At one point it was issued to Corrections Officers of the Federal Bureau of Prisons and, to this day, sees limited use by the Israeli and Philippine Defense Forces. It was military issue as far forward as Vietnam and has been spotted in a number of places since then. It was also utilized in limited numbers by the OSS, British SOE, and SAS. The M1 saw combat during World War II with line troops in both the European and Pacific theaters. If you ever wondered why the M4 carbine was so named, it was simply the next in line after the previous. It was released in a number of variants, including the M1A1, which included a folding stock for airborne units the M2 Carbine in full-auto and the M3, which was an M2 equipped with one of the first infrared scopes ever fielded in military service. It was also far cheaper to produce, with an initial unit cost of $45 (in 1941 dollars) compared to an M1 Garand at $85 and the Thompson at $225. So the M1 Carbine provided a quick-pointing, quick-shooting option to troops who either didn’t need the additional firepower or required speed and stealth instead of brute force.

In comparison, the portly M1 Garand could tip the scales anywhere from 9.5 to 11.5 pounds, depending on the variant, and the stubby M1 Thompson submachine gun felt positively anvil-like at over 10 pounds empty. (See issue 21 for a photo of the prototype at the Cody Firearms Museum.) It weighed in at a spritely 5.2 pounds. The original prototype was submitted by Winchester - built in just 13 days - and was a hit with military observers at the competition. This included everyone from cooks and vehicle crews to officers and airborne troopers. 30, M1 sprang from an Army Ordnance Board competition for a lightweight, semiautomatic firearm to be used by soldiers who didn’t require full-sized battle rifles. They offered us a test sample, and we jumped at the chance to see (and shoot) what was old, made new again. One of the less flashy, but more intriguing, releases we got this past year was a notice that MKS Supply, through their partnership with Inland Manufacturing, would begin selling newly manufactured M1 Carbines in several configurations. Throughout the year, we receive press releases at an amazing cyclic rate from all kinds of manufacturers. We love the newest, bestest gadgets as much as the rest of you, but it never hurts to take a look back and realize that “old” does not necessarily equal “obsolete.” We’ve covered plenty of the latest and greatest in these pages.

There’s no doubt that the AR-15 platform has been a breeding ground for firearms innovation for well over a decade now.

M1 .30 carbine serial numbers