Pardon my ignorance, but what was the M1 Carbine necked down to 6.5 capable of? That’s a new one by me. Never heard of it before.
The last “new thing” I saw with the M1 Carbine round was a pistol chambered in M1 Carbine. One *heck* of a muzzle flash on an indoor range. Woof. Other than that, nothing terribly notable.
I used to have a M1 Carbine. Traded it in on a .17 HMR. The .17 HMR is a squirrel killing machine for this (now ex) farmer. There’s been nothing quite so well suited for the application (farmer killing rodents) as the .17 HMR. It has completely taken over from the .22LR rifles the job of killing ground squirrels on hay farms in Nevada in a few short years. The .17 HMR was the first product where I felt moved to write a “thank you” letter to the CEO of the company that created it, ie, Hornady. Wonderful product for what it does (kill squirrels and jackrabbits), IMO.
Love my .17 HMR, as you can tell.
The M1 Carbine? Never used the thing. Never was that accurate. Wondered why we (the US) ever made the thing. What as the point again? To replace a pistol? For me, a 1911 in .45 ACP always seemed to dispatch coyotes better than a M1 Carbine.
It was also the first attempt to replace the handgun in the rear echelon areas, and wound up in the front lines. Using a short-stroke inertia system for operation, it was reliable, it was the cartridge itself that was lacking. Limited range and ineffective as a stopper, had the military had any forward thinkers, it would have been a good base to create a necked down cartridge along the 6.5-6.8X39-45 dimensions.
We might possibly have been further down the ammo development road than we are now. But, the US army has it's own way of doing things, much to the detriment of the ground pounder.