they are so few in number that no general conclusion can be drawn from them. Where carbine fire had proved killing effect, approximately 95 percent of the time the target was dropped at less than 50 yards."[8] The evaluation also reported that "[c]ommanders noted that it took two to three engagements at least to settle their men to the automatic feature of the carbine so that they would not greatly waste ammunition under the first impulse of engagement. By experience, they would come to handle it semiautomatically, but it took prolonged battle hardening to bring about this adjustment in the human equation."[8]

Development

U.S. Army specifications for the new cartridge mandated the caliber to be greater than .27, with an effective range of 300 yards or more, and a midrange trajectory ordinate of 18 inches (460 mm) or less at 300 yards. With these requirements in hand, Winchester's Edwin Pugsley chose to design the cartridge with a .30 caliber, 100–120 grain bullet at a velocity of 2,000 feet per second (610 m/s). The first cartridges were made by turning down rims on .32SL cases and loading with .308 caliber bullets which had a similar profile to that of the U.S. military .45 ACP bullet. The first 100,000 cartridges manufactured were headstamped ".30 SL" (for "Self-Loading").[9]

Civilian use

The popularity of the M1 Carbine for collecting, sporting, and re-enactment use has resulted in continued civilian popularity of the .30 Carbine cartridge. For hunting, it is considered a small/medium-game cartridge, of marginal power for deer-size game.[6] Even in long-barreled carbines, military-style full metal jacket projectiles do not expand as easily as soft or hollow point. In addition, the high sectional density of the projectile causes the bullet to overpenetrate. Soft-point and hollowpoint cartridges are considered to be more effective for hunting and self-defense,[10] and are offered by Winchester, Remington UMC, Federal Cartridge, and Hornady ammunition manufacturers. With millions of surplus M1 Carbines still owned by civilians, the round continues to be used for these purposes into the present day.

Handguns

Automag III .30 Carbine Pistol made by Irwindale Arms, Inc. with .30 Carbine cartridge

A number of handguns have been chambered for .30 Carbine ammunition. In 1944, Smith & Wesson developed a hand-ejector revolver to fire .30 Carbine. It went through 1,232 rounds without incident. From a four-inch (102 mm) barrel, it launched the standard GI ball projectile at 1,277 ft/s (389 m/s), producing a large average group of 4.18 inches (106 mm) at 25 yards (23 m); the military decided not to adopt the revolver. The loud blast is the most oft-mentioned characteristic of the .30 M1 Carbine cartridge fired in a handgun.[11]

In 1958, the short-lived J. Kimball Arms Co. produced a .30 Carbine caliber pistol that closely resembled a slightly scaled-up High Standard Field King .22 target pistol. The Ruger Blackhawk revolver chambered for the .30 Carbine round has been in the catalogs since the late 1960s. Standard government-issue rounds clock over 1,500 ft/s (460 m/s), with factory loads and handloads producing similar velocities.

Plainfield Machine made a .30 caliber pistol from 1964 to 1983 named the Enforcer. While similar to the M1 Carbine, it lacked the stock, thereby making it a handgun. Sold to Iver-Johnson in 1983, the Enforcer continued in production until 1986. Other handguns chambered for this cartridge include the Thompson Center Contender,

Plainfield Machine Corp, produced M-1 Carbines from 1960 to 1977, when they were bought out by Iver Johnson Corp, who has manufactured them at least until a 50th Anniversary model in 1993. Universal Sporting Goods also made M-1 Carbine copies, but theirs were slightly different and some of the GI parts will not fit them. The Taurus Raging Thirty and AMT AutoMag III are/were offered in .30 Carbine.[11]

Comparison

The .30 Carbine was developed from the .32 Winchester Self-Loading used in an early semi-auto sporting rifle. A standard .30 Carbine ball bullet weighs 110 grains (7.1 g); a complete loaded round weighs 195 grains (12.6 g) and has a muzzle velocity of 1,990 ft/s (610 m/s), giving it 967 ft·lbf (1,311 joules) of energy when fired from the M1 Carbine's 18" barrel.

By comparison, the .30-06 M2 Cartridge for M1 Garand rifle fired a ball bullet weighing 152 grains (9.8 g) at a muzzle velocity of 2,805 ft/s (855 m/s) and 2,655 ft·lbf (3,600 joules) of muzzle energy. Therefore, the M1 carbine is significantly less powerful than the M1 Garand. However, a better comparison would be a .357 Magnum cartridge fired from an 18" rifle barrel, which can have a muzzle velocity range from about 1,718–2,092 ft/s (524–638 m/s) with energies at 720–1,215 ft·lbf (976–1,647 J) for a 110 gr (7.1 g) bullet at the low end and a 125 gr (8.1 g) bullet on the high end.[12]

As a hunting arm, the M1 Carbine is approximately the equivalent to a .357 Magnum lever-action rifle. .30 Carbine sporting ammunition is factory recommended for hunting and control of large varmints like fox, javelina, and coyote. However, the game laws of several states do not allow hunting big game (deer, bear, or boar) with the .30 Carbine either by name or by minimum muzzle energy required.

Chambered weapons

Winston Churchill fires an American .30 carbine during a visit to the US 2nd Armoured Division on Salisbury Plain, 23 March 1944.

Rifles

Handguns

Users

Cartridge types

Common types used by the military with the carbine include:

Synonyms

As a parent case

The .30 Carbine was the basis for Melvin M. Johnson's .22 Spitfire, necking the .30 Carbine's case down to a .22 caliber bullet, for a conversion of the M1 Carbine.

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Winchester Ammunition
  2. ↑ Ian V. Hogg; John S. Weeks. (2000). "Rifle and machine gun ammunition chart". Military Small Arms of the 20th Century (7th ed.). Krause Publications. p. 407.
  3. ↑ "CARTRIDGE AND CHAMBER DRAWINGS CENTERFIRE RIFLE" (PDF). Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers' Institute (SAAMI).
  4. ↑ "Rimless cartridges, Calibres of rifled long centre fire weapons for rimless cartridges". Commission Internationale Permanente pour l'Epreuve des Armes à Feu Portatives (Permanent International Commission for portable firearms testing) (C.I.P.).
  5. ↑ "30 CARBINE 110 GR. FULL METAL JACKET". Winchester.
  6. 1 2 Barnes, Frank C., Cartridges of the World, DBI Books, 1975, 1989.
  7. ↑ Larry Ruth, M1 Carbine: Design, Development & Production, (The Gun Room Press, 1979, ISBN 978-0-87947-023-4
  8. 1 2 S.L.A. Marshall, Commentary on Infantry and Weapons in Korea 1950–51, 1st Report ORO-R-13 of 27 October 1951, Project Doughboy [Restricted], Operations Research Office (ORO), U.S. Army (1951)
  9. ↑ Schreier, Konrad F., Jr. (1990). Winchester Centerfire Automatic Rifles. ARMAX: Journal of the Buffalo Bill Historical Center, Vol. III(1): p. 36.
  10. ↑ Massad Ayoob (May 1996), "Self defense sales sluggish? Try rifles and carbines", Shooting Industry
  11. 1 2 Cumpston, Mike, "The .30 Carbine Blackhawk: Ruger's Enduring Dark Horse", Guns Magazine, December 2001, San Diego, Von Rosen Publications.
  12. ↑ http://www.ballisticsbytheinch.com/357mag.html
  13. 1 2 "CARABINA - CT 30 - Calibre Restrito". Retrieved 9 October 2011.
  14. ↑ Hogg, Ian (1989). Jane's Infantry Weapons 1989–90 (15th ed.). Jane's Information Group. p. 216. ISBN 0-7106-0889-6.
  15. ↑ Jones, Richard (2009). Jane's Infantry Weapons 2009–2010. Jane's Information Group. p. 898. ISBN 0-7106-2869-2.

References

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