30 carbine handguns

I knwo you can get a TC contender barrel in .30 carbine. And I may be wrong on this but I think there was for a short time an AMT Automag in .30 carbine.
I wish you luck with the search for one. If you find it please let me fire it!

I think Taurus actually made a revolver in .30 carbine for a while too.
 
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Automag III the best..

EddieCoyle said:
The Automag III was a (sort of) 1911-based .30 Carbine autoloader.
Click to expand...

The automag III wa produced from 1989 till around 1995. This was the first commercial/sucessful pistol manufactured to chamber the 30 carbine round.
There were about 2000-3000 total produced. Web searchs give mixed reviews for the pistols, but most of the problems have come down to lack of proper lubrication. These pistols were the first type of pistols made from stainless steel (frame and rails) and gaulding was eventually discovered to be the cause of most of the earily malfunctions. Modern gun lubrication now has cleared up that problem.
Not bad recoil...large noise and muzzle flash... a real trip to fire.
The reason I thing its the best is that you can actually find and affort the ammo to shoot it. It shoots 30 carbine and while the ammo isn't cheap it is available
and can work with your M1 Carbine too
You can sometimes get them on GB from $800 to $1200 if you are lucky.
I have a friend who has one and the prices are rising so its on my bucket list!
 
Probably not what you had in mind, but the Iver Johnson was a cut down M1 Carbine:

ivjohnsuperright.jpg


A guy at my club had one. I didn't quite see the point, but whatever.
 
45collector said:
^ I bet it looks pretty cool with a 30-rounder inserted in it.
Click to expand...

You mean like this?

9753226_1.jpg


It doesn't do anything for me. It is too big to conceal. The ergonomics don't work to shoot it like a pistol. And it doesn't have a stock so you can't shoot it like a rifle.

I've seen a fellow shoot one and he couldn't hit the broad side of a barn with it.
 
M1911 said:
You mean like this?

9753226_1.jpg


It doesn't do anything for me. It is too big to conceal. The ergonomics don't work to shoot it like a pistol. And it doesn't have a stock so you can't shoot it like a rifle.

I've seen a fellow shoot one and he couldn't hit the broad side of a barn with it.
Click to expand...

There ya go. If they were a couple bills I'd buy one just to turn heads at the range, but I suspect they're quite a bit more than that.
 
Rover51 said:
The automag III wa produced from 1989 till around 1995. This was the first commercial/sucessful pistol manufactured to chamber the 30 carbine round.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't consider many AMT's to have been commercially successful.
They had cool looking designs, but most were functionally unreliable.
I've owned a few AMT's in my time but don't own any now for good reason.
 
Zappa said:
I wouldn't consider many AMT's to have been commercially successful.
They had cool looking designs, but most were functionally unreliable.
I've owned a few AMT's in my time but don't own any now for good reason.
Click to expand...

In 1958, the short-lived J. Kimball Arms Co. produced a .30 Carbine caliber pistol that closely resembled a slightly scaled-up High Standard Field King .22 target pistol. The Ruger Blackhawk revolver chambered for the .30 Carbine round has been sold in catalogs since the late 1960s. Universal Firearms made a .30 caliber pistol from 1964 to 1983, named the Enforcer. Built similar to the M1 carbine it lacked the stock, therefore, making it a pistol or a handgun. Sold to Iver-Johnson in 1983 The Enforcer continued to be made until 1986. Other handguns chambered for this cartridge include the Thompson Center Contender, , and AMT AutoMag III.[SUP][]

Just a "small" comment on the "commercially successful" comment I made. Kimbal made only 200 "automatics"and folded and never had a true pistol manufacturing facility. The Black Hawk is a 6 shot revolver not an automatic and still in production so I guess you could say that the Black Hawk was / is a the only commercial successful 30 caliber. The Enforcer was just a cut down M1 Carbine and designed as a pistol. The Contender was a pistol grip that you could fit a whole assortment of different caliber barrels on. So the Automag III was the only "automatic" pistol that sold commercially for over 6 year and 2 to 3 K sold.
I agree they have a history of unreliability but that was because AMT was the first gun manufacture to build a gun using stainless steel frames and slides. He made both parts out of the same hardness of stainless which cause sticking of the action parts (called Gaulding) Now with stainless we use two different hardness and we have luberication made for use with stainless steel. Ya they may have problems , but they are still a blast to shoot!!! [smile] [/SUP]
 
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I have a .30 Blackhawk and I'm still looking for a .30 Contender barrel, but they're about as rare as dinosaur eggs.
What I'd really like to know is some load data that makes this round more suitable for a pistol length barrel.
All I see in the loading manuals uses rifle powders such as 4227, even the special Contender loads still show very limited powder selections.
This is very wasteful in short barrels because most of the powder goes to making a huge fireball of muzzle blast, and not doing anything towards sending the bullet downrange.
I'd like to find some loads using powders more suitable for .357 type loads such as Blue Dot or AA5.
 
30 cal Contender?

Zappa said:
I have a .30 Blackhawk and I'm still looking for a .30 Contender barrel, but they're about as rare as dinosaur eggs.
What I'd really like to know is some load data that makes this round more suitable for a pistol length barrel.
All I see in the loading manuals uses rifle powders such as 4227, even the special Contender loads still show very limited powder selections.
This is very wasteful in short barrels because most of the powder goes to making a huge fireball of muzzle blast, and not doing anything towards sending the bullet downrange.
I'd like to find some loads using powders more suitable for .357 type loads such as Blue Dot or AA5.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure if you have deep pockets or how bad you want one but this guy makes/sells all types/calibers of Contender barrels. The site has 30 cal listed,,, http://www.eabco.com/cntndr01.html

Also gun broker is selling one right now... http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=320527188
bid is at $150 and buy now $275...6 days left..f

Just thought I'd let you know... Christmas is comming....maybe a present from Santa?
 
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Rover51 said:
I'm not sure if you have deep pockets or how bad you want one but this guy makes/sells all types/calibers of Contender barrels. The site has 30 cal listed,,, http://www.eabco.com/cntndr01.html
Click to expand...

Wow, a bit too much for me, and their wait time is running 4-5 months.
Prices start at $375, and .30 Carbine was not even shown on that long caliber list.

Also gun broker is selling one right now... http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=320527188
bid is at $150 and buy now $275...6 days left..f
Click to expand...

I check with GB every few days, I saw that one, but I'd prefer a bull or standard profile barrel of 10"-12".
I'm not interested in an octagon and that particular one is missing the rear sight.
Thanks for the heads up anyway, but I'll keep looking.
Long gone are the days when I could get a deal on these.
My cousins wife used to work at T/C in Rochester, she'd place the order for custom barrels to my specs and I'd get her generous employee discount.
 

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