My dad inherited an M1 carbine from my uncle and we went to shoot it yesterday. I’m not even sure what We’ve got. It doesn’t have a manufacturers name on it. Just a serial number and US carbine caliber 30 on the bolt carrier.It’s in pretty good shape and shoots great. Where’s the best place for information and for spare magazines that work and anything else I need to know? I will post pictures tonight or tomorrow.

Also, what’s good self-defense ammo and possibly hunting ammo and where in the world can I get some these days? Definitely not an expert on 30 carbine ammo but my assessment has always been it’s similar to a 357 magnum out of a rifle or a 44 magnum out of a pistol. Does that sound about right do you guys?

Sounds like it is one of the commercial variants available over the years.

Possibly a Universal..

Most likely, the manufacturers name is hiding under an adjustable rear sight. Take a look with a flashlight.

Winchester made .30 Carbine HP ammo. Untouchable right now from what I'm seeing. Not sure it is still in production. There may be other outfits loading HP's. Remington and Aguila load .30 Carbine among others.

USGI mags are GTG, but at 70+ years old don't be surprised if they need springs or the feed lips are tweaked, or the nubs that engage the magazine catch are worn.

New Korean made might be your best bet.

If you go with 30 round magazines, make sure you have a late type magazine catch.

Depending on what info you want, we can likely cover most of it here.

I have a Quality Hardware and like M1Garandy said the manufacturer is mostly hidden under the rear sight. If you think you have an oldie this site is pretty decent with basic information to help identify. http://www.uscarbinecal30.com/

I second that the manufacturer is likely under the rear sight, which is probably a type 2 or 3. Post lots of pics, we can tell you exactly what you've got.

quote:

Originally posted by ruger357:
Definitely not an expert on 30 carbine ammo but my assessment has always been it’s similar to a 357 magnum out of a rifle or a 44 magnum out of a pistol. Does that sound about right do you guys?

I've been told that the .30 carbine has the same energy at 100 yards that a hot .357 has at the muzzle. Dunno how true or accurate that is, but it's what I've been told or heard on more than one occasion.

If it's USGI, the manufacturer will be hiding under the overhanging adjustable rear sight, just above the serial number on the heel of the receiver.

If it's one of the dozens of companies who made post-war commercial clones, the manufacturer markings could be any number of places on the receiver.


For magazines, good condition USGI 15 rounders are your best bet. New production KCI (Korean) 15 rounders are your next best bet, and cheaper. The larger 30 round magazines - either USGI or commercial - are going to be hit or miss in reliability.


As for ammo, both Hornady Critical Defense and Speer Gold Dot make good .30 Carbine defensive and hunting rounds.

.30 Carbine is roughly equivalent to a .357 Magnum from a carbine, so it can do anything that a .357 lever action carbine can do, including home defense and shorter range deer/hog hunting.

Looks like there is something under the rear sight. Can’t read it. I’ll look closer and try and post the pics.

Here she is.

Yeah, that’s no Universal. That’s USGI.

It does look like a USGI carbine, but some commercial carbines are close clones of USGI, so one can't always tell just from overview photos.

If it's USGI and you can't make out the manufacturer under the rear sight, post the serial number and I can look it up by that. Each USGI manufacturer was assigned specific serial blocks.

I might be jumping the gun, but the overall age and wear looks like it to me, what appears to be pitting on the bolt, etc. But yes, best to confirm with the manufacturer name and serial.

Ruger357, if you can only make out some letters on either side of the sight rather than the whole thing, even that would probably be enough to tell us.

Serial number is 132xxxx and I believe it says Winchester under the sight and my google search confirms that. Can anyone else confirm?

Yep. One of Winchester's blocks was 1000000 - 1349999, within which your serial falls.

132xxxx would be roughly Late 1943 production.

quote:

Originally posted by ruger357:
Serial number is 132xxxx and I believe it says Winchester under the sight and my google search confirms that. Can anyone else confirm?

I can confirm that you have reported it reads "Winchester." That number is consistent with a Winchester-made gun.

Are any modern expanding bullets currently available in .30 carbine? I'd be leery of using it for anything larger than a coyote without an expanding bullet. Even with a soft point, you'd be range limited, so be aware of your limits.

Pretty awesome thing to inherit....

quote:

Originally posted by jhe888:
Are any modern expanding bullets currently available in .30 carbine? I'd be leery of using it for anything larger than a coyote without an expanding bullet.

Yes, as mentioned in my earlier post, Speer Gold Dot and Hornady Critical Defense both offer commercial .30 Carbine defense/hunting loads. The Gold Dot load is an older soft point design, but the Critical Defense uses their modern FTX JHP bullet.

Looks like Magtech and Buffalo Bore both also offer .30 Carbine JHP loads, but I don't have any personal experience with those.

If you're looking for range ammo, keep checking https://www.sgammo.com/ It's out of stock now, but last year I bought some 1984 milsurp Korean ball on stripper clips in bandoleers. I fired about 50 rds, they all went bang.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Sigmund,

I am not an expert but I do have a few of them. Yours looks like it has been thru the standard post war arsenal rebuild. Many carbines have mixed barrels/receivers. My national postal meter receiver has an IBM barrel, my underwood receiver has a winchester barrel. Some were built that way, some got new barrels/parts during a rebuild. There should be a marking just below the front sight on the barrel. If you do not see any import markings on the receiver it is possible it was sold by the DCM/CMP. For $25 they will do a search to see if they can find a record of it. link to cmp faq's

M1 carbines are a blast and my favorite milsurps to take to the range. For all practical purposes all of the USGI ones were built and used during WWII (maybe not in combat, but still). They are fun to shoot and great to use when teaching a newbie, low recoil and easy to handle.

Have fun!

VERY Nice Winchester you've got there!

Get thee here --> http://uscarbinecal30m1.com/

If you click on 'My Carbine' you can input your S/N and generate a 'correct' parts list for your M1 Carbine, including component markings where appropriate.

Thanks for all the info! I’ll do some additional research. Now we just need more ammo and mags.