M1 Carbine in alternate calibers

[Carbon_15]

I'm 99% sure its never been made, but I think an m1 carbine in .38/357 would be a great idea. the only thing that has kept me from getting an M1 in the relativly expensive ammo.
Would it work...would anyone else want one?

 

[Father Knows Best]

I'm 99% sure its never been made, but I think an m1 carbine in .38/357 would be a great idea. the only thing that has kept me from getting an M1 in the relativly expensive ammo.
Would it work...would anyone else want one?

It could be done, with sufficient money and time. There are inherent problems, however, including the fact that the .357 and .38 special are rimmed rounds designed for revolvers. That makes their use in vertical stack magazines difficult (can you say "rim lock"?). Also, I htink the .357 might operate at higher pressures than the .30 carbine, bringing the stoutness of the action into question (if so, it would have to be beefed up at the appropriate points). Finally, you might have feeding issues depending on bullet shape.

 

[Lone_Gunman]

45 Winchester Magnum in a M1 carbine would be awesome!

 

[Preacherman]

A couple of decades ago, wasn't there a manufacturer producing an M1 carbine in a .45 caliber cartridge? I seem to recall something about that in the gunrags... Anyone recall more details?

 

[Dr.magnum]

Iver Johnson made one in the 80's chambered in 9mm. It's a good shooter and likes the cheap Win. White Box ammo.

 

[M.E.Eldridge]

How 'bout an M1 carbine in 30-06, to go along with it's big brother

 

[Jim Watson]

A couple of decades ago, wasn't there a manufacturer producing an M1 carbine in a .45 caliber cartridge? I seem to recall something about that in the gunrags... Anyone recall more details?

That was the LeMag conversion to .45 Win Mag.
My recollection of the magazine articles is that they worked ok with Winchester factory hardball type loads but if you got into other brands or handloads, it had a very narrow range between the least load that would give reliable function and the most the carbine action would stand.

 

[Infidel]

I want one in 10mm.

 

[Jim Watson]

As Grandma said, "Your wants won't hurt you."
But I say, don't hold your breath.

 

[Mossyrock]

I want one in 10mm.

It's been done recently. Entirely too cool for school.....

http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=3&f=121&t=261059

 

[Sylvilagus Aquaticus]

Preacher, Tim LeGendre was the guy behind Lemag. He was from somewhere around Grand Rapids, I think. He was the darling of a couple of gunrags for awhile with his odd toys- the M1 in .45 WinMag and .50AE, which tended to break the stock at the wrist unless you used a synthetic stock, in which case recoil tended to be a little too rough for the shooter. He developed a long and a short recoil piston for them. Writers took their chances on whether or not he'd given them the short-recoil bruiser or the long-recoil pussycat. He also built up a few Garands which fed from a BAR magazine and were chambered up to .338 Win Mag and worked up an AR conversion to a .45 straight-walled case which was somewhere far north of a 45/70 in terms of energetic ballistics.

Haven't heard anything about him in years. The M1 carbine conversion seemed like an interesting idea for lots of folks, but it never really took off. If I were going to do a pistol caliber carbine today, I'd be inclined toward a short AR platform in 357sig or 10mm.

Regards,
Rabbit.

 

[Otony]

The Iver Johnson 9emem carbines used a Browning Hi-Power magazine. If only I had bought one back then, sigh.

Another caliber conversion that I have always wanted is 7.62x25. no good reason why, it just is one of those "why not?" sort of things. Well that and the fact that 7.62 Tok ammo was cheap once upon a time.

For now, put me down for a .357 magnum and/or a 10mm.

 

[Infidel]

It's been done recently. Entirely too cool for school.....

Ooo .. that's neat. But I think that it's the stretched 10mm,-- "10mm magnum". I would just really like a lightweight, handy 10mm carbine. It should take S&W 10mm magazines, of course, although those are getting very scarce lately.

As Grandma said, "Your wants won't hurt you."
But I say, don't hold your breath.

Grandma was right, although my wants do sometimes hurt my pocketbook....
And you're right, I think that I would turn very blue holding my breath for one.

Meanwhile, the original .30 carbine isn't bad.

 

[The Grand Inquisitor]

Isn't .30 Carbine pretty close to .357 as it is?


I'm currently's working on an M1 Carbine conversion to .700NE.

It's going along quite easily so far, I already cut the barrel in half, welded some spare sheet metal around it to fit the round, and then hammered the round into the reciever.


I'm waiting for the Scout scope to come from the factory, but I'm expecting about .5 MOA out of this baby.

 

[bogie]

Heh, heh, heh... We want video...

I'd like one in .38 Super... I think it'd be close to doable. What's the case head size on the .30M1?

 

[NMshooter]

Saw one in .41 mag...

Would have shot it, but it broke before I got my turn.

Same guy had a 5.7 spitfire, may have had other conversions.

It all looked like a very expensive habit to me.

 

[ChiefPilot]

I'm 99% sure its never been made, but I think an m1 carbine in .38/357 would be a great idea. the only thing that has kept me from getting an M1 in the relativly expensive ammo.
Would it work...would anyone else want one?

Do you reload? I can put together 1000 rounds of .30 carbine for under $80. Otherwise, you can get 1000 rounds of Georgia Arms "Canned Heat" for $160 - it's really good ammo.

 

[Crosshair]

I have always wondered if someone could get a Ruger 99/44 and make an adapter that would let it take 44 Mag Desert Eagle magazines. That would make it one nice gun. 4 rounds in the 99/44 is too few for most people.

 

[The_Antibubba]

I always thought the 7.62X25 would be perfect out of the M1-and it wouldn't be harmful to use those ultrahot SMG rounds that nobody's ever actually seen.

I also think the new FN 5.7 round would be good.

 

[50caliber123]

I know a conversion has been done in 5.56, I read about in G&A

 

[50caliber123]

I know a conversion has been done in 5.56, I read about in G&A

 

[Brian Williams]

A conversion done with a blown out 223 case trimmed to the length of a 30 carbine would be great, almost a 357 rimless

 

[cane]

There was the 5.7mm Johnson "Spitfire" and as I recall a "Vulcan" carbine in .44mag. The Vulcan had the gas system removed and replaced with a pump forearm. It used 5 round magazines. If it would work in.44mag (a rimmed cartrige) why not .357/.38? I also seem to remember some converted to .256 Winchester, a .357 necked down to .25.

 

[shecky]

I thought it would be kind of neat to have a sort of scaled up Marlin 60 that fires .357Mag from the tube magazine.

Was .30 carbine that expensive, though? ISTR it cost about the same as .357 Mag., though only in FMJ.

 

[antarti]

I also seem to remember some converted to .256 Winchester, a .357 necked down to .25.

Those were made by Universal. That (and a rebarrel) would get you to a .357 carbine, but not a GI one.

Tim LeGendre was the guy behind Lemag. He was from somewhere around Grand Rapids, I think. He was the darling of a couple of gunrags for awhile with his odd toys- the M1 in .45 WinMag and .50AE, ... and worked up an AR conversion to a .45 straight-walled case which was somewhere far north of a 45/70 in terms of energetic ballistics.

LeMag also converted carbines to 10mm Magnum and some lengthened "9mm Magnum" type case similar to the 9x23 Win. The .45 caliber AR cartridge was called the ".45 Professional" and caused quite a stir since Eugene Stoner looked at the idea and said it couldn't be done... then LeGendre made it work. IIRC, it would spit a 230grn hardball bullet at over 2800fps.