Post Reply - US Navy Carbines

   I own a carbine taken off a PT boat in the South Pacific in the Philippines in 1945 when the U.S. Navy gathered togather all the war weary boats in the combat zone.  Manila Bay ? They were stripped of usable equipment, tied togather in a large group and set afire !  Dozens of boats Burned to the waterline then sunk.    The man I purchased the gun from had been walking down a pier in Manila harbor, about to board his ship to sail back to the States, when a sailor in a landing craft tied up to the pier asked him if he wanted a souvenir....” I’ll sell you a Carbine for ten bucks...” he called out.  The LCI was loaded with guns and gear to be discarded in the ocean, so this enterprising swabbie was making a fast buck and preventing good weapons from being wasted.  My sailor paid the asking price and received a nice gun which he kept for the next 50+ years until he walked  into my Army Surplus store looking to sell it. 
   Attached to the stock is a property tag bearing marking indicating ownership to a “MTB Squadron __” along with a rack number !  Once I saw the tag, I asked the fellow a few specific questions about the manner in which he acquired this weapon, as I knew the story of the decommissioning of the PT boat fleet in 1945.   He was totally ignorant of the tag being on the stock and was not asking a huge price for his $10 prize, so I gladly paid his price and thanked him. 
   “ MTB “ is the official U.S. Navy designation MOTOR TORPEDO BOAT abbreviation from the pre-Pearl Harbor days. 

   The carbine is locked away in my safe and I am wary of posting photographs of the tag lest the phony fakers decide to ‘get creative’....Sadly I cannot quote a maker or features from my memory as I write this. To lay my hands on it will require 2-3 hours of sorting and searching.  I will find it and amend this posting ASAP.  It IS a personal favorite firearm, and a real piece of History ! 