ac579@freenet-in-a.cwru.edu (06/22/91)
From: ac579@freenet-in-a.cwru.edu What is a Carbine? "Different things to different cultures, that's what a carbine is!" Sorry, couldn't resist. But it is true that there are many different definitions of carbine, usually depending on language and even worse, military culture and definitions. My favorite definition: "A long arm intended to be carried a lot and shot a little." This neatly includes everything from the classic western (US) .30-30 lever action saddle carbine, from eighty years of Hollywood movies, which has ridden in scabbards and racks on horses, cars, motorcycles and pickup trucks from before the turn of the century to the present, to the Carbine M-1 US issued during WWII and spread all over the world by the USA after 1945. Some other definitions. A long arm in pistol caliber. This includes the 9mm bolt action rifle issued to Spanish police and similar equipment issued to the Italian Carabinari. This also includes the US lever action guns in .44-40, .44 Magnum/special, .357 Magnum/.38 Special and several pump and semi-auto action long arms. A rifle with a short barrel usually issued to cavalry. This has been a common definition in many armies. The USA issued such weapons as the Cal. .45-70 Springfield, the .30-40 Krag, and finally the "Port firing weapon" a cut down M-16 for use in our latest Bradley M-2 Fighting Vehicle. Some armies, notably the British, issued two kinds of ammunition. A reduced load for the carbine. Army supply staffs immediately sent carbine ammo to the Infantry and rifle ammo to the Cavalry. Which made the Cav troopers sore in the shoulder and sore because their shots at range went high. The infantry liked the recoil, but didn't like seeing their shots thump into the dirt short of their targets. After the Boer War the British placed a STRONG emphasis on accurate, rapid fire. So much so that the German Army in WWI thought the "Old Contemptibles" (British Regular Infantry) were heavily equipped with machine guns!) Therefore the two loads in the same case idea was rapidly discarded. After, or just before, depending on the army, WWI, most countries decided that the difference between a rifle and a carbine when the bullet hit the target didn't matter a rat's hind end, and they standardized a single barrel length for all services. This led to the M1903 US .30-06 Springfield Rifle, with 24 inch barrel and the German 98k (for kurz, in English short, with 23.6 inch barrel, the original rifle having a 29.1 inch barrel and the original 98 Carbine having a 16.9 inch barrel. A long arm in a less powerful than rifle, but more powerful than pistol caliber. This definition includes the prolific US Caliber .30 M1 carbine and the Soviet block SKS in 7.62x39SR. A version of shoulder fired automatic or selective fire weapon built to fire semiautomatic only. This definition includes the readily available in the US in some areas. Assault rifle copies, such as the Colt AR-15, a semiauto only version of the M-16 series, and many similar foreign (to the US weapons) another example is the UK Sterling "Police Carbine" the semiauto version of the Sterling submachine gun. Touted as just the thing for the farmers of Rhodesia to defend their homes against the AK-47 equipped terrorists. Rhodesia is now communist Zimbabwe, which I think describes the effectiveness of such devices adequately. References: Small Arms of the World 12th Ed., by Smith, Smith and Ezell and 25 years of National Rifleman, Guns & Ammo et. al. Jeff Timm "The opinions expressed are my own, all disclaimers ever written or spoken by anyone in the universe apply."
military@cbnews (06/25/91)
From: att!bcr!mruxb!patter The carbine was originally any long gun specifically designed to be light enough and short enough to be fired reasonably accurately from the back of a moving horse. The distinction has gotten somewhat muddy since calvalry has been discontinued in the military, and smokeless powder has made it possible to manufacture weapons light enough to fit the above definition which are not carbines.