What shoots 30 Carbine besides an M1 Carbine

[WestKentucky]

if you can find one that's not worn to a nubbin and afford the astronomical ask price the Marlin levermatic in 30 carbine is a cool little rifle

I have one. Neat rifle for sure but in no way worth what they bring

 

[StrawHat]

Someone mentioned that S&W produced an N frame chambered for the 30 Carbine. They produced several and submitted them for testing. They were rejected because the nuzzle blast was fearsome! Of course they were testing without earmuffs or plugs. If I remember corr, three of the revolvers are still in collections.

I have thoughts of building a replica.

Kevin

 

[DustyGmt]

Wasn't there a BFR made in it as well. It be fun if Henry made one chambered in it. I saw a video recently on ammo prices and Rural King was selling ammo for $20 a box. So price of ammo isn't as bad as it used to be, if you can find it.

Those are neat guns. Comically large, you can't help but laugh when you shoot it, if you can handle the recoil, if you can't some people might cry and have seen plenty of people take a nice BONK! to their noodle when some jackwagon gives an inexperienced shooter a BBR/BFR for youtube clicks.

I shot a BFR in .450 Marlin and it's one spicy customer. The guy that had it at the range who let me shoot it could not shoot it well, recoil was making it flip more than 90° and he didnt have control and wasn't hitting what he aimed at.

He thought I had some mystical skill and had a hard time believing I never shot big bore revolvers before and I actually impressed myself. Muzzle flip was less than 45° and I was destroying a railroad plate at 50 yards unrested with every round in the cylinder, .450 Marlin in a handgun is pretty fun, but not so much fun that I want to pursue that particular activity again unless I visit Alaska or anywhere there are dangerous bears, sasquatch or a T-rex..... I've seen them chambered for .30 Carbine too, I would think the .450 is probably a touch spicier than the .30

 

[ThomasT]

I wish H&R had of chambered the Handi-Rifle in 30 carbine. Its a dream but I wish Henry would chamber their single shot rifle in 30 Carbine or 32 mag. That would make a nice survival/farm gun.

 

[Speedo66]

It was. Melvyn Johnson came up with a simple conversion called the 5.7 Spitfire, aka 22 Spitfire, 5.7 MMJ. He had military conversions in mind but nobody bit and then he offered it commercially for a number of years. Think of it conceptually as the .300 Blackout idea in reverse.

spitfire

www.johnsonautomatics.com

.22 Spitfire - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

That would have saved the gov’t a ton of money with cheap and easy conversions and no spending for new purchases.

Can’t have that happen, the military-industrial complex would not have been happy.

 

[CapnMac]

Wasn't the Pederson device for the 1903 Springfields made to convert a standard issue bolt action rifle to a semi-auto platform firing the M1 Carbine round?

No. That was for the 30pedersen, which was the 8mm French Long with a US name on it.*

30carbine was cribbed out of the then extant 32 win self-loading round.

_____________________________
*We now have the 30super carry, dimensionally similar to 8 longue, but only designed to be optimal from pistol length barrels--both 30ped and 8mmFL benefited from longer barrels. That's also why we are unlikely to ever see PCC in 30sc, the decreased performance in 16" barrel would make a 32cap or 380 acp PCC "better."

 

[Dave DeLaurant]

That would have saved the gov’t a ton of money with cheap and easy conversions and no spending for new purchases.

Can’t have that happen, the military-industrial complex would not have been happy.

According to Bruce Canfield's book on Johnson, that sums up how he felt about it too. He was evidently very bitter over his dealings with the US military toward the end of his life, which came prematurely at age 55. I think the Spitfire idea also died with him.

I recall that at one time Universal offered their version of the M1 Carbine in the rimmed .257 Winchester cartridge.

Universal Firearms Ferret

Commercial M1 Carbines

www.m1carbinesinc.com

 

[Dave DeLaurant]

Apropos of the .22/5.7 MMJ/Spitfire, the Indian Ordnance Factory is currently fooling around with a cartridge with even less oompf, the 5.56x30 MINSAS:

5.56×30mm MINSAS - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

The latest weekly from Small Arms Review mentions a display model of an AK variant in this chambering at a Southeast Asian defense trade show in Malaysia:

DEFENCE SERVICES ASIA 2008 - Small Arms Review

By Dan Shea

smallarmsreview.com

I'm not sure what the point of this cartridge is, since the FN 5.7x28mm offers slightly better ballistics in a slightly smaller package. Frankly, this stuff makes the 5.7 Spitfire look pretty good!

 

[Buckeye63]

I remember walking in a Roses department store in mid to late 80’s and purchasing a M1 Carbine for $125 … mis-matched military parts .. it ran perfectly… I had it for a decade and traded it off for something or another… can’t remember what .. but after getting a couple of SKS’s it just set in the safe ..

 

[Speedo66]

Here’s an ad, the “redirect notice”, for the Johnson Spitfire.
They had their own version of a folding wire stock. Prices were $130 for the gun, $16 for 100 cartridges, and $73 to convert your Carbine.

Redirect Notice

 

[halfmoonclip]

I have a first generation Ruger PC9, which has a definite M1 carbine feel and vibe. There is just something that feels good between the hands.
Moon

 

[Patocazador]

.......and it's still not better than an M16.

It was in 1967.

 

[dobedo]

 

[halfmoonclip]

The reloading aspect is one thing that kept me away from the Carbine (as someone else posted, needing "carbide dies and lube..." ), but I'm kinda sorry I didn't rethink that.
Googled up the CT30, and they mentioned 'problems'; a discharge with the trigger guard pushed off to one side was mentioned. Any idea what other issues they had? It really does sound like a great concept.
NightLord, you are a brave man! Aftermarket mags scare me to death, can't imagine cobbled ones. What did you use?
You said the CT9 was heavy, which sometimes happens with blowback guns.
Moon

 

[CapnMac]

..and it's still not better than an M16.

Depends on the M-16

 

[NIGHTLORD40K]

The reloading aspect is one thing that kept me away from the Carbine (as someone else posted, needing "carbide dies and lube..." ), but I'm kinda sorry I didn't rethink that.
Googled up the CT30, and they mentioned 'problems'; a discharge with the trigger guard pushed off to one side was mentioned. Any idea what other issues they had? It really does sound like a great concept.
NightLord, you are a brave man! Aftermarket mags scare me to death, can't imagine cobbled ones. What did you use?
You said the CT9 was heavy, which sometimes happens with blowback guns.
Moon

I first tried surplus UZI mags. The problem with those was the CT9 magazines are actually angled forward slightly in the well, whereas the Uzis are vertical. I had to reverse and rebend the followers, then carefully drill and tap the magazine spine to attach a lug for the Taurus' release lever. They worked ok once you got the follower angle just right, but the whole procedure took a couple of hours per magazine and even then they were tight going in and out.

Then I got ahold of some Colt SMG mags and these were a much better fit and easier to adjust. The only problem with the Colts is they didn't have an insertion stop, so you had to slap them in and then pull them down until they stopped against the catch.

In the end, it was about 95% reliable with 115gr. FMJ, but I never trusted it for any serious defense work. My buddy loved it more than I did and bought it from me to use it as a trainer for his kids.

 

[AlexanderA]

While the .30 Carbine round may be underpowered for a rifle, it's a relatively powerful loading for a handgun.

The handguns and other weapons chambered for it made sense when surplus .30 Carbine ammo was cheap and plentiful.

Now, when the ammo is scarce and expensive, those chamberings no longer make sense. That's why you won't find them on the market.

 

[halfmoonclip]

Thanks, NightLord. Uzi and Colt make sense; hell, I have a hard time telling magazines apart.
One kind of Colt mags will run hollow points in an AR9, the other will not. Go figure.
Moon

 

[highlander 5]

Didn't read the whole thread but Ruger still makes the Bkackhawl in 30 carbine. Been at my outdoor range one day and someone had a Blackhawk in 30 carbine and even with electronic earmuffs muzzle blast was unreal as was the fireball

 

[jlmwrite]

Ruger made a Blackhawk in that caliber but I think they discontinued it. As did AMT with an auto pistol.

I have one, and it's a kitten in that big Blackhawk. I love it!

 

[jlmwrite]

I believe the Automag III was chambered in .30 Carbine