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.30 Cal M-1 Carbine w/.22 cal barrel

Ronald J. Kriel
I inherited a .30 M-1 Carbine with a .22 Cal barrel. It was my father's who was an avid gun enthusiast. I am trying to find ammunition for it or at least what it might be called so I can search further. Any information would be greatly appreciated.

Ron Kriel
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Comments

11 comments

Date Votes
  • Cheechako
    Ron

    You need to determine the exact cartridge that it's chambered for. There were several .22 wildcats based on the .30 Carbine case and at least one experimental cartridges based on the 222 R shortened and necked down. They all look the same at first glance but they are different. Some, such as the 5.7mm MMJ were commercially made, including loaded ammunition. But, most were pure wildcats. Unless the barrel is marked in some way, you'll probably need a chamber cast.

    Ray
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  • MIKE WISKEY
    .22 SPITFIRE (OR SOMETHING SIMILAR), .30 carbine necked down to .22 cal.
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  • Fairlane66
    A common wildcat based on the 30 Carb case was the 5.7 Johnson, MMJ 5.7 Johnson, or very occasionally known as the 22/30 Carbine. If memory serves me correctly, I think IAI might have had something to do with developing some of the Carbine-based wildcats. There's lots of information on the web about these various wildcat cartridges. Determining exactly which one you have is another matter.
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  • charliemeyer007
    Did you get any magazines with it?

    added chamber cast or try and score a loaded round from a local cartridge collector.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.22_Spitfire
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  • Ronald J. Kriel
    quote:Originally posted by charliemeyer007
    Did you get any magazines with it?


    Yes, but they seem to be just like the .30 cal ones.
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  • 45er
    Howdy Ronald,

    How was determined the .22 size barrel? Any markings on the barrel to distinguish it be so?

    Also, were there any cartridges that came with it, that are obviously not .30-Carbine?

    As said, there are a few cartridges made from the .30-Carbine casing, so the magazine may need not be any different from. G.I. issue mags.

    As Cheechako said about the chamber, a "chamber casting" (if not aware of?), is needed to determine exactly what cartridge the carbine has to altered to fire with.

    An abled gunsmith should be able to do this easily. And for safety's sake, would have one and same inspect the firearm to indeed determine it is safe to shoot with the correct ammo. And do not attempt shoot it before hand.

    EDIT I stress the safety stuff, for even though a cartridge may chamber and fire, this does not mean it is the correct cartrdge and may indeed be dangerous.
    This scenario crops up on occassion where some customizing has been done. Yet positively re-marking the firearm exactly afterwards does not always happen and is left doubtful for the next owner.

    If it is the Spitfire, that is a neat round for us U.S. Carbine lovers, though long obsolete by todays military standards.

    45er
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  • Cheechako
    I don't want to complicate this any more than it already is but, don't be fooled by names. Some of the wildcats may have different names when, in fact, they are the same cartridge. Also, a 22 Carbine may be a cartridge made by necking down a Carbine case to 22 caliber, OR, it could be a 222R case shortened. The "Carbine" part of the name refers to the firearm.

    You might do a Google search for "The Gun Zone" series of articles that has a very good one on the Carbine wildcats.

    Ray
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  • Ronald J. Kriel
    quote:Originally posted by Cheechako
    I don't want to complicate this any more than it already is but, don't be fooled by names. Some of the wildcats may have different names when, in fact, they are the same cartridge. Also, a 22 Carbine may be a cartridge made by necking down a Carbine case to 22 caliber, OR, it could be a 222R case shortened. The "Carbine" part of the name refers to the firearm.

    You might do a Google search for "The Gun Zone" series of articles that has a very good one on the Carbine wildcats.

    Ray

    I do have a round but since my father reloaded his ammo, I believe that this one is incorrectly sized. It does not chamber completely and I have not tried to force it. As far as the barrel bore, I just tried a .22 long rifle slug in the end of the barrel. Certainly, not the most scientific method, I guess.
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  • rufe-snow
    quote:I do have a round but since my father reloaded his ammo, I believe that this one is incorrectly sized. It does not chamber completely and I have not tried to force it. As far as the barrel bore, I just tried a .22 long rifle slug in the end of the barrel. Certainly, not the most scientific method, I guess.
    Ron Kriel


    There is no realistic way we can help you on-line. Your going to have to take it to a competent gunsmith. And have a chambercast made.

    Hopefully it will be in 5.7 Johnson. Which has reloading dies available, although pricy. If it's some wildcat, getting custom loads made for it, would be cost prohibitive.
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  • Ronald J. Kriel
    quote:Originally posted by rufe-snow
    quote:I do have a round but since my father reloaded his ammo, I believe that this one is incorrectly sized. It does not chamber completely and I have not tried to force it. As far as the barrel bore, I just tried a .22 long rifle slug in the end of the barrel. Certainly, not the most scientific method, I guess.
    Ron Kriel


    There is no realistic way we can help you on-line. Your going to have to take it to a competent gunsmith. And have a chambercast made.

    Hopefully it will be in 5.7 Johnson. Which has reloading dies available, although pricy. If it's some wildcat, getting custom loads made for it, would be cost prohibitive.



    Under the circumstances, might it be simpler and more cost effective in the long run to just send it off and have a .30 cal barrel reinstalled? I do not know if my father got the rifle with this barrel on it or he had the original barrel replaced. I do know about boring, etc. the chamber which makes installing a new barrel the only accurate way to get it back to .30 cal.

    My son has all of my father's reloading equipment. My father was a tool and die maker by trade and quite possibly made his own dies and cut and necked down .222s or necked down .30 cal brass.

    I had hoped to learn what it was and what the ammo was called so I could just buy it. I understand that the military went to a weapon like this for training purposes, I guess because it was cheaper to fire.
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  • llama
    Umm....

    What if it is one of the clones in 22lr? With no correct mag and someone just put some m1 carbine mags with it?

    Could you please start a new thread (this one will be locked after ~10 posts) re: identifying the carbine ? Once that is done, if it is a rebarrel job, then we can worry about how to identify what caliber it is in, or you can worry about having it put back to original config.



    Edit - re: trainers. In WW2 (and later) "cheap training" was done with bolt action 22s like the Mossberg 44US, H&R Model 12, etc. And it was only so that the real battle rifles could be being used in the war, not stuck at a training location.
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