Fun with the carbine

[fatelk]

My son and I put a couple hundred rounds through the old M1 carbine today.

I bought the 311-100-2R mold a while back, and read how someone on here had success with it in the carbine. I'm low on powder and can't seem to find any more at a remotely reasonable price, so I dug out an old (old, old) can of H240 and worked up a load.

I don't know exactly how accurate the load is, just that it shoots a bit high and hit anything we aimed at (close range). I don't know the velocity yet, except that it cycles the action 100% reliably and drops the brass in a nice little pile about 3' away. Very little leading after almost 200 rounds, just had to scrape a little bit of lead out of the piston, though not much. So far, so good.

[missionary5155]

Good morning
I have very good memories of shooting our M1 Carbine with our young sons. First semi aoto they ever fired and we went through thousands of cast boolits. This was 25 years ago and we had no powder problems at all.
That powder you have does not show in my 1974 Lyman Cast Bullet manual. But sounds like you have a load that works. Shooting hi it sounds like it is a bit slower in the barrel so pressure must not be excessive. I would probably load some backing off a half grain at a time to that place where the action was not 100% then split the difference back to your present load. Gas port pressure is the 2nd important issue and that is where most rifles get damaged especially when dealing with unknown pressures.
Mike in Peru

[garym1a2]

Somebody has H240? i have 5 lbs of the old stuff from a reloader that I brought out. I can never find data for it. He used it on 357,44mag and 45 colt. I keep it for the time I feel brave to experement with it.

[Scharfschuetze]

My first semi-auto was an M1 carbine that my dad ordered through the DCM for $20. Had a hoot with it and cast boolits work great through 'em.

Here's a good thread on H240 powder with some good info and loads:

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?76871-H-240-powder

[Larry Gibson]

Scharfschuetzer

Kind of makes me "pine" for all those M1/M2s (and other goodies) we left in the vault up at Buckley............:sad:

Larry Gibson

[Bob Busetti]

Got my carbine in 1965. What fun shooting jack rabbits. Ball ammo was $1.50 a box. Grandson's love to shoot it.
Bob

[fatelk]

Thanks guys. I read that thread on H240 a couple years ago when I thought I'd use it for .357 mag loads but ended up not. Yes, I know ancient, questionable powder should become fertilizer, but it looks and smells fine.

This carbine load I carefully worked up from very, very light until it cycled the action reliably, then just barely above that. It drops the brass at my feet in a nice pile. It's just a cheap plinking load to use up some old powder. I loaded up a few hundred more and used up the rest of the powder. How else can we shoot the old carbine for basically just the cost of primers? Cheaper than .22 nowadays. Next I think I'll try that can of AA7 that's been on the back shelf for a few years.

On another note; I wish I hadn't gotten rid of so much stuff when we moved last year. I practically gave away a bunch of old rifle stocks, including a really ratty old M1 carbine stock that I wish I'd kept. My son is small for his age and even the carbine stock is long for him. I could have shortened that ratty stock and not felt bad about it. I'm sure he'll grow into it in a couple years. He really enjoyed shooting it, and liked the history of it too. He thought it was neat that the rifle was made the same year his grandpa was born.

Until recently he hasn't shown any interest in shooting with me, so I am enjoying him taking an interest. I was proud when I overheard him giving his younger brother the safety lecture about his new cap pistol recently - "Now double check to make sure it's not loaded, and be sure to not point it at anyone". :)

Added: here's a photo to show just how old the powder was. Any idea how old that can is?

The other photo is of some carbine relics. Later in the day we stopped to visit friends. I noticed these rusty relics sitting in a window. My wife's friend said she had found them buried in their gravel driveway and didn't know what they were. She was surprised when I pulled the carbine out of the van and inserted one of the rusted-away magazines into the carbine! She said I needed to take them and frame them for my gun room.