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List of Carbine Books and Manuals in Collection


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Many here know that I'm an enthusiast of firearm related paper items, whether they be books, or military manuals. There are a few firearms for which I have tried to collect as many associated books and manuals as possible. The M1 and M2 Carbines are in that category. Below is a list of the Carbine related books and manuals that I have in my collection. 20 books, 49 manuals.

 

Many of the manuals have not been previously documented, and I believe may be of interest to others who may want to reference them for research. While I'm not a library, if you are conducting original research, and have a specific request about the content of the manuals below, I will attempt to help you as possible.

 

I've commented on each item as to content, but my comments are only glimpses into what is there.

 

I find it useful to catalog manuals on a timeline, as it highlights how information grew through the years, and sometimes how disinformation was disseminated. I've written about how flip sights were pictured backwards in some early manuals, and if you've ever thought someone was crazy to tell you that a Carbine was nothing more than a miniature Garand, well that was stated in a USMC M2 Carbine manual from 1952. Some of the information below may prompt further questions, such as why the Army still needed to document 7 different types of .30 Carbine cartridges in its inventory in 1984, or why a Kerr sling was listed as an accessory for the Carbine in 1955.

 

Anyway, I'm going to pin this topic for future reference. I will also be posting this as a topic on the Carbine Club site.

 

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Any thoughts you have about the list above are appreciated.

 

David Albert

dalbert@sturmgewehr.com

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This confirms my thought that the first response to this subject would occur on this board. This is a generalization, but the majority of Carbine Club members are focused on confirming or reconstructing the originality of Carbine configurations, and history and paper documentation receive lesser attention. But, perhaps the post will spark someone to offer up some new information, or to seek to leverage the items in my collection for further research. In my opinion, without manuals and other written documentation that was generated through the years, it's all hearsay. We'll see what happens in the other post...

 

David Albert

dalbert@sturmgewehr.com

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I have always found the Garand Report a good source of period documentation for Garands. It is a shame a similar source is not available for carbines.

 

I think you're talking about the GCA Journal, though it may have been referred to by a different name in the past. I agree, it is an excellent publication.

 

We used to have the Carbine Club Newsletter, which was published from 1976 to 2015, but the main folks involved grew tired of the effort and diminishing new information availability. The Club was converted to a forum. One could argue that the forum attracted new members, and is more in line with how today's younger generation consume information, but the personality is quite different. I've offered some new information, and prompted folks to aim beyond the status quo, but most of the posts there almost agonizingly revolve around whether parts are original or correct for a certain Carbine manufacturer, in order to match them back up to how they were originally manufactured. While that is a worthwhile pursuit for some, it's about 5% of my interest in the Carbine, and I think that being mixmasters is a part of their overall history through arsenal rebuild. I am much more interested in learning more about the efforts it took to produce 6 million Carbines in WWII, individual manufacturer production history, period photos, accounts of combat use, paper items associated with everything along the way, all Carbine accessories, particularly bayonets, ammunition, marksmanship requirements and courses, and how those requirements changed over time, international military and police use of the Carbine, shooting Carbines today, commercial variants, preservation and repair, and certain period toys associated with the Carbine. These are not mainstream interests on the Carbine Club board, and my chosen tagline and tendency to be a "Status Quo Challenger" has ruffled feathers there a few times.

 

Anyway, I feel that this forum always welcomes new information, and helps to expand upon it. You don't see many posts here about originality or correctness of parts in order to make mixmaster Carbine factory correct again. We also have the best M2 focus of any site, in my opinion. Since I was associated with the Carbine Club earlier, made some contributions to the newsletter, and was a beta tester on the new club website, I will continue to try to offer my input there, as well.

 

Thanks!

David Albert

dalbert@sturmgewehr.com

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I have always found the Garand Report a good source of period documentation for Garands. It is a shame a similar source is not available for carbines.

 

I think you're talking about the GCA Journal, though it may have been referred to by a different name in the past. I agree, it is an excellent publication.

 

 

The Garand Stand Report published by Billy Pyle.

 

https://garandstand.weebly.com/

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I have always found the Garand Report a good source of period documentation for Garands. It is a shame a similar source is not available for carbines.

 

I think you're talking about the GCA Journal, though it may have been referred to by a different name in the past. I agree, it is an excellent publication.

 

 

The Garand Stand Report published by Billy Pyle.

 

https://garandstand.weebly.com/

 

I know I've seen those before at gun shows. I thought it was probably an earlier name to the GCA Journal, but I was wrong. Thanks for the link.

 

David

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I have carbines and accy., but I don't think I have anything to add and haven't had much time to research them to see what I actually have. I will say it's much easier if the info is here, because I can't see myself joining another forum just to glean mainstream info or have to wade through a pile to get a nugget. I've tried that on a couple forums where status and post count seems to dictate who and who doesn't get access to info. Fortunately that's rarely the case here. Most of my interest would be on the M2 and discussion of stuff like that seems to be verboten on many sites. When I see guys unmatching guns by installing matching parts I kind of get annoyed watching that, but it seems changing history is the in thing these days.

Who knows at some point I may have a valuable contribution as more info is shared here?

I also collect a lot of paper, but generally only on what I have or think I may have in the future so that's very interesting and appealing to me., and the fact that others here are willing to share it. Just my .02

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