.30 Carbine Ammo Review – History & Applications

.30 Carbine Loads

There are several cartridges such as Remington, Hornady, Winchester, Federal, Armscor, Tula, Sellier & Bellot provide various loads for the .30 carbine.

The 110 grain FMJ bullet is the most common load used in the .30 carbine that travels between 1900 and 2000 ft per second.

There are many companies that produce hollow points, soft points, and ballistic tipped bullets that are specially designed for hunting and self-defense applications.

While comparing the .30 carbine and .45 ACP, the .30 carbine contains higher muzzle energy than the .45 ACP.

The manufacturers of the .30 carbine designed and constructed the .30 carbine well to achieve the goal by combining it with the pistol and typical rifle.

Applications of .30 Carbine Ammo

.30 Carbine in Hunting

The .30 carbine is one of the anemic ammo when compared to the other cartridges. You know that it was originally designed as an intermediate cartridge.

However, it can be used in many rifle rounds since it is the most powerful cartridge than other rounds of pistol that are cartridges used for deer hunting such as 10mm Auto, .357 Magnum, and .45 Colt.

The .30 carbine can be used for small to medium sized hunting games in suitable conditions since it provides accurate shots.

Many hunters prefer this .30 carbine for hunting various animals such as hogs, coyotes, whitetail deer, javelina, and foxes after the end of the Second World War. It is important to consider many things while using the .30 carbine.

First, you have to make sure that using the .30 carbine is legal in the place where you will hunt since there are some areas that restrict the use of .30 carbine.

You can legally use the .30 carbine for hunting deer in several states of the United States, such as Texas, Georgia, and Washington. Moreover, you should also make sure if there is any magazine restriction in the state that you are hunting with the M1 carbine.

Then, you can buy the 5 round magazine instead of using the 15 round magazines with M1 carbines. The other important thing is that you should n’t use FMJ ammo during big game hunting.

It is not only illegal to use for hunting, but also the FMJ ammo won’t perform near the hollow point or soft point ammo. 

The FMJ has the capacity to penetrate deeply into the animal, but you may get tired of identifying the animal from a long distance.

Nowadays, there are many different types of expanding ammunition available on the market that make it an ideal choice for hunters who are interested in using .30 carbine.

You have to make sure that you take short-range shots with the .30 carbine. With this cartridge, the 100 yards is the perfect range for you, while the 50 yards is not bad.

It is very important when hunting with a pistol loaded with .30 carbine since the velocity of the cartridge is slower than when loaded with the normal rifle.

The range of .30 carbine is a medium-sized hunting game, so you have to perform within the range of the cartridge and don’t push it to get more range.

The final important thing is you don’t try to hunt the animals that are big in size since the .30 carbine is ideal for small to medium-sized hunting games such as deer, coyotes, and feral hogs.

.30 Carbine for Self-Defense

The M1 carbine can be used for various purposes in many police departments and used by several civilian shooters in the United States.

The M1 carbine was only the common option before arriving at the Mini 14 and AR-15 for civilians who wanted a more powerful firearm than the pistol carrying a rifle.

The M1 carbine becomes very popular quickly for law enforcement use and home defenses since it is very lightweight, short, easy to handle, and contains 15 or 30 round magazines.

Jim Cirillo, he is a Stakeout Squad of the New York Police Department, honored the .30 carbine cartridge as one of the most powerful man stopping cartridges available on the market.

Cirillo mentioned this M1 carbine as his favorite weapon in his legendary book called Tales of the Stakeout Squad.

Though the .30 carbine is not an ideal choice for concealed carry, it will be an excellent choice for home defense where concealment is not a big issue.

The .30 carbine earned a high reputation among the many soldiers for the poor performance of the North Korean and Chinese soldiers during heavy cold temperatures.

Both the soft point .30 carbine and FMJ ammunition will penetrate easily through the various bulletproof vests that have the rated of Level IIIA in the short-range distance.

Thus, the .30 carbine penetrates into the thick winter clothes that the North Koreans and Chinese soldiers wore during the War.

The damage caused by these bullets was less than the shots the M1 Garand and BAR fired with the .30-06 rounds. The thick winter clothes help to soak the blood that flows from the bullet injury and also reduce the blood loss.

The poor performance of the .30 carbine FMJ rounds caused the Communist Soldiers to cause no injuries to our Marines and Soldiers by carbine in the battle.

If you’re using the .30 carbine ammo for self-defense, then you can make soft point shots. Jim Cirillo and his co-police officers proved that the .30 carbine ammo is very vigorous if you load it with the expandable bullets.

Moreover, as we mentioned earlier, most of the soft point .30 carbine ammo available on the market will spread easily into the common bulletproof vests. Thus, you can rely on the expandable bullets to spread deeply into the vital parts of the attacker in any condition.

There are some handgun cartridges available in the industry to perform this operation. However, the over-penetration is the only thing that you have to be concerned about while using the .30 carbine.

Hence, you have to make sure that any object is behind your target since it has the capacity to penetrate through one or two walls with the more energy that may cause or attack unexpectedly.

Though it is an intermediate cartridge, the .30 carbine ammo is one of the cartridges used for many modern rifles and has been used widely for various applications. It has a standard reputation among the hunters and shooters of the United States.

This .30 carbine ammo contains certain limitations, but still, it is ideal for self-defense and hunting operations in several conditions.

Which is the Best .30 Carbine Ammo?

There are several manufacturers that produce .30 Carbine with high-quality to provide better performance on the field. In this section, we will see which is the best .30 carbine ammo available on the market.

Buffalo Bore Full Power

If you’re looking for the perfect ammo for a .30 carbine weapon, then you can look at this Buffalo Bore Full Power soft point round nose. 

It is the perfect choice for you to make excellent shots towards your target on the battlefield. This bullet provides you the energy of .44 magnum with the M1 carbine firearm.

With this load, there are no flaws while using the magazines, and it provides incredible performance for home defense. When it comes to accuracy, it won’t compromise its quality in any condition and provides accurate shots.

The penetration of this load is 14 inches, and the velocity of this will reduce at 50 yards, and the expansion will decline, which may affect the penetration.

Hornady FTX Critical Defense

The Hornady FTX Critical Defense line of ammo is specially designed for self-defense, and it has a standard reputation in the industry.

It comes with good velocity and accuracy, so it provides better penetration for tactical operations. The penetration of this bullet is 20 inches with controlled expansion.

Thus, you can prefer these Hornady Critical Defense loads for hunting small-sized feral hogs and deer.

Prvi Partizan FMJ

There are lots of FMJ loads available on the market with high-quality that can be used for .30 carbines with the same characteristics.

This bullet penetrates 12 inches into the water with better expansion. Thus, Prvi Partizan is cheap compared to the other loads.