- burlington_1941-5kgh.jpg (202.56 KiB) Viewed 1247 times
Those are actually quite rare. The contract, from January 1941, was for 25,000 of them. The Burlington Mills contract is the only one noted. Burlington itself, a small place in Wisconsin, was a Mormon settlement. On the Fox river, it's a nice little place. Yes, I've been there.
1940/1941 were a strange time for small arms in the U.S. military. In 1936, they had adopted the M1 rifle; clearly without any real testing as it didn't work. The arose the challenge from the Johnson rifle; which did work. In fact it was the better arm. In something of a panic, the Army Ordnance Department decided to place their bets on the Winchester rifle. Which was something of a problem as Winchester themselves were tied up in the M1 rifle program.
With the problems the M1 rifle clearly had, another horse was also in the race: the M-1903 rifle. The "M-1938" cartridge belts, designed for the M1 rifle, were dropped. The M-1923 cartridge belts, which also worked for the M-1903, continued. As had been the case, going back to the adoption of the M-1911 pistol, the standard cartridge belt came in mounted and dismounted editions. Thus the 1941 contract for mounted belts was awarded while the small arms mess was in progress.
After that contract was awarded, development of the M1 carbine was clearly re-assigned from Winchester to General Motor's Inland division. Strong claim?
10/41. $7,697,000. Rifles.
1/42. $17,045,000. Carbines.
Those are contracts to Winchester.
12/41. $29,672,000. Carbines, Cal. .30, M1.
The first Inland contract. Supporting that is the fact that Inland further developed the M1 carbine throughout the war.
What does this result in? With an actual carbine, the first since the Krag, available for mounted troops, the M-1903 could be phased out. The M1 carbine used detachable box magazines, of course, and thus the M-1923 belt wasn't appropriate. Thus that Burlington Mills contract was the last of the line.
Which makes it an oddity.