page_title: Carbine
section_title: World Wars
hierarchical_section_title: Carbine / History / World Wars
caption_attribution_description: English: M1 Garand rifle and M1 carbine. Português: M1 Garand e Carabina M1.
context_page_description: A carbine is a long gun firearm but instead with a shorter barrel rather than a standard rifle or musket. Most carbines are shortened versions of full-length rifles, shooting the same type of ammunition, while others fire generally lower-powered ammunition, including types designed for pistols.
  The smaller size and lighter weight of carbines make them easier to handle. They are typically issued to high-mobility troops such as special-operations soldiers and paratroopers, as well as to mounted, artillery, logistics, or other non-infantry personnel whose roles do not require full-sized rifles, although there is a growing tendency for carbines to be issued to front-line soldiers to offset the increasing weight of other issued equipment. An example of this is the US Army's M4 carbine, which is standard issue.
context_section_description: In the decades following World War I, the standard battle rifle used by armies around the world had been growing shorter, either by redesign or by the general issue of carbine versions instead of full-length rifles. This move was initiated by the US Model 1903 Springfield, which was originally produced in 1907 with a short 24-inch barrel, providing a short rifle that was longer than a carbine but shorter than a typical rifle, so it could be issued to all troops without need for separate versions. Other nations followed suit after World War I, when they learned that their traditional long-barreled rifles provided little benefit in the trenches and merely proved a hindrance to the soldiers. Examples include the Russian Model 1891 rifle, originally with an 800 mm (31 in) barrel, later shortened to 730 mm (29 in) in 1930, and to 510 mm (20 in) in 1938, the German Mauser Gewehr 98 rifles went from 740 mm (29 in) in 1898 to 600 mm (24 in) in 1935 as the Karabiner 98k (K98k or Kar98k), or "short carbine". The barrel lengths in rifles used by the United States did not change between the bolt-action M1903 rifle of World War I and the World War II M1 Garand rifle, because the 610 mm (24 in) barrel on the M1903 was still shorter than even the shortened versions of the Model 1891 and Gewehr 98. The US M1 carbine was more of a traditional carbine in that it was significantly shorter and lighter, with a 457.2 mm (18.00 in) barrel, than the M1 Garand rifle, and that it was intended for rear-area troops who couldn't be hindered with full-sized rifles but needed something more powerful and accurate than a Model 1911 pistol (although this didn't stop soldiers from using them on the front line). Contrary to popular belief, and even what some books claim, in spite of both being designated "M1", the M1 Carbine was not a shorter version of the .30-06 M1 Garand, as is typical for most rifles and carbines, but a wholly different design firing a smaller, less-powerful cartridge. The "M1" designates each as the first model in the new US designation system, which no longer used the year of introduction, but a sequential series of numbers starting at "1": the M1 Carbine and M1 Rifle.
  The United Kingdom also developed a "Jungle Carbine" version of their Lee–Enfield service rifle, featuring a shorter barrel, flash suppressor, and manufacturing modifications designed to decrease the rifle's weight. Officially titled Rifle, No. 5 Mk I, it was introduced in the closing months of World War II, but it did not see widespread service until the Korean War, the Mau Mau Uprising, and the Malayan Emergency as well the Vietnam War.
caption: M1 Garand and M1 Carbine
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