National Defense: Small Arm

An old weapon in a new, more deadly form will soon return to the U.S. Army: the carbine—a short barreled rifle.

The Army’s new carbine will be short enough (36 in.), light enough (about 5 Ib.) to replace the famous but erratic .45 pistol as a small arm for officers and noncoms. It will also give infantrymen, paratroopers, cavalrymen, tankers, machine gunners an effective supplementary weapon. Designed for rapid fire (either semiautomatic, like the Garand rifle, or full automatic, like a machine gun), it will enormously increase the amount of lead the U.S. Army can spit at its enemies.

Secretary of War Stimson last week called this innovation “one of the most significant changes of weapons for the Army that has ever taken place.” But it is still a future change. Army Ordnance Designer John C. Garand, who developed the Army’s new rifle, has an experimental model of the new carbine almost ready for final tests. So has a commercial firm, whose identity the Army wants to keep secret until tests are completed.