I have always advocated that it is necessary to write about what you know well. Or what I read about in different sources (the more there are, the better!), Or about what you have been doing for a long time, that is, in fact, you are getting a second (third) higher education.
For example, tanks … I made the first model in 1980 and then made them for 10 years, then I began to write about them and publish my own magazine, then the first books were published, which were reviewed by good specialists, and so - 38 years. It is clear that I will not start the tank. But as for their history and technology itself, I know them well.
Small arms, so to speak, were given less, only six years, since the first articles about them appeared in my 2012. But if a person is given a diploma in the second higher education after three years of study in the Armed Forces with the already existing first education, then six years seems to be enough? However, I can say that in theory - yes, but in practice it is desirable to hold on to each sample, feel its weight, convenience - "goodness", disassemble - assemble. Ideally, you can also shoot from it, but in Russia this is an inaccessible luxury for the overwhelming majority of authors. That is why I am especially happy when my friend, who collects various small arms, calls me and informs me that another sample is waiting for me in order to "hold on" for it.
This time the M1 carbine became such a model. By the way, it is not a cheap pleasure to buy even such a cleaned carbine, made during the war in the United States. Not so long ago, the price for it was 29 thousand rubles, whereas today it has grown to 85 thousand!
M1 carbine. Left and right views.
Let's start with what Wikipedia tells us about this weapon. “Oh, Wikipedia, someone wrinkles their nose, but … British courts accept British Wikipedia as a source of information. Where does our country defend its interests in international affairs? In British courts! Well, since we live according to the law (in any case, we try to live like that!), Then in this case we will adhere to its principles and, except for proven cases of distortion of information (we emphasize - proven!), We will try to use it. Well, it says the following: in the domestic literature, the M1 Carbine is sometimes mistakenly referred to as "baby Garand" or "Garand carbine", but such names are absent in American sources.
M1 carbine in section, showing the structure of its mechanism.
And then there is information that in 1938 the US Army first realized that it needed to re-equip its "second line" servicemen (that is, tankers, artillerymen, signalmen who do not take part in infantry combat, who already have to carry heavy coils with wires, in a word, all those soldiers who, according to the state, did not have an army rifle), replacing self-loading pistols in their arsenal with a more effective light carbine. The reasons were very good: it is easier to train people to shoot from a carbine than from a pistol, the effectiveness of the carbine when firing is higher, and the total cost of equipping the “second line” with such a weapon is less!
Diagram of the M1 carbine device.
Graphic diagram with the names of all parts in English.
Next, we turn to another source, namely the book by Larry L. Root, “War! Caliber USA.30 Carbine , Vol. 1., which contains information to supplement the wiki that the development program for such weapons began on October 1, 1940, when the United States Army Department of Munitions issued a five-page request for possible projects. The main requirements for the rifle were a weight of no more than 5 pounds (with a magazine of ammunition), an effective range of 300 yards, and both semi-automatic and fully automatic fire. The carbines were to use the.30 Carbine cartridge, developed by Winchester based on the.32WSL cartridge. By the way, what were those cartridges? Cartridges for the M1905 automatic rifle, which was offered for use with.32 Winchester Self-Loading (WSL) and.35 Winchester Self-Loading cartridges. The.32 WSL cartridge had an 8, 2 mm caliber bullet and a 31 mm long sleeve. The bullet weighed 11 g and had an initial velocity of about 420 m / s. The energy of the bullet was 960 J. The.35 WSL ammunition had an 8, 9 mm bullet of 12 g, but a shorter sleeve 29, 3 mm long. The muzzle velocity of his bullet was 425 m / s, and its energy was 1050 J. The overall dimensions of the Winchester Self-Loading ammunition were noticeably different from other cartridges of those years, which was done specifically to avoid their use in other rifles and damage weapons. That is, it was impossible to confuse them with anything.
Late production model with a bump on the barrel for a bayonet. Such carbines began to be produced in 1944.
Bayonet tide and front sight with guard.
However, in the new carbine, it was decided to use other cartridges. The decision to develop them was also made on October 1, 1940 at a meeting of representatives of the US Defense Committee and commercial arms companies. That is, simultaneously with the beginning of the development of a new carbine.
Belt clip.
Winchester has designated the new cartridge as the.30 SR M-1, based on the.32 WSL. Already by the beginning of December 1940, the first experimental batch of new cartridges was prepared, which had bullets in a tombak casing filled with lead with a mass of 6, 9 g. Then, in January and June, two batches of cartridges, each 50,000 pieces, were tested, and in the fall an additional batch was released out of 300,000 cartridges, in which a different brand of gunpowder was used.
Cartridge.30 Carbine (7, 62 × 33 mm).
The.30 Carbine (left) and.30-06 from the Springfield rifle (right).
After all these tests, on October 30, 1941, the.30 Carbine cartridge (7.62 × 33 mm) finally entered service with the US Army and received the designation Carbine Cal..30 M-1. The creator of the patron was David Marshall Williams, who managed to achieve good results. So, the initial bullet velocity of this cartridge was 607 m / s, and its energy in joules was equal to 1308 J, with a mass of 7, 1 g. Moreover, even being put into service, this cartridge continued to be improved by the company and subsequently. So, in April 1942, she replaced the brand of gunpowder in it, thanks to which the muzzle velocity of the bullet increased by 10%. He also became the main developer of the carbine, and he formulated the main ideas inherent in its design … while serving a sentence in prison for murder of the second degree. After his release, he took a job at Winchester and, in collaboration with other designers, presented his sample. Williams was even honored to be featured in a feature film by MGM, starring James Stewart. It is fair to say that the M1 carbine was not a completely unique weapon. In many ways, it was created thanks to the creative processing of previous samples.
The fact is that Winchester first entrusted the creation of a new model to Jonathan "Ed" Browning, the brother of the famous designer John Moses Browning, but he died in May 1939, and it was then that the company attracted David Marshall Williams to this work, who suggested using gas the engine with a short piston stroke, promising a lightening of the whole structure. Tests in 1940 showed that Browning's skewed bolt design was unreliable when contaminated. As a result, it was redesigned to use a Garand-style rotary bolt and a short gas piston.
Shop, shop button and fire translator.
It was planned that the tests of the samples submitted for the competition would begin in just 4 months, that is, on February 1, 1941. But since everything rested on the development of a new cartridge, which needed to be brought to mind, the tests were delayed until May 1941. By this time, as many as nine rifles were ready, so the commission had plenty to choose from and what to compare with. Two samples were rejected at once - Mr. Simpson of the Springfield Arsenal, because his carbine weighed 6 pounds 10 ounces, which was considered too heavy to take time to review. The version chambered for.276 was also rejected as not meeting the requirements for the.
The shutter is closed. The bolt locking unit is clearly visible, thanks to which it rotated when the bolt wound moved. At the base of the reloading handle, the shutter delay button is visible in the rear position.
The shutter is open and delayed. The magazine feeder and the shutter are clearly visible.
The rest of the samples were thoroughly tested, until the military settled on the Winchester model, which presented a lightweight carbine with a gas engine by David Marshall Williams.
Receiver. The grooves for the lugs on the left and right are clearly visible.
Close-up shutter. The lugs and the extractor are clearly visible.
In May 1941, the prototype M1 carbine reduced its weight from 4.3 kg to 3.4 kg, and then became even lighter. Well, in the end, compared to the Garand rifle, the carbine presented for the competition looked simply elegant, it was short and not burdensome to use, and it also turned out to be very light - only some 2, 6 … 2, 8 kg with cartridges, - that is, even lighter than most submachine guns of this time. That is, his designer managed to fully satisfy the customer's requirements and create a weapon that fully meets his requirements, and this does not happen often! It is clear that this was a weapon for certain conditions and certain people, but within the framework of these conditions, it fully corresponded to the requirements imposed on it then.
15-round magazine.
15-round magazine close-up.
The position of the cartridges before feeding with the shutter open.
