What's the minimum practical barrel length for an M1 Carbine?

C

Clead

New member
Hi guys. In Canada we classify M1 Carbines as handguns, so the barrels can be as short as you want them to be. I was thinking about picking one up for PPC and range use, sorta like a semi-auto subgun. What length did you veterans see them chopped to? Are there any studies/tables showing a relation between velocity/energy and barrel length? Will a short barrel affect function? M1 Carbine gurus please reply.
Thanks,
Clead
 
Are you planning on visiting the US with it at all? If so, I would keep it at 16" minimum. Otherwise, 18" seems to be an ideal carbine length. It's short enough to maneuver in a vehicle, yet long enough to allow sufficient burn time for many cartridges.
 
I'd be careful going to short. The M1 Carbine is gas operated so if you lop off to much barrel you might encounter problems with short cycling. Assuming you could get around that problem by opening up the gas port a tad I'd say a barrel somewhere around 14" would be optimal, drop it into a cheap repro paratrooper stock, take of the folding part, and you'd have a nifty little semiauto "Contender". -- Kernel

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"The Press is like a dog... they lick themselves because they can." -- Rush Limbaugh
 
There is a good article on the Carbine in the September issue of "Soldier of Fortune" magazine. There is some commentary in it about a shortened barrel.

Kernel, remember that the gas port on a carbine is well back toward the action, not out near the muzzle.

Art
 
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