Ammo Brief: .30 Carbine

In 1940, the U.S. Ordnance Department determined that a lighter carbine could have certain advantages in combat situations over the.45 caliber semi-auto gun. Winchester submitted a variety of designs, but in the end it was chosen. The semi-auto.30 M-1 Carbine became official in 1941. The cartridge was a modification of a.32 Winchester auto-loading round from 1906. It wasn’t revolutionary, but it did the job. Around the same time the Germans developed the assault rifle and 7.92mm Kurz cartridge. The M-1 Carbine was not designed as an assault rifle. According to the military, it was intended for a different purpose. General CommentsIn mid-1963, the government sold.30 M-1 Carbines to civilians via the National Rifle Association for a very reasonable price of $20. As a result of this, thousands of these rifles have been used to shoot sporting ammunition. Federal, Winchester and Remington load soft-point sporting ammunition.This is an excerpt from Cartridge’s Of The World, available now at GunDigestStore.com.The .30 Carbine cartridge is in the same class as the .32-20 WCF, but slightly more powerful. The M-1 Carbine is a short, lightweight, and handy round that is designed for small game and varmints. The ballistics of the cartridge and the modest accuracy of the M-1 Carbine limit the range of the gun to 150 yards. Gun Digest’s Cartridges of the World was written by the original author of the Gun Digest, who used an M-1 Carbine in 1943 to hunt deer and small game. He had a good idea of the cartridge’s capabilities. The.30 Carbine is a derivative of that round, and shares many of its shortcomings. It can fire cheaper military ammunition and this allows the gun to be used in many situations that are not economically feasible for the.32 SL. However, don’t fool yourself about the “terrific” power of the.30 Carbine, because it is just not there. It is still a very useful cartridge, but it has its limitations. If the military had adopted a more modern, normal rifle pressure standard instead of the inexplicably low 40,000 psi, we may have a different opinion. The difference in velocity is 400 fps when loading to normal.3006 pressures. This seems significant. The target grids and bullseyes are in MOA. Subscribe to the Gun Digest newsletter and we will send you your print-at home target pack immediately. Enter your email below.