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The classic heritage Auto Ordnance M1 Carbine (and sibling folding stock Paratrooper model) are a revelation because Auto Ordnance’s portfolio is largely high-tech. Yet this .30 cal gun is high-tech in its manufacture. It is Made in USA using state-of-the-art high precision computerized machinery in Worcester, Massachusetts at parent company Kahr Firearms Group.

This M1 is gas-operated like its illustrious World War II forebear. Actually, the gun has pre-WWII roots. David M. Williams, a lean, handsome, North Carolina moonshiner, killed a law officer involved in raiding his operation in 1921. Though convicted and imprisoned, Williams set about designing a gun and a short-stroke piston and then covertly building them working in the prison’s shop. His work was discovered by the prison staff, and, surprisingly, allowed to continue and even set free after just eight years. He patented his first gun in 1935. The simple gas operation that vented part of the exhaust back down to the piston and rod that would eject the spent case; a spring loaded the next round into place. He took his designs to Winchester, which designed the M1 around his short-stroke piston.

What emerged had an 18” barrel and a flip-style rear sight. The cartridge was a .30 carbine (7.62x33mm). The M1 Carbine’s overall length was 35.6” and weight was 5.2 pounds. All this compared favorably to the contemporary M1 Garand rifle’s 24” barrel, 43.5” overall length, 9.3 pounds and .30-06 Springfield 7.62x63mm. The M1 Carbine’s lighter rounds weren’t as fast as .30-06s rounds, but since they weighed 45% less, an infantryman could carry far more ammo, all else being equal. The smaller M1 Carbine was also easier to slinger over one’s shoulder and only weighed 55% as much as its larger stablemate. It’s worth noting that these two guns were unrelated. They had virtually no shared parts and no shared design history.

The M1 Carbine evolved some over the course of the war, but here Auto Ordnance replicates the early model though its stated dimensions change a tad, with a 35.75” length and 5.4-pound weight.

The name is fairly eponymous, with M being short for Model and 1 being the first carbine under the US Army’s new standardized naming convention that also covered things like tanks. Thus, the M4 Sherman was the fourth medium tank produced. For several decades, this carbine was seemingly everywhere across various conflicts and by many allies. The reason was practical. Compared to rifles, the M1’s 18” barrel and short overall dimensions and corresponding light weight made it more useful and readily kept at hand in tight environments such as in the Pacific’s heavy jungle such as at Guadalcanal. But it was also used extensively in the European Theater where there was often more open space.

The M1 is a marriage of timeless American Walnut that’s perfectly mated to Parkerized matte black metal bits including the barrel, trigger guard, trigger, sights, front band, sling swivel studs, etc. The stock is one long, elegant, singular piece of perfectly smoothed walnut that makes up the lower handguard and butt stock. And then the upper handguard is a second smaller piece of wood.

The gun sells new with a 15-round magazine for most states though it was also available with a 10-round magazine to comply with various state regulations.

Auto-Ordnance M1 Carbine also offers an M1A1-type “Paratrooper”. It features a folding metal stock and couples it with a wood pistol grip instead of the M1’s standard full wooden curved grip stock. This allows the gun to fold down by 10” to 25.75”. This model comes standard with the same 15-round mag that’s on the fixed stock M1 Carbine.

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