The problem I have with saying that it was a M1 Carbine is that the box magazine and action look too big to be firing the .30 Carbine cartridge. To me it looks as though the box magazine is sized more for the .308. So it has to be some kind of derivative of the M1A1 / M14, which is the same action as the M1 Carbine / M1 Garand, but with the added detachable box magazine and modified with a short stroke piston.
The rail system appears to be a Picatinny design (though without specific measurements it would be impossible to say), which would further suggest that its not of the M1 Carbine variety, simply because the M1 Carbine was not produced with a Picatinny rail in .308.
Further supporting the "its not an M1 carbine" claim is that the M1 carbine has a slightly different but very obvious change in the gas system. You can see this by comparing the OP to the post above. The M14 was the evolution of the M1 Garand but with a short stoke piston and a newly designed .30 caliber cartridge. The new .30 cartridge carried the same ballistics as the .30-06 but was smaller as a result of an improvement in propellants. We know it as the 7.62 x 51mm NATO.
The picture directly above and the OP are different in that they 1.) are clearly a different caliber, and 2.) The WWII picture clearly lacks the SSP that is obviously present in the OP.
Huey, I'm not jumping on you, it appears to me that you have already backtracked on your previous guess of an M1 carbine. I'm simply saying that this is clearly some type of M14 derivative. My guess was an M21 (the M25 is a variant of the M21), but the shorter barrel might mean its something different. Complicating the issue is that there so many variations of the M1A1 / M14 rifle that its nearly impossible to guess. I am interested to hear the result from the OP.
The rail system appears to be a Picatinny design (though without specific measurements it would be impossible to say), which would further suggest that its not of the M1 Carbine variety, simply because the M1 Carbine was not produced with a Picatinny rail in .308.
Further supporting the "its not an M1 carbine" claim is that the M1 carbine has a slightly different but very obvious change in the gas system. You can see this by comparing the OP to the post above. The M14 was the evolution of the M1 Garand but with a short stoke piston and a newly designed .30 caliber cartridge. The new .30 cartridge carried the same ballistics as the .30-06 but was smaller as a result of an improvement in propellants. We know it as the 7.62 x 51mm NATO.
The picture directly above and the OP are different in that they 1.) are clearly a different caliber, and 2.) The WWII picture clearly lacks the SSP that is obviously present in the OP.
Huey, I'm not jumping on you, it appears to me that you have already backtracked on your previous guess of an M1 carbine. I'm simply saying that this is clearly some type of M14 derivative. My guess was an M21 (the M25 is a variant of the M21), but the shorter barrel might mean its something different. Complicating the issue is that there so many variations of the M1A1 / M14 rifle that its nearly impossible to guess. I am interested to hear the result from the OP.
