Carbine Williams

David Marsh Williams grew up in North Carolina, and after a stint in the Navy, went to work for the Atlantic Coastline Railroad.  But when he thought he was working too hard for the little money he was making, he went into the moonshine business, to "supplement" his income during the evenings!

During a raid on his still in 1921, and an ensuing shootout with the law, he was charged with the 2nd degree murder of a Deputy Sheriff, and was sentenced to a 20-30 year term on the Caledonia Prison Farm in North Carolina.

He fought the system, but was good with firearms and soon had earned the trust of the  Farm Superintendent, H.T. "Cap" Peoples, who allowed him to do gun repair work of the guards' guns.

But he also kept his mind "occupied" and drew sketches of would would be an automatic rifle with a shorter stroke than conventional guns....and in his spare time, worked in secret during "recess-time", at the metal shop where he did his "repair" work.

His "new rifle" was practically finished when he WAS caught building it, but the Superintendent went out on a limb and allowed him to finish it.

Williams had a good behavior record and the Army was summoned to the Farm to see this "new design", and the North Carolina penal System even allowed Marsh to "test-fire it in front of the Army (under VERY WATCHFUL EYES, of course).  The Army was pleased, and with the help of "Cap" Peoples, Marsh Williams was paroled in 1929, and went  to work for Winchester.

With REAL tooling and machining capability at his disposal now, Williams refined his little 30 caliber carbine, and it was adopted by the military in 1939, just on the eve of World War II.

It wasn't a "powerhouse", but was very light and preferred by officers, while the standard foot-troops carried the larger, heavier and more powerful M-1 Garand, (right photo).

The carbine was ALSO designated "M-1", and there was even a FULL-AUTO version of it called the "M-2".......(this is an M-1).  It is amazingly simple in design, and shoots from a 15-round magazine.

As you can see.......standing next to a 357 Magnum PISTOL cartridge, the little "30" isn't overly "imposing", and lacks any real stopping power, except at close range.  In "full-auto" though, the concentration of fire more than made up for that.  As I said though, as a rule it was just issued to officers, who just carried them so they'd have "something."  Lieutenants and Captains primarily DIRECTED the troops, and preferred these lighter little carbines........probably as a "last resort."

They're a fun little gun to SHOOT though.....light recoil and very reliable.  I've never had any great urge to add a "carbine" to my "herd" .....but THIS one had an "Inland" stamp on it.  Inland was a division company of General Motors, who, like many OTHER companies, sub-contracted building weapons for the War effort.  By the serial number, THIS one was built in early 1942.

Compared with the M-14 and the M-1 Garand, the little carbine isn't much of a weapon, but it was handy, served its purpose, and will always be a part of history.   Being a '42 model, it's pretty feasible to believe that THIS one probably saw duty against the Germans or the Japanese.   They were still in service during the Korean War as well.  I don't know WHERE it's been.  (I only know where it is now.)