THE M1 CARBINE OWNER’S GUIDE, by Larry L. Ruth with Scott A. Duff, published by Scott Duff Publications, P.O. Box 414, Export, PA 15632. Price: $27; available from the author at: 2316 Smith Hill Road, Walworth, N.Y. 14568. Also available on Amazon or your local book store can order it.
By Jim Dickson
The M1 Carbine Owner’s Guide is the most comprehensive owners guide available for those having an M1 carbine.
The military manuals do not go into all these details because if you have a problem with your gun in the military you turn it over to ordnance and it becomes their problem, not yours.
Larry Ruth is well qualified to write this book. He previously wrote “M1 Carbine Design, Development, & Production” in 1979, “War Baby! The U.S. Caliber .30 Carbine” in 1992, and “War Baby! Comes Home the U.S. Caliber .30 Carbine- Volume 11” in 1993.
Scott Duff has written five books on the M1 Garand and also books on the M14, AR15, and the long arms of Springfield Armory.
This manual is soft cover 6” X 9” and 133 well illustrated, clearly written pages. There are chapters on the carbine’s history and production, nomenclature of parts, selecting and inspecting the carbine for shooting and collecting, the operation and functioning of the carbine, complete disassembly and reassembly, stoppages and malfunctions and how to correct them, cleaning, lubrication and maintenance, zeroing the carbine, plus a chapter on tips and tricks.
All the military makers of the carbine are discussed and charts of their the serial numbers show the year and within which three month period each carbine was made. There is important information on some of the various manufacturers that will be of interest to owners of these guns.
Larry has done his best to foresee and deal with the civilian M1 carbine owner’s questions and potential issues. I believe that he has done an excellent job and I think every M1 carbine owner should have this book.
