by Ian McCollum of Forgotten Weapons just published an interview with the legendary Ken Hackathorn. It is a quite interesting interview dealing with the myth versus the reality of the firearm. Ken said the WWII and Korean War veterans who actually used the M1 Carbine in combat generally liked it. They did acknowledge that the magazines were flimsy and they made a conscious effort to replace them on a regular basis.
I have an IBM-made M1 Carbine and love it. It is light and accurate. However, Hackathorn notes that many of the manufacturers had quality control problems in making these firearms. While the most common, the Inland Division of GM made carbines tended to be the most reliable. That somewhat surprised me.
The interview runs about 19 minutes and is really interesting especially if you like old US military firearms like I do. Now if I could only find a RockOla-made M1 Carbine with an Elmer Keith inspected cartouche like the one Hackathorn has, I’d be set.
