WWII 30 Carb Mag Question

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chrisf8657

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I've seen some of the WWII movies from the 60's and 70's that have .30 Carbines using 30 round mags - were these ACTUALLY used during WWII or are these poor adherence to WWII actuality? AFAIK these only came around in the late 50's or 60's....

Thanks guys!
 
The M2, which the 30-round magazine was developed for, was not developed until the very last months of WW2, so it is doubtful that the 30-round magazines saw use in WW2.

Don
 
The 30 round mags and M-2 carbine were adopted at the end of 1944. an M-1 carbine could be converted using parts kitT-17 and T-18.
Web gear modifications were ordered for the 30 round mags in Sept 1944, one month before the official adoption.
This was made simple since M1 carbine had originally been developed as a select fire weapon, but had originally been issued as semi-auto only.

Additionally the US and its allies thought that the invasion of Japan was rapidly approaching, thus it was imperative to get updated weapons into the hands of troops in the pacific in anticipation of the upcoming blood bath.

M2 and M3 carbines were known to be used in combat during the 87 day long Battle of Okinawa (April to June 1945).

The M3 carbine, (an M2 with an early infrared scope) supposedly accounted for 30% of the Japanese causalities during that battle. Some estimates are over 100,000 Japanese killed) Only 500 M3 select fire carbines (infra red scoped) were issued to troops during that battle.

Some M2 carbines may have also been issued to US troops who accompanied Australians troops in operations Oboe Six and Oboe two , on the island of Borneo. And of course the continuing battle for Luzon which continued in pockets until the surrender.
 
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