The venerable M1 Carbine!

20 Aug 07

The venerable M1 Carbine!

This from a student:

"I dug out an old, Universal M1 Carbine for a shooting get-togetherlast weekend. When I acquired this gun from the widow of a WWII Veteran years ago, it was filthy, and all I did with it at the time was stash it away and forget about it. The bore was full of grime, and an action was rusty, gritty, and difficult to cycle. After digging it out, I hurriedly gave it the once-over, exposing it to the first lubricant it had seen in, I'm sure, in sixty years!

When I inherited this rifle, I also inherited several thousand rounds of old, badly corroded foreign-manufactured ammunition. Box labels were not printed in any language I recognized. Many rounds were coated in green slime, and some were nearly all black.

I thought I could use the piece as an historical artifact as I talked with young shooters about WWII. I figured I may even get it to function, at least for a round or two.

Well, one-thousand rounds later, with no additional lubrication nor maintenance, and without so much as a single hiccup, the Universal Carbine was still running just fine, every bit as well as it did in 1942! While no target rifle, at fifty meters it was effortlessly shooting four-inch groups, evenwith garbage ammunition. Everyone wanted to shoot it!

In any event, I'm sending it off to Colby Adler for a complete overhaul and then off to Robbie Barrkman for the ROBAR treatment, after which it will assume the title of my official "car-gun." From then on, I'll be feeding it Cor-Bon DPX. This little rifle has surely earned my respect!"

Comment: Mine too! Kahr and Fulton Armory are both currently making new-production copies of this venerable warrior, but even the old ones are remarkably durable, as we see!

Short, light, with mild recoil and low muzzle blast, the M1 Carbine is a 100 meter rifle. However, within that range, particularly with DPX ammunition, it is deadly, and a good penetrator. One can do a lot worse!

/John

Correction!

20 Aug 07 WWII vintage M1 Carbines: The M1 Carbine described in my last Quip was manufactured by Underwood, not Universal. I got it wrong! Universal did not get involved in the M1 Carbine business until a number of years after the War, and their guns never attained a particularly good reputation. Friend, and firearms historian, Steve Wenger adds: "Ironically, firms that had not manufactured firearms before turned out the best product. Conversely, Winchester Carbines, highly prized by unsophisticated collectors, were never given high marks for quality." /John

Institutionalized Insanity!

20 Apr 07

We need to take John Boyd's advice! This from a friend in new Orleans:

"I'm nearing a merciful end to a month-long stint of jury duty herein our local Criminal District Court. Today's jury selection was for a criminal case. The accused is being held on multiple, first-degree murder charges. New Orleans still proudly claims the title of 'The USA's Murder Capitol!'

As I sat, patiently awaiting my turn to be examined, I noticed three sheriff' s deputies, all female, all unarmed, surrounding the defendant's table. Holsters were obviously empty, and none had a Taser, OC, nor even a baton!

The judge wanted nothing in his courtroom that even remotely resembled a weapon, in spite of the conspicuous danger. He doesn't trust anyone with a gun, even (apparently) himself!"

Comment: In this age of institutionalized insanity, where judges like this one would rather be murdered than admit they're wrong (and have every other unarmed person in the courtroom murdered as well) we all need reminding of what John Boyd taught us years ago.

With his OODA-Loop model, Boyd reminds us "Reality always trumps expectation. " When there is a conflict between observed reality and your personal map, the problem is with your map, not with reality! Put another way, "Reality is always right!" The trouble with the self-righteous and power-mad (like this judge) is that they are way too proud of their map. Indeed his map is more important to him than is his very life. Because his abject arrogance is so absolute, death is preferable to repentance!

An inability to repent is a pivotal character flaw, a deadly handicap. Who cannot repent, in effect, says he has never learned anything in his entire life! All true learning involves the pain of repentance. Enlightened seekers of truth accept its inevitability. The arrogant prefer denial, error, and darkness!

/John