What is the definition of a carbine?

[duckfoot]

Gents
Been reading up on firearms history, and can’t seem to find a definition of what the difference between a rifle and a carbine. Caliber, size, length of the barrel, or action type I don’t know. Most gun makers seem to have all of their carbines a little shorter than the rifle version. Does lopping off 4 inches from a 20 inch barrel now make a rifle a carbine, or the intent of the maker determine if the firearm is a carbine. Questions, gents I got questions.


Thanks

duck

 

[El Tejon]

Think "reduced rifle." Can be done by several different means.

 

[diyj98]

"carbine" is a term generaly used for a rifle shorter than the standard model of the same general type. In military rifles, what one country calls "carbine" is often longer than the standard length rifle of another country. There's no standard definition such as a certain overall length or barrel length.

 

[Destructo6]

This comes up so often, it should be in a FAQ.

As the others have stated, there's no firm standard such as a carbine having a barrel less than X" and overall length less than Y".

A carbine is relatively short compared to the full-size rifle of the same model.

 

[Handy]

"Carbine" has about the same rock solid definition as "sports car" or "leisure wear".

Generally, you have to have a non-carbine to have a carbine version of it. This wouldn't be true of the M1 Carbine if it didn't have the same name as a full rifle.

A carbine can also be a long barreled, stocked pistol.


It's nothing to get wrapped up in.

 

[Art Eatman]

For the hunting rifles of today's world, carbine barrel lengths are in the 16" to 18" or even 19", as near as I can tell from the mix of arguments and ads. 20" and more, it ain't a carbine, it's a full-sized rifle. I guess what sorta blurs the issue is that not many rifles are made with barrels over 24", and not many with barrels under 18".

Since the distinction between carbine and rifle started out in the days of the horse cavalry, with folks who didn't need 30" or 32" barrels, I can see where there'd be a bunch of blur...

Art

 

[El Tejon]

Handy, leisure wear--lol! Who told you are my green polyester carbines!

Not only size or weight, but also reduced caliber. Have Preacherman tell you about the Rs! Those Suid Afrikans take their firearm distinctions seriously.

 

[Dr.Rob]

Well considering a Moisin Nagant carbine is a HEAVY rifle, I'm sure its just a question of barrel length.

BTW by Art's definition my 223 is a carbine. And its not even an AR!

 

[Handy]

I would just avoid sticking lengths on it. A G3 has 17.7" barrel. Not a carbine. The HK33 rifle has a 15.5" barrel. The carbine version, HK53, has a 12" barrel.

All of which are bigger than an Aug with a 20" barrel.

 

[DMK]

Well considering a Moisin Nagant carbine is a HEAVY rifle, I'm sure its just a question of barrel length.

The Mosin and Enfield Junge carbines shoot a full size rifle round too.

I still think that barrel length is an imortant factor. While the exact length is negotiable, I've never never heard of a long barrel carbine. They usually have various lengths under 20" or so.

Most of the time carbines are light and handy. While an M44 Mosin may be heavy to us today, it certainly was lighter and handier than a full size 91/30 rifle.

Then you have something like a 16" barreled semi-auto AK. The "real" select-fire version is an "assault rifle". The semi-auto version is a carbine, no?

 

[mete]

A carbine is about 6" shorter than a rifle. Which means its handier to carry on a horse in the old days . Actually in the design of the 1903 there was to be a rifle, 30" and a carbine 24", fortunately they dropped the rifle.

 

[BusMaster007]

Anybody ever see "Carbine Williams", with Ji, uh, Ji, uh, Jimmy Shtewart?

http://www.starscomeout.com/carbine.html

http://www.blockbuster.com/bb/movie/details/0,7286,VID-V++++86673,00.html

I pronounce it 'car-bean' usually. Sometimes I'll throw out 'car-byne'...
The Winchester Model 94 is a 20" bbl. and usually refered to as a carbine.
So, in my mind, a carbine is a rifle with a bbl. of 20" or less.

 

[Feanaro]

Basically if there was a longer version of a rifle, a shorter one is a carbine. Example, the original German Mauser was about fifty inches long. Any version after that which was smalled is a carbine.

Or something like that...