I am offered a M1 carbine (30 carbine).

I expect it will be sufficient for deer, but what else will you suggest?

I know it was an old military caliber...was it any good as a military round, if so up to what range?

What about components for reloading?
Is it a tricky caliber to reload?

I hope you can give some advice

M

VKG10, I would not consider the 30 carbine an adaquite deer cartridge. This rifle & cartridge was developed as a lighter alternative to the M1 Garand. It was originally issued to support personel & because of its smaller size & lighter weight it made it way into tanks & aircraft. A paratrooper version with a folding stock was also issued. As far as I know you will be limited to a 110gr bullet. I know that some soft points are out there but, the FMJ's will be more common. I think that the M1 carbine is a fine rifle & it served with distinction but, I think it would not be the best chioce for a deer rifle.

Have owned two and several mates who have them. As issued they seldom shoot to point of aim. Usually shoot very high. Norma Ammo shoots very accurately in mine but they can be fussy or not shoot well at all.

Reloading? Easy, but my current one is very fussy on case length, Uave loaded regular 110grn soft and Ball, also used speer 100grn Half jacketed plinkers, and used a lot of 85grn bullets pulled from Tokarev pistol ammo (have lots of free tok ammo in Africa!) It is a jackal, duiker, impala round, for ranges up to 100m.

The 30 carbine is lots of fun !
I respectfully disagree that it was built as a light weight alternative to the M-1. It was developed in the hopw that a lightweight carbine would be more usfull in the hands of a guy who normally would be isued a 45 auto.such as a radio man.
It was loved and hated by many GIs. Not a good stopper with full metal jacket. I think with 110 grain hollow points it would be a great home defence gun.
One side note. The little cartridge is way louder than one would expect for its power level. I would limit it to Coyotes out here in oregon...tj3006

I have to agree that the .30 carbine is very marginal on deer. However within 100 yards, a careful shot can take undisturbed deer with one.
I took two deer with mine many years ago using factory soft nose ammo. Both deer were within 25 to 35 yards and walked past my stand. Easy shots really, but now I wouldn't do it unless it was a dire emergency.
I like the M-1 Carbine as a walkabout and knock around gun for targets of oppotunity, but I'll probably never use one on deer again.
Paul B.

I have never been a huge proponent of the fast 30 caliber cartridges, but in my opinion the 30 carbine is more of a big pistol cartridge than a small rifle cartridge. A good friend has one and I must say, it is a lot of fun to shoot and play with. We've even shot a few rabbits and snakes with it. However, I would agree that it is too marginal for deer, even for a marksman. I think the smallest rimless round I'd try to hunt deer with is the 7.62x39.

I will not discourage you from purchasing the carbine as I do think you will get many years of enjoyment out of it, but I would not buy it to be your main deer hunting firearm.

IMHO, if you have another bigger rifle to hunt deer with, buy the 30 carbine and don't look back. If you're buying this to be your sole deer hunting rifle, I would urge you to keep looking.

And that's just my $.02.

quote:

I expect it will be sufficient for deer, but what else will you suggest?

Sorry friend.....I really don't think it's sufficient for deer. It's a very poor hunting load and in most states is not legal for deer.

That said it's one of the most fun cartridges I've ever had.....just shoot b;ocks of wood, beer cans, blackbirds, anything that is in excess at the time.

Great fun...low recoil and the semiautos usually hold 20 rounds so you can shoot a lot.

In a word......FUN

Great backpacker or hiker's gun, not deer qualified.

With it limits know it well kill deer just fine.

Under 100 yards I just watched a young lad kill I whitetail doe this afternoon with 110gr speerjsp at 1950 shot if facing him broke its neck torn up the heart and lungs dropped in its tracks.

No not the perfect deer rifle but with a good bullet and use properly it well work.

Guys,

What's a GM Inland carbine going for now a days?

I love to shoot the M1 Carbine but not for deer!
Keep it as a plinker and have a hell of a lot of fun,.

I was issued a couple of m2 carbines at different times. One had just come off the front lines in Korea with no ord rework. If you could hit a 12" target at 100 yards you were lucky. I,ve owned one since and got rid of it out of dissatisfaction. It would have about the same deer killing potential as a 32-20 with 10 MOA repeatability. That's if you are lucky.

It ain't no hunting rifle. Sorry Carbine Williams! roger

I ususally defend the oddball caliber (or in my case the "oddball" behind the caliber) but I gotta agree that the 30 Carbine is not the best choice for deer. Likewise I know a lot of deer have been killed with the 357 Mag but why test fate when a 45 LC or 44 Mag is just as easy to shoot?

I don't doubt it will work under the right circumstances but why should an adult limit themselves like that, unless that is the sole point; sorta like archery? In that case go for it but don't equate it with true deer rile calibers.

Afraid I also have to climb onto the wagon loaded with those who feel the .30 Carbine cartridge is inadequate for deer...even small deer.

About 45 years ago when I had an income of less than $80 per month, and was trying to raise two small kids and a wife, I bought a DCM .30 carbine for $14.50, delivered. I attached a flashlight under the barrel, loaded up some 110-gr. hollowpoints ahead of H-110, and proceeded to shoot several Columbian black-tailed deer over the next couple of weeks, at ranges of 10 to 30 yards, broadside, through the lungs, some of them several times. Didn't get to eat any of them. All managed to make it far enough into the brush that they weren't found until they had soured and the vultures pointed them out. (Even the ones shot in broad daylight...) At that point I quit shooting deer with the .30 carbine and wangled a very old (even then) used M94 Win carbine with an octagon barrel in .25-35. Found I could feed my family much better with that, and IT ain't no powerhouse.

That doesn't mean the .30 carbine will never kill a deer, just that I don't think it is good hunter ethics to use it on deer in anything other than desperate circumstances..

I've owned and shot several M1 Carbines, not to mention that of friends. If the rifles are not warn out (usually from cleaning rods), you can expect groups in the 3" range at 100 yds. I've had some do better then that with good ammo, but 2" to 2 1/2" was about the best I was able to get from a minty carbine. For reliability, I've had best luck using the 15 round magazines and I think the best factory round is the Winchester 110 grain hollow point. I've shot a fair bit of animals with this round, but all close range (usually within 25 yds) and I was not able to tell the difference in killing between this round or the .223 (5.56mm) shot out or a Mini-14. I would say that a smallish pig or deer up close would be the limit for either of these rounds.

Putting this aside, this is one heck of a fun gun and round combination to shoot!

Thank you very much for all your inputs.

I think I will pass on the 30 Carbine and buy a rifle to supplement my 6,5x55 Swede.

I will ask for opinions on a another discussion under this forum.

M

M-1 Carbines are hard to come by in Europe, so I wouldn't pass it over for just that reason. It may be a long time before you come across another. If able to, I would shoot the rifle first then make the decision.

I’ve always have had a soft spot for these handy little rifles and they are a lot of fun to use. I wouldn’t hesitate to use one in the forest on fox, small pigs or fallow. At these close ranges (usually under 50m) you are not at a disadvantage with it and it’s the vitals being hit that matters most. I’ve seen a number of Sitka Blacktail (similar size to the fallow) shot with this round using the Winchester hollow point load in the dense forest (10-35m) and they all went down hard without ruining all of the meat… Up close, you will be surprised how much damage this little round does to smaller sized game.

I personally used mine mainly on fox hunts with FMJ loads in broken forest, where shots are usually inside 50m and rarely greater than 100-150m. This is where a quick handy rifle comes into its own.

While you CAN kill deer with it, (I know of one guide in AK who killed a coastal brown bear with an M1 Carbine!) IMO it is barely adequate for jackrabbits. In addition, the carbine is no accurate enough for varmint shooting, so the M1 Carbine is basically a fun-gun plinker! But a good one!

Back in the days when you could buy literally tons of .30 Carbine Ball ammo for little or nothing, I shot mine every day! But when the Army dumped it, I sold mine......

It is an easy caliber to reload, and I used the Lyman 130-grain plain-base case bullet in mine. There are softpoint bullets available for it, but even a softpoint at 1900-2000 FPS has little killing power when it only weighs 110 grains..... It loses speed fast, too.

Basically, the .30 US Carbine is a PISTOL cartridge, and a pretty wimpy one at that! But I havce seen M1 Carbines that were converted to shoot a rimless version of the .38/40 Win. round using a 200-grain bullet at 1800 FPS, and that was a different proposition entirely!

I sure wish that I could get one in 9mm Win Mag. That round makes good sense in that little rifle, too bad the Army didn't go that way when the carbine was developed originally...

quote:

I sure wish that I could get one in 9mm Win Mag. That round makes good sense in that little rifle, too bad the Army didn't go that way when the carbine was developed originally...

Yup, a M1 carbine in 351 Winchester loaded with flatnose solids would have been a completely different animal...

If I was looking for a small, handy, semi-auto sporter carbine for close up deer shooting, I'd pass up any (every) M-1 carbine and keep looking until I found a used Ruger "Deerstalker" in .44 Mag. Then I'd load it to either .44-40 or .44 Mag ballistics, depending on what tickled my fancy at the time.

quote:

Originally posted by Alberta Canuck:
If I was looking for a small, handy semi-auto sporter carbine for close up deer shooting,

I'd like a Mini-30, IF I could find one that would shoot into the same group two days in a row! I hear there are such creatures, but I ain't seed wun yit!