Books about Carbine from Amazon.com

Enthusiasts of the venerable Mosin-Nagant bolt-action rifle, one of the most basic of the Russian and Soviet small arms, will find a wealth of information in the latest Soviet military manual translation by Maj. James F. Gebhardt. The manual, available in English for the first time, covers disassembly and assembly, cleaning and lubricating, and firing for zero at the specified zeroing range of 100 meters. Described in detail are all the steps, procedures and criteria that will ensure proper and safe function of the rifle or carbine. Also included are several data tables describing the ballistic performance of the 148-grain type-1908 projectile and the weight and length of the basic rifle and carbines in various configurations. For those interested in the sniper version of this rifle, an appendix describes both the PE and PU scopes. This is the ultimate source for Mosin-Nagant owners..
Price: $12.10 [Notify me when price goes down.]

U.S. M1 Carbines, Wartime Production, 5th edition, revised and expanded, by Craig Riesch. ISBN-13 978-1-882391-43-1. The 5th edition of this best-selling bible of the World War II M1 Carbine has been completely revised and expanded. The author, Craig Riesch, has compiled twenty years of surveys and research into this new 237 page volume. The book contains 38 charts and 212 photographs, and fourteen drawings. The book provides a history of the M1 Carbine s development, manufacture and use during World War II, as well as through the Korean War and the war in Vietnam. The M1 Carbine is analyzed and described by its ten manufacturers, model and serial number range. The U.S. Army Ordnance Department required that virtually every part of the M1 Carbine be marked with a manufacturer s or subcontractor s code. Riesch has unraveled the manufacturer s and subcontractor s codes by serial number range and eliminated many spurious codes. Every major and most minor parts can now be conclusively identified by manufacturer and serial number range, making it possible to examine an M1 Carbine to determine its authenticity with a high degree of confidence. Using the charts and photos the collector can identify the manufacturer and period of use for the receiver group, barrel group, trigger housing group, stock group and their component parts. Butt plates by the various manufacturers are shown in full-size photographs for easy identification. All variations of the M1 Carbine are discussed M1, M1A1, and M2 by manufacturer. The aspects that make up the two types of true M1A1 folding stock paratrooper carbines are described and photographed. Serial number ranges for original manufacture of the M1A1 are also included. Reproduction folding stocks are shown and points of difference are identified. The book is divided into six chapters and ten appendices. Each chapter describes a major subgroup of the M1 Carbine: receiver, barrel, trigger assembly, and stock. Chapter six covers.
Price: $15.56 [Notify me when price goes down.]

The world's most popular and respected author on World War II firearms presents his most complete examination of the M1 Garand and the M1 Carbine ever. It's absolutely huge - nearly 300 pages packed solid with the kind of useful, hands-on knowledge that readers have been demanding. Detailed, close-up photographs show the specific features that separate valuable rarities from fakes and rebuilds. Covers all the manufacturers, with easy-to-understand explanations of all the components, parts, variations and markings. Learn which parts are proper for which guns and avoid being fooled. Over 300 clear, large photos show you features, markings, overall views and actions shots of the guns being used in battle. 33 tables give you instant reference to the facts you need the most. This is simply the most complete and useful guide to these very important military firearms..
Price: $37.55 [Notify me when price goes down.]

The Krag rifle and carbine were the first smokeless powder, magazine loading arms used by the United States ArmyThe arm was adopted from a Norwegian design in 1892 and reached the troops starting in mid-1894. The American Krag Rifle and Carbine provides the arms collector, historian and target shooter with a part-by-part analysis of what has been called the "rifle with the smoothest bolt action ever designed." Each of the fifteen models of the American Krag rifle and carbine are described in detail. All changes to all parts are described and matched to serial number ranges. A monthly serial number chart by production year has been devised that will provide the collector with the year and month in which his rifle or carbine was manufactured. The mystery of the so-called Philippine Constabulary rifles is solved and the "School" rifle is introduced. A new and complete exploded view is included as are instructions for assembly and disassembly of the rifle and carbine. It was the ideal time to introduce a new rifle. The U.S. Army in the 1890s was a peacetime organization. The frontier had been settled in the late 1880s and the Army had been reduced in strength to not quite 18,000 strong, and was scattered halfway around the world from Plattsburgh, New York to Anchorage, Alaska to Honolulu, Hawaii. All but two troops of cavalry were still stationed west of the Mississippi River and no military formations in regimental strength had been assembled since the Sioux Wars in 1876-1877. The Krag was the first precision-machined, small caliber, magazine loading rifle adopted by the U.S. Army. This meant that the production facilities and work force had to be completely rebuilt and reorganized. In just four short years, the entire U.S. Army, both mounted and dismounted branches, were completely equipped with the new rifle and carbine. So successful had been the design and initial production phase, that only minor changes were made to the rifle and carbine afterward. The combination of Spanish imperialism in Cuba and the sinking of the battleship, USS Maine, led the United States into a short, sharp war in 1898 that gave way to a longer, more bitter fight in the Philippines. In 1900, Chinese revolutionaries styled the "Boxers" threatened to murder all foreigners in China. The U.S. Army and Marines brought their Krag rifles to mainland China in concert with forces from other European nations and quickly relieved the siege of the Foreign Legations at Peking and then helped clear the country of insurgents. Even though the Krag only served the U.S. Army for eleven years, it did so admirably and saw much hard fighting. It only gave way to the Model 1903 Springfield as the latter rifle could be loaded quickly and easily with a five round clip..
Price: $15.00 [Notify me when price goes down.]

At the start of World War II, the Soviet Union and the United States had the only two armies equipped with semiautomatic battle rifles. Both rifles fired the powerful service cartridges developed at the turn of the century for the bolt action rifles. The M1 Garand proved more rugged than did the Soviet's SVT38 and SVT40 models which experienced such severe breakage problems that the rifle was withdrawn from production in 1942.

Soviet designers had begun work the year before on a new, medium powered cartridge that it was hoped would alleviate the parts breakage problem. S.G. Simonov was assigned the task and in 1944, produced a prototype semiautomatic carbine, or short rifle, that had a magazine holding ten rounds. The new carbine was battle-tested later that year and received glowing reports. The end of World War II however, delayed production of the new carbine until it was clear that the Soviet Union had embarked upon a "Cold War" with its former allies. Starting 1949, two Soviet factories began mass production of the new carbine with its distinctive folding bayonet. In the years following, the SKS carbine would form the mainstay of many "national liberation movements"around the world including North Vietnam and many African resistance movements. The SKS Carbine was distributed widely among Soviet client states and friends, and revolutionary and terrorist movements. Like its successor, the AK47, the SKS is found in armies and police forces around the world. The Palestinian security police force continues to issue the SKS to its officers. The SKS was also manufactured in many countries including East Germany, Red China, North Vietnam, North Korea, Romania and Yugoslavia.

In the late 1980s, Chinese SKS carbines were imported in large quantities into the United States for the civilian market. Initially, ex-military weapons were imported but as these ran out, Chinese factories dug out long-stored tooling out and mass-produced "sporting" versions of the carbines. Shortly after the Soviet Union imploded in 1991, the first Russian SKS carbines reached North America. These were an extreme rarity as until then, the only specimens in the country had been captured during the early days of the Vietnam War and brought back by returning veterans. Collectors as well as shooters snapped these up as fast as they appeared.

Identifying SKS Carbines by country of origin and finding replacement parts that were interchangeable soon became a challenge. "The SKS Carbine" by Poyer and Kehaya is the first book to provide a part-by-part description organized by national origin and time of manufacture including Russian, Chinese, North Korean, North Vietnamese, Romanian, etc. Variation in parts is not as great as in some American military weapons because of the tendency of Communist governments to resist change or innovation in manufacturing processes. But there are distinct differences in parts, not only in those made by one country, but in interchangeability between parts made in different countries. This book describes all parts and tells the reader in clear and concise terms which parts can be interchanged and which cannot. Other chapters provide detailed information on the history of the development of the SKS, its use by communist forces around the world, descriptions of various models and appendixes that tell collectors and shooters how to manufacture many parts which might not be available on the market..
Price: $13.19 [Notify me when price goes down.]

This Soviet military manual, originally published in the Soviet Union and now available in English for the first time, covers instructions for use and maintenance of perhaps the most widely distributed of all weapons produced by the arms factories of the former Soviet Union: the ubiquitous 7.62mm Simonov self-loading carbine (SKS)..
Price: $9.69 [Notify me when price goes down.]

The Book of Two Guns is a reference of principles and techniques for fighting with firearms, specifically the 1911 pistol and AR carbine .
Price: $22.95 [Notify me when price goes down.]