Has anyone here used the .30 Carbine round on rabbits? If so, how did that work out?

Nobody?

That is about all the 30 Carbine would be good for. I am sure it would work fine as rabbits are not hard to kill.

Many years ago I used my fathers carbine on jack rabbits, until I fired all his ammo.
I liked it over a 22 LR, if I jumped a coyote it was plenty of gun.
I used military ball.

In AZ few people eat jacks so I have used everything I have to hunt them, 14 to 458 cal.

Mark

Shoot them in the head if you plan on eating them...

Per dpcd's low opinion of the 30 carbine, it was one I shared, not based on first hand experience but on paper ballistics and the opinion of Phil Sharp in one of his books. I expressed that opinion at a mititary rifle benchrest match quite a few years ago. A fellow competitor, Hartly Bush, saddly now deceased, took great exception to my opinion. Hartly had been a forward artillery observer during the retaking of the Phillipines, and had carried the Carbine. He said the little gun "made Japs go dead just fine". I will defer to actual experience.

I used a borrowed one on a deer hunt when I was a young lad.

I shot one Mule Deer buck with that gun, with Rem factory SP ammo and it took 9 body shots, w 3 center lung shots, and 6 borderline body shots, and about a two mile chase to get the buck down.

However, I'm sure it would kill rabbits even with military ball.

I can kill a red deer with a .22LR with the right body shot, I cannot imagine not being able to kill a little mule deer with a .30 carbine, or it even taking more than one round, much less "three through the lungs" and six others. That's just silly.

In Todays World, IF I was forced to use the 30 Carbine on any game larger than a rabbit, I would use either the Cor Bon or the new Hornady FTX load.

And shoot straight as well.

I used to load the Speer 100 gr Plinkers in mine. Cheap and should be ideal for rabbit.

Grizz

Military ball won't kill a big jackrabbit quickly; I have shot many of them with a .45 with ball ammo and they just sit there shaking for ten or twenty seconds before they keel over. No shock to it. I have spoken to Korean war vets who shot Chinese in winter coats, with 30 carbines; no effect on them for the first few shots.
The 100 grain plinkers; much better as they are lead with a short jacket/gas check. I used to use those in my 30-30 in high school as they were cheap.

Your rabbits must take a lot more killing than the ones I'm familiar with. The .30 carbine easily outperforms the .32-20 that the Old Timers used on deer without a second thought. Also, compare it with the 7.62 Tokarev that the Russians used in their PPsH on the Eastern Front. I guess Germans in winter gear are easier to dispatch than the rabbits you have in your neighborhood. Must be some bad-assed rabbits!

I've known folks that used them on 100-120 pound blacktails with complete success.

Porosonik.

I only report what I have actually done; shot jack rabbits with 45 hard ball, and they didn't even react to the shots. FMJ ammo tends not the impart a lot of energy to the flesh target. Another war story; one of my supply Sergeants decided to kill himself (after I had left the unit). He shot himself square in the stomach with a 45. Now, deciding that was not a good idea, he proceeded to drive himself to the hospital, whereupon he fully recovered.
It's the bullets that matter; that's why we use expanding bullets for hunting and the Geneve-Hague accords frown on them.

I've gotta agree- FMJs don't transfer energy very efficiently... even less so when used on small, light targets. Even soft point/hollow points won't do much if there isn't enough target mass involved, and until you have enough velocity to create hydrastatic shock the results aren't too spectacular.

Porosonik.

Based on this I think the FMJs would be just the thing for rabbits intended for eating.

quote:

Another war story; one of my supply Sergeants decided to kill himself (after I had left the unit). He shot himself square in the stomach with a 45

I was responding to a possible suicidal subject.

Dispatch was talking to him and me at same time one could clearly hear the shot over the phone line. Then one could hear the person yelling in pain I didn't mean it.

He was up walking around when EMS and I got there.

A 170gr 308 bullet out of a 30-30 in the guts didn't stop him from walking around.

Nor did a contact shot of 12ga buck that took off one guys lower jaw in a suicide attempt.

Shot placement is what counts.

My first deer, button whitetail buck, was taken with 1 shot from a carbine.

......always wanted to get a 22 hornet action, rebarrel it to 30 carbine and fit an m1 carbine mag to it.....reckon it would be a great little rabbit gun for the grandson......mannlicher stock.....nice wood.....

Roger

Could never hit one. Wasn't a very accurate rifle/design.

Sounds like you have the wrong carbine. Most of the WWII issue guns seem to be a lot more accurate than the gun writers would have us to believe. The Universals... not so much. I have an Inland, circa 1943 that's minute-of-beer can at 75-100 yards if I do my part.

Porosonik.

I can reliably hit 12oz pop cans at 100yards with my Iver Johnson M1 Carbine. My Carbine wears an Aimpoint 2000 Red Dot sight...

The .30 M1 Carbine is at least as good at 100yards as a 30-30
win-94 is at 200yards...

Should work just fine. I have taken a couple of whitetails with my Ruger Blackhawk in 30 Carbine using soft point bullets. The deer I shot were both in the 120 to 130 weight range and both deer only needed one shot each. That said the only reaction to the shot was both took off running (both were found inside a 100 yards and fair blood trail after about 10 to 15 yards). The shots were inside 75 yards and behind the shoulder hits. The bullets exited on both deer. It appeared from the exit wounds that the bullets did expand, however little blood shot meat.
There are much better calibers for deer, but the 30 Carbine with hp/sp bullets it should make for a dandy jack hammer (pardon the pun).
I can not explain how a muley took 9 hits and went 2 miles unless those three lungs hits weren't and were like the other 6 hits in the meat/guts. Just bad shooting in my book.

I shot 1 whitetail buck, with a carbine and 110 grn rem softpoints in a handload.
About what you would expect from a lung shot, ran 60 yds, stood and wobbled. It fell, tried to get up then flopped back down dead. No exit, but mushroomed under the skin.
It's my favorite gun for shooting pesky beavers flooding my meadows.

Noted in another thread that the "new" FN 5.7 delivers ... .30 Carbine ballistics.

My dad used one in the pacific and as mentioned by another poster he also felt it killed Jap's just fine.
My only experience that I can remember was a wild turkey maybe 50+ years ago. The bird just tipped over.
As a data point I shot a grouse with a 380, hitting it multiple times to bring him to bag. I also shot a 2 lb cotton tail with a 38 special that required several shots before it was over. Had a hell of a time killing a skunk with a 44 cal cap & ball. Also had a 100lb sika deer take 4 good shots from a 35 Rem.
I guess some animals are tougher than others

What I'd like is good load info for 150gr soft-points in a 30Carbine at under 1100fps that would reliably cycle the action..

Then make a registered SBR, using either a 12" military barrel or an Iver Johnson "enforcer" pistol barrel.

a Folding stock M1 carbine with an RedDot sight (silenced or not) would make a fantastic Truck/carry gun that'd beat any 9mm Semi-Auto handgun...

Remember this bit of basic reality... an M2 carbine is not considered an SMG, because while not powerful enough to be an Assault Weapon (IF select-fire) it is easily twice as powerful as any pistol caliber True-SMG

Sometimes something that "falls in between" is "just right"....

And FWIW I KNOW I cannot "plink" milk jugs at 100yds with any handgun I've ever tried it with, but at my last range session with my carbine I didn't miss a single water filled 12oz Coke can which is a lot smaller....

That all being said the only thing I've actually killed with a 30carbine was a fox, with soft-points, and I hit I hit it with three out of five shots fired at it as it ran away

If anyone out there has a 30 carbine bolt gun and would consider selling, I would be interested in such a purchase.

Originally posted by Bob Nisbet:
If anyone out there has a 30 carbine bolt gun and would consider selling, I would be interested in such a purchase.
I currently own a Marlin lever action 30 carbine. It works great with factory soft points, but will not extract clean US Mil carbine ammo.

I had an uncle bring me a toy back from Nam that I played with one winter. Cut off barrel, pistol grip stock...but very nicely done. I loved shooting running Jacks and cottontails with it. All FMJ ball.
Sadly, I had to return it.

My Grandfather was a Marine in WWII. He started with a 1903 in Guadacanal and when he was given a Garand he was happy except it weighed more. He traded it off for M1 Carbine but after his first combat experience he traded a new guy for his Garand. Said he would put up with the weight of the Garand and the guaranteed stop vs the M1 carbine not being as reliable stoping a Japanese soldier advancing.
My friends mom used the M1 Carbine to hunt deer in Utah. All she said was "sometimes it took one shot and sometimes it took more".

I've only shot them at paper so I am not qualified to say how effective they are on game. However ballistically they are similar to a 357 fired from a carbine. The Marlin 357 Lever gun I used when rabbit hunting was more than enough to stop big Jacks and large Snowshoe haires dead in their tracks. Guys with 12ga and high brass game loads were taking multiple shots on the big Snowshoe's.

Carlson Highway,
Not silly mate, its a fact, a hardball or soft out of a carbine is not as effective as a 22 L.R. on deer and antelope, and Ive used both, apparently you have never shot anything with 30 carbine, internal damage is a hole and they can run a hell of a long ways, it kills them but good chance of losing them.

When butchering one day I shot a 1200# steer
with my Blackhawk and 110gr SP at 1215fps.

He didn't bleed over half gallon. I caught hell
for: "killing him too dead with that cannon pistol".
The shot stopped the heart, supposedly
that means the blood stays in the meat and ruins it.
We compared steaks on the grill and couldn't
tell any difference in the taste.
Bullet was found embedded in the back half of
the Atlas joint. 11" penetration. Sure it was
from 15 feet. There damn sure wasn't any
question about killing power then.

I shot an elk in the head with it as a finisher
pulverized the skull.

One day Dad was running: "That pistol down, what
good is it? etc".

Just to show him, I fired 12 shots at a barrel
full of rocks we'd put up as a dead man in a fence corner at 300 yards.
first shot hit about half way, second shot hit right at the base and dented it.
The other ten shots hit the barrel and went thru
the near side.

I shot a 3pt muley buck in the ribs with it from
about 75 feet, ran maybe 30-40 yards and died.

IMO some people just need more practice with one.

George

I have a 30 carbine chambered AMT pistol.... if the bullet don't get them, the fireball will...

always wanted to get a 22 hornet action, rebarrel it to 30 carbine and fit an m1 carbine mag to it.....reckon it would be a great little rabbit gun for the grandson......mannlicher stock.....nice wood...… I had my gunsmith take a savage 340 in .22 hornet and rechamber to .22 spitfire... ( 5.7 Johnson)… he opened the bolt to take the .30 carbine.. and rechambered the barrel... hardly any recoil ..and we're working on fitting the bottom metal from a universal carbine to the savage so I can use carbine mags..

I’ve been unimpressed with it on varmints, but only used FMJ or factory soft points.

Only quick kills were when I hit the brain or spine. The FN 5.7 is not much faster, but the bullets are much more expansive and they work better on varmints, anyhow.

Not much expansion, and rather sedate velocity mean little dramatic effect. They will kill, but take time. To me, the .22 LR is a better bunny killer.

I suppose game animals, much like people attempting suicide, just need the right vessels hit to dispatch quickly.
Arteries, such as the aorta, can take quite a bit of abuse but veins, especially the vena cava bleed like stink.
Even the heart of a big animal can take a clean hole and not bleed out.
Hit big blue or the pulmonary vein and it’s all over but the crying.
As for rabbits, I’ve only used head shots with a pellet gun and that kills them dead so I would expect nothing less than that with a 30 Carbine.

My friend used to use his grandfather's .30 carbine with surplus ammo when we went bunny hunting. It seemed to kill everything he pointed it at just fine.

His grandfather and his mother used to use it for Western Mule Deer in Idaho and Utah when they were both younger. I remember seeing a picture of his grandfather and his brothers in Deer camp. His grandfather was holding the carbine and his deer.

I"ve shot hogs with one, worked fine from ~50 yards .. my last carbine would put a whole mag into a playing card at 50 yards-- at 200? was about as accurate as a spit ball at the same distance .. it was a GORGEOUS DCM from the late 60s -- the prettiest carbine i'd ever seen, couldn't consistently hit the paper at 100 though. tried many things, it went down the road.. which i regret, as, frankly, it's the perfect home defense gun ..

None of this surprises me at all, bullets kill sometimes good and sometimes not so good, Ive noticed one thing however if the first shot is perfect, it usually kills, may run a long ways, but if it is misplaced and the animal fills up with adrenaline it can be much harder to kill with follow up shots, Ive seen this particularly on DG such as Lion, Hippo, Buffalo, but also on some PG and the smallest of Coues deer..Coues and whitetail seem tougher to kill than Mule Deer has been my experience as a rule, but with exceptions..For one thing the whitetail are more high strung than a lazy old mule deer as a rule..A generalization only..

All that said the carbine is a miserable killer, the worst caliber I ever used on big game, I would much prefer a 22 L.R. HP..

Way to many deer killed with 92's in 32-20's to say a .22 rf is better. Carbine and 32-20 are two peas in a pod. No old timer I ever talked to preferred a .22 over his 32-20 or 25-20.