Stock cleaning

Well, Karl, I do have nostalgic moments. Those Carbines had served our country well for many years. Many of those I discuss here were veterans of WWII, The Korean War - and several years of day in and day out qualification firing - and constant dissassembly and assembly. What a great weapon! Uncle Sam certainly got his moneys worth! I was always impressed how well they held up in all kinds of weather and conditions with very little maintenance - Firing Range Carbines do take a beating. But all things come to an end. In the period I describe here, the Carbine was on its way out as the USAF standard issue shoulder weapon - to be replaced by the AR15/M16 rifle. When I departed Yokota AB in 1963 (or 1964, my memory fails me here) at the conclusion of my tour of duty the Range crew was already preparing to turn-in the Carbines and redoing their training lesson plans to accommodate M16 Training and qualification firing. When I arrived at George AFB (California) to take over as NCOIC of the Firing Range and Small arms Marksmanship Training there, the M16s were already in place (or soon to be) and we had to set about redesigning and rebuilding the firing range to accommodate it. The end of an era!