Once in the active army in 1941, after the United States entered World War II, the M1 quickly became very popular among the soldiers and quickly migrated from the "second line" to the "first". It was successfully used in combat at a short distance, and on it surpassed all the submachine guns of that time in accuracy and accuracy of its fire.
Buttstock with a cutout for attaching a belt.
The convenience of his bolt operation and the fact that he fired with the bolt locked was noted. The relatively soft (in comparison with the Garand rifle) recoil made it possible to fire frequent and therefore quite effective fire from it, but the American soldiers did not experience problems with a lack of ammunition. The aiming range was small, yes, this is true, since it was only 275 m, this, firstly, depended on the ballistics of the bullet, and secondly, it was a weapon just for close combat. That is, according to what requirements the army ordered it - it received such a weapon!
Late model in military gear.
Graphic diagram of the M1A1 carbine with a folding stock for parachutists.
In 1944, based on the experience of combat use, the M2 carbine was born, in which changes were made to the trigger mechanism, which now allowed it to fire in bursts. It was a lever mounted on the left of the receiver that moved back and forth. Accordingly, a high-capacity sector store for 30 rounds was made for it. It is believed that this was the American response to the German StG-44. Moreover, the troops received the so-called "whale" - a set of parts that made it possible to remake existing carbines in the field. There were two sets of T17 and T18. However, it turned out that the effectiveness of the new model in the version of the submachine gun is low. In addition, the conduct of automatic fire negatively affected the durability of the weapon, as a result of which the M2 was not as widespread as the M1. "Alteration" was made about 600 thousand copies, including those made in factories and those that were converted from M1 in parts.
M1 - partial disassembly. Pay attention to the groove on the fore-end for sighting the front sight. The diopter sight was located on the receiver cover at the rear of the receiver, which created an aiming line of sufficient length.
The rear sight of the weapon is foldable L-shaped with two sighting holes for shooting at 137 and 274 meters (150 and 300 yards). On later models, the sight was complicated, it was attached to a mounting plate and made by stamping or milling. The front sight of the carbine is fixed, protected on the sides by ears.
One of the design flaws was considered to be the very close location of the safety and magazine release buttons, which were very close to each other in front of the trigger guard. It happened that at the most intense moment of the battle a soldier's store fell out because of this. Therefore, the fuse was modified and made in the form of a lever to avoid such incidents.
Modified fire translator.
When the US took part in the Korean War, the M2 Carbine was used there as an assault rifle. And again, it was noted that at short distances the bullet provides a good stopping effect. But when shooting in bursts, such a light weapon throws up very much, so long distances are contraindicated for it. And it turned out that the M2 Carbine was inferior to submachine guns in handling when firing bursts, and due to the peculiarities of ballistics, firing single shots from it was less accurate than from the M1 Garand rifle. Moreover, in frosty weather, and in Korea, frosts in winter are very strong, the automatics of the carbine malfunctioned.
Bolt carrier and receiver. Right side: it couldn't be easier.
As for the device of the carbine, it was extremely simple, and its design itself was highly adaptable and was well adapted for mass production in military conditions. The weapon was powered by a gas engine, which had a very short piston stroke - only about 8 mm. Moreover, this piston was located under the barrel. At the moment of firing the pressure of the powder gases, the piston moved back, and with a short and energetic jolt transferred energy to the bolt carrier, after which the carbine's automatics began to work due to the inertia of its moving parts, as well as the residual gas pressure in the barrel bore acting on the bottom of the sleeve. At the same time, the bolt carrier with a return spring was inside the forend under the barrel, outside the receiver, and slid along the protrusion on its side plate located on the right and protruding from the forend. This made it possible to minimize the size of the receiver, and, accordingly, the total weight of the weapon. On the left, on the bolt carrier, next to the reloading handle, there was a figured protrusion that rotated the bolt when moving back and forth. When the handle moved forward, the shutter was locked by turning it counterclockwise. At the same time, his two lugs went behind the cutouts in the receiver. Accordingly, it was unlocked in the reverse order …
Receiver. Left view. The trigger trigger is clearly visible.
The bottom photo of these two photos clearly shows the burst firing switch. This is the lever on the left side of the receiver.
The M1 had a trigger trigger and a push-button safety in the front of the trigger guard, which blocked the trigger and whispered by pressing its button; on later releases, the button was replaced with a lever, since it could be rather easily confused with the magazine latch button that was nearby. On the M2, as reported above, a translator of types of fire was mounted, and also in the form of a lever on the receiver on the left near the window for ejecting spent cartridges. Interestingly, the possibility of fixing the bolt carrier in the rear position was provided, for which it was necessary to press a button at the base of the handle. For 15-cartridge magazines, 15-round clips were provided, while no special devices for equipping magazines with clips were required - guides for them were provided on the store itself. Magazines for 30 rounds could be equipped with two clips.
Although the details of the carbine were made on metal-cutting machines, according to American standards, the M1 was considered a completely technological and not too inexpensive weapon to manufacture. Each carbine cost the army $ 45, while the M1 rifle cost $ 85, and the Thompson submachine gun was exceptionally expensive - $ 209 at the start of the war. True, by the end its price also dropped to $ 45, but its weight, especially with a 50-cartridge magazine, was not small at all, especially compared to the 2.36 kg M1 carbine. In total, for all the years while the M1 was in production, more than 6 million units were produced. Even today, they are used in the police (for example, in the Ulster police), and in the United States it is produced by several companies at once as civilian weapons, while doing it both in design alterations and changes in its external design.
It was convenient for me personally to use the carbine, that is, at least to hold it in my hands and aim from it!
It should also be noted that the carbine could be relatively quickly and easily disassembled. To do this, it was required to loosen the screw on the stock ring (the early releases had a continuous ring with a spring latch), and slide it forward, after that it was possible to remove the mechanism from the stock, disconnect the trigger box held by the pin, remove the bolt carrier and then remove it from it gate.
The sizes, as can be clearly seen, are comparable. Our AK is slightly larger, but also more powerful.
Also known is the M3 model, produced in an amount of 2,100 units, and equipped with a large infrared searchlight and an infrared sniper scope. It did not become widespread, but it was used in the jungles of Southeast Asia.
At first, a bayonet was not provided on the carbines. But starting in 1944, they began to make a tide for the M4 bayonet on the barrel. It also provided for the use of the M8 grenade launcher. Interestingly, after the war, M1 carbines, besides the USA, were produced in Japan (by the arsenal in the city of Nagoya), and by the Chiappa Firearms enterprise in Italy.
But this is a very interesting "document" with a taste of that distant era: page number 1 from the "Manual" of the Rockyland Arsenal on the maintenance and repair of M1 and M1A1 carbines.
Production of the M1 carbine began in September 1941 with minor differences from Williams' original design. At first, only Winchester was engaged in the production of the carbine, but after the attack on Pearl Harbor and the entry of the United States into the war, it was necessary to significantly increase the production of the carbine. As a result, not only specialized weapons enterprises were engaged in the production of this carbine, but also various enterprises not related to the production of weapons in general: Rock-Ola (jukeboxes), U. S. Postal Meter, Quality Hardware, Inland Division (a division of General Motors), Underwood (printing machines), Standard Products (auto parts), International Business Machines, Irwin-Pedersen Arms Co. (furniture manufacturing) and Saginaw Steering Gear (a division of General Motors).
Initially, the M1 carbine did not have a bayonet at all, but by April 1944 it was decided to equip it with an M3 Fighting Knife bayonet with a blade length of 171 mm. Production of this version of the carbine began only in September 1944. Nevertheless, it should be noted that the carbine, even with a bayonet attached to it, was very short (total length 904 mm) and probably did not give its owner a lot of chances to win in bayonet combat.
Page number 7. It is presented not only in order to show the device of the butt of the M1A1 carbine, but also how many different parts, from the largest to the smallest, require this rather simple device. And all of them must be made from smelted steel, turned, cut, milled, hardened, cut out of wood …
By the way, in the famous photograph depicting the raising of the American flag on the island of Iwo Jima, one of the marines is holding an M1 carbine in his hands.
Raising the first flag over Iwo Jima. Photo of Staff Sergeant Lewis Lowery. The most popular photo of the first flag raised over Suribati.
